Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

I wanted to make a special birthday cake that would also work as a dessert after an Indian banquet menu. Something light, fruity and fragrant. This delicious Hummingbird cake seemed to fit the bill as the sponge is packed with ripe fresh banana and pineapple and I added ground cardamom as well as cinnamon to give it a spicy, fragrant note. Most recipes use two layers of cake sandwiched with the filling but I think that makes it too sickly and sweet. My version is a single cake with quite a tart lime icing topped with pretty chopped green and pink hued pistachios and edible flowers. Anyway, it went down pretty well and looked a million dollars I hope you’ll agree.

• 250g light oil, rape or sunflower seed
• 350g self-raising flour
• 2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom seeds
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium very ripe bananas, the riper the better
• 1 x 425g tin of pineapple, crushed or chunks
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 50g pecan nuts, chopped
• Icing: 200g golden icing sugar, 75g softened unsalted butter, 180g cream cheese, 1 lime
• To decorate: 40g chopped pistachios, (optional) edible flowers such as viola, borage or herb flowers

To make…

• Grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In one large mixing bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, sugar and a large pinch of sea salt.
• Mash the bananas, drain and finely chop the pineapple. Add to another mixing bowl with the eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix thoroughly to combine and then fold in the flour and sugar mix. Fold in the pecans.
• Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes or until risen, golden and a skewer pulls out cleanly.
• Remove from the oven and cool completely before transferring to a wire rack. Remove the baking parchment lining from the bottom only when it is cool.
• Meanwhile, make the topping. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl of a freestanding mixer, add the softened butter and mix until creamy. Be careful not to go too fast with your mixer or you’ll have clouds of icing sugar everywhere! Add the cream cheese along with the zest and juice of a lime. Beat until smooth but don’t overdo it or it will go too runny. Keep not in the fridge until needed.
• Once the cake is totally cool, pour over the lime icing and scatter the chopped pistachios over the top. Decorate with the flowers. Stand back and admire it!

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