My First Cake: The Hummingbird Cake

Hello February!  You're already halfway through and I haven't put up any blog posts yet! =)

And because it is the month of love, I am going to post a cake recipe I tried which is a "labor of love". I call it as such because. . . I never make cakes!  For some reason, I am scared to bake a cake, haha!  

For my first cake, I really wanted to bake a chocolate cake (and I actually have a couple of recipes for it from friends) but I saw a recipe from my FB feed (forgot which website featured it) called Hummingbird Cake which looked easy to make and besides, I have some overripe bananas on hand which I can use for this cake.  How do I describe this cake?  Simply put, it is banana cake with pineapple tidbits and covered with cream cheese frosting. 

Here is a trivia about the Hummingbird cake:  According to Wiki, "this cake has been a tradition in Southern cuisine since the mid-20th century".  The recipe (written by Mrs. L.H . Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina) was first published by Southern Living Magazine in 1978 and was hailed as their most (or one of the most) requested recipe.

The recipes can be seen at www.myrecipes.com.  

For the cake recipe, please click on this link: Hummingbird Cake

And for the cream cheese frosting, kindly click on this link: Cream Cheese Frosting

Now, as to how my cake turned out . . . . 

Tadahhhhh . . . . 

I am not a highly creative individual and I'm sure I could have done a better job decorating the cake, haha!  I just decorated it with some toasted pecans and since it was Valentine's Day, I got an entwined hearts-shaped cookie cutter and used is as a guide to decorate the center of the cake.

Can you spot the "entwined" hearts?  I promise, that thing in the middle is made up of two hearts! haha!

I am not really fond of icing so I just made half of the amount indicated in the recipe.  

Thus, this look. . . .  

I know. . . it looks unfinished, incomplete. . . which kind of gives it a "rustic" charm, just like how a "naked cake" looks like! 

If this is the first time you heard about a "naked cake", I promise there is such a thing and that I am not making this up, haha!

Here is a sample of a naked wedding cake: 

Image from www.parfaitaustralia.com

So if you don't know how to frost a cake (like I do) or if you ran out of icing for the cake (like I did), just save face and claim that your cake is a naked cake! Haha!

Happy Baking!

Remember, there are time when you can have your cake and eat it too! =)