Classic American Hummingbird Cake from the Bakehouse
Pineapple, walnuts, bananas, cream cheese frosting, and so much more
As best I can recall, it’s been about 20 years now since we started making Hummingbird Cake at the Bakehouse. It was one of the first items we added in our effort to make more traditional American breads and pastries available for the Roadhouse’s 2003 opening. This September, the Roadhouse will turn 26, we still make Hummingbird Cake, and it remains as delicious as ever.
The other thing that’s stayed the same is that the cake’s origin story remains a tad unclear. Back in the late ’70s, Southern Living referenced it and claimed it. I like the version that gives modern-day credit to chef Edna Lewis, which ran in the spring 2009 issue of Saveur. Others say it’s an early-20th-century take on carrot cake—when pineapple came into heavy marketing promotion, this carrot-cake-pineapple mash-up might have popped into someone’s mind. And the meaning of the name? It’s so good that people hum when they eat it?
Looking to the Caribbean, another story is that the cake emerged from Jamaica. “Doctor bird” is the term for a particular type of hummingbird (the red-billed streamertail) that lives only on the island—and is the country’s official national bird. A recipe for Doctor Bird Cake appeared in the Jamaican Daily Gleaner in March 1969, and Air Jamaica put out their own recipe in 1977 when it was being served on the airline!
All I know for sure is this: Hummingbird Cake tastes tremendous!
P.S. Don’t just take my word for it—Elizabeth Hinton, a former ZCoB staffer who is now a nationally known professor of history, Black studies and law at Yale, declared during her talk at our annual Juneteenth event at the Roadhouse that the Hummingbird is her favorite!
P.P.S. Be sure to let the cake come to room temperature—the flavor is far better when it’s not right out of the fridge.
