Hummingbird Cake and Iced coffee

Who wants to guess what I had for supper tonight?  If you said cake and iced coffee you would be correct.  I got this cake recipe from my friend Letosha, then tweaked it a tiny bit.  I had never heard of Hummingbird cake but let me tell you it is now in the running for my most favorite cake ever!

When I worked, every morning I would pick up an iced mocha on my way to work.  It turned into a very expensive and unhealthy habit.  Do you know many of these are 300+ calories.  Yikes!  I'm going to share my recipe, but realize that it isn't an exact duplicate.  It is, however, allergy free.

 Here's what you need.  Instant coffee, cocoa, sugar, vanilla, and milk sub.  In the bottom of my 16 oz cup I put 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. coca, and 2 packets instant coffee.  I then fill it halfway with hot water and stir until everything is dissolved.  I fill the top half of the cup with rice or soy milk and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Top off with a bit of ice and enjoy! 

Now, on to the hummingbird cake.  Like I said, this cake is really good.  I mean, you need to make it.  One other thing that is great about this cake is that it can be completely free of the top 8 allergens.  I had a friend make it wheat free, while I made mine with it.  both cakes are super moist and good enough to eat without frosting.  I am going to share the recipe I made, then in parenthesis I will show the wheat free substitution.  I will also give a soy free frosting option as well.

Hummingbird Cake

3 cups flour (or 3 cups gf flour blend, we used Bob's red mill)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. chopped banana

8oz can crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 

(3/4 tsp. xanthan gum if using flour blend)

Preheat your oven to 350*F and grease and flour two 9 inch pans.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon ( and xanthan gum if going wheat free). In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, oil, pineapple, applesauce, and vanilla.  Incorporate the banana.  Finally, mix in the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Pour half into each pan.  The mixture is pretty thick and I had to use my spoon to spread it out.  Just try to make it as even as you can.  It took my cakes 25 minutes to bake.  Once done, let them cool for in pan for10 minutes then flip them onto wire racks to finish.  I took the lazy way out tonight and used Pillsbury cream cheese frosting (contains soy) but this cake is really good on its own.  I bet if you needed a soy free option it would be excellent with a glaze.  Just mix 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar with 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk of your choice.  I am doing the glaze next time for sure.  Hope you like it.

Oh, I almost forgot.  The hummingbird cake almost didn't happen tonight because of a new discovery.  I was all set to make it and had already made sure I had all my ingredients but then  I was walking through the store this afternoon and found this

I got home and started looking around the kitchen and didn't have all the ingredient to make a lemonade cake.  Oh well, I guess we will all have to wait until next week.  In the end, I'm glad I made the hummingbird cake because I'm pretty sure nothing can top it.