Riaz Phillips’ Dr Bird Cake
A moist, spiced Jamaican sponge cake with pineapple chunks, pineapple juice and banana topped with a creamy frosting.
From the book
West Winds: Recipes, history, and tales from Jamaica
Over 100 recipes interspersed with personal anecdotes and photographs
From hearty soups and gorgeous bakes to vegan dishes and thirst quenching drinks
A celebration of Jamaican culture and flavours
Introduction
The world-famous hummingbird cake has its origins in Jamaica, where it is also known as Dr. Bird Cake, and its popularity comes as no surprise. The inter weaving of both pineapple juice and pineapple chunks with spices and banana produces an almost addictive cake, which when bolstered with crunchy pecans and a creamy frosting is even harder to resist.
The cake’s history goes back to the 1960s when the Jamaican Tourist Board, looking to foster tourism as a means of creating a new stream of income, utilised fruits of the island, namely banana and pineapple, in a recipe. This recipe distributed to the media sought to spread the word about the island’s fresh produce. The spiced banana-pineapple cake was named after the country’s national bird, the hummingbird, colloquially known as the doctor bird. Food editors, particularly from the southern states of America, got hold of the recipe and from there it rapidly became part of the annals of American cooking, and then the world.
Ingredients
| 100g | pecans or walnuts, chopped |
| 100g | canned chopped pineapple in juice, drained and 80ml juice reserved |
| 250g | wholemeal flour or plain (all-purpose) flour |
| 150g | light soft brown sugar |
| 1½ tsp | bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) |
| 1 tsp | baking powder |
| 1 tsp | ground cinnamon |
| ½ tsp | ground allspice |
| ½ tsp | ground nutmeg |
| ¼ tsp | sea salt |
| 2 | ripe bananas, mashed |
| 50g | coconut oil or butter, or oil of choice, plus extra for greasing |
| 1 tbsp | vanilla extract |
| 2 tbsp | apple cider vinegar |
| 1 | egg (optional) |
| 25g | coconut flakes, toasted |
| 1 handful of | pecans, roughly chopped |
| For the frosting: | |
|---|---|
| 200g | unsalted butter, softened |
| 175g | full fat cream cheese |
| ¼ tsp | sea salt |
| 1 tsp | vanilla extract |
| 250g | icing (powdered) sugar, sifted |
Essential kit
You will need: a 24cm round cake tin.
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6) and grease and line the base of a 24cm round cake tin. (If making a double-layered cake, use 2 tins and double the quantity of the cake mixture and frosting.)
Put the nuts and pineapple in a blender or food processor and pulse briefly until finely chopped.
Sift all the dry ingredients, up to and including the salt, into a mixing bowl, then stir until combined and set aside.
In a separate bowl, add the bananas, coconut oil or butter, reserved pineapple juice, vanilla, vinegar and egg, if using. Whisk until combined, then add to the dry ingredients with the pecan and pineapple mix. Briefly stir until combined, but do not over-mix the cake batter. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out of the tin onto a rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.
Add the salt and vanilla, then stir in the icing sugar, a little at a time, to make a thick, spreadable icing. Spread the frosting over the top of the cake (or half over each cake if making 2).
Sprinkle with the coconut flakes and pecans.
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