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Hummingbird Cake (Vegan)

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Ring in spring with a delicious homemade hummingbird cake. This cake is sweet and moist with fruity flavors that get everyone excited for the warmer weather coming our way. It’s perfect for sharing or entertaining at any picnic or backdoor patio. On top of that, it just happens to be vegan so everyone can enjoy a slice of this scrumptious cake.

 

This cake is vegan and doesn’t call for many special ingredients. If you’re gluten-free, you can substitute the flour for gluten-free all-purpose flour. Additionally, if you have an allergy to walnuts or coconuts, these ingredients are easy to leave out. Omitting the pineapple and banana from this recipe will drastically change it’s flavor, so I don’t recommend removing these ingredients. If you’d like to boost the sweetness and fruity flavor of this cake, you can use applesauce instead of oil. However, the oil adds a richness to the cake and helps it bake more evenly. This cake is very moist and if you use applesauce, you may need to give the cake an extra 10 to 20 minutes to bake depending on the depth of your pan. To keep it from burning on top, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the cake after the standard baking time.

 

When baking this cake, you can use several different kinds of pans. I used a loaf pan for this recipe, but a round cake pan will work wonders as well. The batter makes enough to fit into two 6 inch cake pans, one 8 inch cake pan or a standard loaf pan. I recommend using a pan that is shallow when baking this cake. This cake is very moist and it will not bake evenly in a deep pan.

 

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
1 cup brown sugar (¾ Cup if your bananas are extremely ripe)
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 large bananas or 3 small bananas)
½ cup crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks
¼ cup pineapple juice
1 T vanilla extract
¼ cup neutral oil (or applesauce)
2 T apple cider vinegar

Optional:

⅓ Cup coarsely chopped pecans
⅓ Cup shredded coconut

 

For the frosting:

½ cup vegan cream cheese (vegan butter or vegetable shortening)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract
2 T dairy-free milk

 

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375° and prepare a large loaf pan or another dish by greasing it with oil, vegan butter or lining it with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Mix them to combine.

Peel your bananas. Add them to a medium sized bowl and mash them until there are no lumps.

Add your sugar, pineapple juice, oil and vanilla into the medium bowl and mix until combined.

Add your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients.

Add your pecans and shredded coconut. Mix until combined. Be careful not to overmix and stop when the dough no longer has dry spots of flour visible.

Transfer the dough into your prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Depending on the thickness of your pan, your cake may need longer. Shallower pans may only need 25 minutes while thicker pans may need up to 40 to 45 minutes.

When your cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 1 to 2 hours before icing it.

While you wait for the cake to cool, you can make your frosting.

In a large bowl, add your vegan cream cheese. You can also use vegan butter or vegetable shortening in this recipe.

Add your vanilla extract and dairy-free milk to the bowl.

With a hand mixer, mix the ingredients until they are combined.

Add your powdered sugar in batches and mix using the hand mixer on medium speed. This will ensure that you don’t throw a cloud of powdered sugar back onto yourself while mixing.

After all the sugar is incorporated, mix the frosting on high speed until it becomes smooth and fluffy, which may take about 2 to 3 minutes.

Place your frosting on your cooled cake however you’d like. You can use a piping bag, a knife or a spoon to decorate it.

Enjoy!

 

Angel Food Cake

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This fluffy and delightfully sweet cake is a classic favorite. Angel food cake is wonderful all on its own or served with fruit and whipped cream, and this recipe makes plenty to go around for everyone. This cake has a reputation of being an intimidating bake, but we’ve made it easy to whip up at home with some tips and tricks. I hope you enjoy this scrumptious cake!

Make sure your egg whites are room temperature to get the best rise in your cake. Room temperature egg whites will whip up better than cold ones, which is important. There are no other leaveners, or ingredients to make this cake rise, besides the egg whites.

It is very important not to grease the pan you’re using for this cake. The batter must stick to the walls of the pan to help it rise and keep it from falling out of the pan in it’s cooling phase. You are also asked to turn the cake upside down while cooling. This will keep the cake from collapsing on itself and help it keep it’s rise while cooling.

This recipe will fill a tube pan, which is traditional for making angel food cake. It will also fill 2 loaf pans. Any pan you use must have tall walls to ensure that the cake can cool upside down. You can halve this recipe to fill one 1 loaf pan.

Ingredients:

1 Cup cake flour (see instructions below if you do not have cake flour)
1 ¼ Cup of sugar
¼ tsp salt
12 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cream of tarter

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350°

Separate your egg yolks from your egg whites, placing the egg whites and a large bowl. Set the egg whites aside to reach room temperature.

If you do not have cake flour, read these instructions to make your own. Take 1 Cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 T from the flour. Add 2 T cornstarch. Sift the flour and cornstarch together three times. This will serve as your cake flour for this recipe.

Sift your cake flour together with your sugar and salt into a medium sized bowl. Sift the dry mixture one more time to ensure it is fluffy and fine.

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat your egg whites until they are foamy, about 1 minute.

Add your cream of tarter and beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. If your egg whites are not forming soft peaks after 2 minutes, add another 1/8 tsp cream of tarter to help the peaks form.

Add your vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In 3 separate batches, slowly sift in your dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites carefully to avoid losing volume. Fold the mixture until you no longer see large streaks or patches of the dry ingredients in the egg whites.

Pour your batter into an ungreased pan and immediately place it in the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is lightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Flip your cake upside down on a cooling rack and allow it to cool at room temperature for 1 hour.

To remove your cake from it’s pan, run along the sides of the pan with a butterknife. For pans without a removable bottom, lay the pan on its side and insert the butterknife into the side of the pan. Gently pull it towards you using the cake on the bottom of the pan with the knife. Alternate sides until the cake pulls away from the bottom and out of the pan.
Serve plain or with a side of fruit and whipped cream. Enjoy!