Alternative names | doctor bird cake |
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Type | Cake |
Place of origin | Jamaica |
Main ingredients | Flour, sugar, vegetable oil, Bananas, pineapples, pecans, vanilla, eggs, spices |
Hummingbird cake is a banana-pineapple spice cake originating in Jamaica and a popular dessert in the southern United States since the 1970s. Ingredients include flour, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, ripe banana, pineapple, cinnamon, pecans, vanilla extract, eggs, and leavening agent. It is often served with cream cheese frosting. [1] [2] [3]
Created in Jamaica where the dessert is called the doctor bird cake (or Dr. Bird cake), [4] [5] it is named after the island's national bird, the scissors-tail hummingbird (locally known as the doctor bird). In 1968, the Jamaica Tourist Board exported the recipe for hummingbird cake, along with other local Jamaican recipes, in media press kits sent to the USA. [4] The marketing was aimed at American consumers to create interest in visiting the island. [5] [6]
One of the first known publications of the recipe in US print, as written by L.H. Wiggins, was in the February 1978 issue of Southern Living . [5] The recipe was a hit with readers and won the Favorite Cake Award later that same year at the Kentucky State Fair.
It was later voted Southern Living's favorite recipe in 1990 and was noted as the most requested recipe in the magazine's history. [7] The Southern cake typically has two or three layers with pecans (or walnuts), mashed ripe bananas, canned crushed pineapple and a sweet cream cheese frosting.
Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color possibly due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa, and possibly due to the usage of brown sugar, formerly called red sugar.
German chocolate cake, originally German's chocolate cake, is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Originating in the United States, it was named after English-American chocolate maker Samuel German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe. Sweet baking chocolate is traditionally used for the cake's flavor, but few recipes call for it today. The filling and/or topping is a custard made with egg yolks and evaporated milk; once the custard is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred in. Occasionally, a chocolate frosting is spread on the sides of the cake and piped around the circumference of the layers to hold in the filling. Maraschino cherries are occasionally added as a garnish.
Kuchen, the German word for cake, is used in other languages as the name for several different types of savory or sweet desserts, pastries, and gateaux. Most Kuchen have eggs, flour and sugar as common ingredients while also, but not always, including some fat. In the Germanosphere it is a common tradition to invite friends over to one's house or to a cafe between noon and evening to drink coffee and eat Kuchen.
A layer cake or sandwich cake is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by a filling such as frosting, jam, or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for layer cakes; butter cakes and sponge cakes are common choices. Frequently, the cake is covered with icing, but sometimes, the sides are left undecorated, so that the filling and the number of layers are visible.
Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.
A Boston cream pie is a cake with a cream filling. The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were baked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. In the late 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cream pie", a "chocolate cream pie", or a "custard cake". The cake has been popular in Massachusetts since its creation.
Coffee cake or coffeecake is a sweet bread common in the United States, so called because it is typically served with coffee. Leavenings can include yeast, baking soda, or baking powder. The modern dish typically contains no coffee. Outside the US, the term is generally understood to mean a cake flavored with coffee.
Better than sex cake is a cake baked using yellow cake mix, with a juicy pineapple center, covered with layers of vanilla pudding and sweetened whipped cream, and sprinkled with coconut flakes. A variant using chocolate cake mix, caramel topping, and crumbled toffee is known by similar names such as better than Robert Redford cake.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with eggs, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognised today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
Coconut cake is a popular dessert in the Southern region of the United States. It is a cake frosted with a white frosting and covered in coconut flakes.
Strawberry cake is a cake that uses strawberry as a primary ingredient. Strawberries may be used in the cake batter, atop the cake, and in the frosting. Strawberry cakes are typically served cold.
A banana cake is a cake prepared using banana as a primary ingredient and typical cake ingredients. It can be prepared in various manners, including as a layer cake, as muffins and as cupcakes. Steamed banana cake is found in Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese cuisine. In the Philippines, the term "banana cake" refers to banana bread introduced during the American colonial period of the Philippines.
Mango Float or crema de mangga is a Filipino icebox cake dessert made with layers of ladyfingers (broas) or graham crackers, whipped cream, condensed milk, and ripe carabao mangoes. It is chilled for a few hours before serving, though it can also be frozen to give it an ice cream-like consistency. It is a modern variant of the traditional Filipino crema de fruta cake. It is also known by various other names like mango refrigerator cake, mango graham float, mango royale, and mango icebox cake, among others. Crema de mangga is another version that additionally uses custard and gulaman (agar) or gelatin, as in the original crema de fruta.
Mango cake or mango chiffon cake, is a Filipino layered chiffon cake infused with ripe sweet Carabao mangoes. It is typically topped with mango cream frosting, fresh mango slices, or pureed mangoes in gulaman or gelatin. Other common toppings include cream, cream cheese, and chocolate. It also commonly sandwiches slices of mangoes between the layers. It is one of the most popular cake variants in the Philippines, where mangoes are abundant year-round. Commercial versions are also available in large bakery chains like Red Ribbon Bakeshop and Goldilocks Bakeshop, as well as individual recipes from restaurants, often with unique names. It is very similar to crema de mangga, except that mango cake uses layers of chiffon cake not broas or graham crackers. The two recipes can sometimes be combined, however.
Pie in American cuisine has roots in English cuisine and has evolved over centuries to adapt to American cultural tastes and ingredients. The creation of flaky pie crust shortened with lard is credited to American innovation.
A fruit pizza is a type of pastry that is distinguished by its pizza-shaped cookie crust, frosting, and fruit toppings. Fruit pizza is well known for the colorful designs and patterns made by the intricate arrangement of the many different fruits topping the dessert. Fruit pizza is often seen as a healthier dessert option due to the prominence of fresh fruit.