It’s official. I am the designated birthday cake baker for my family. It’s now expected that I bring a made-from-scratch cake incorporating the honored guests favorite flavors. Talk about spoiled!
A fly on the wall would observe something like this:
Me: Oh, your birthday is in a couple weeks. You excited?
Family member: I know, can you believe it? Where has this year gone?
Me: Any special plans for the big day?
Family Member: Not sure yet, I’m just trying to think of what flavor birthday cake I want you to make!
Me: Oh…um…okay.
That’s right. I then have no choice but to begin my search for the perfect recipe (because it takes me ages to finally pick the one I feel is best), and make sure it will be adored by the guest of honor. I know it seems as if I view this as a painful and laborious chore, but I really and truly love every second of it. I could look though pictures, blogs, and recipes for hours!
My sister loves fall flavors: pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. She decided to “request” a cake incorporating any or all of those flavors.
Ready, Set, Google!
On the menu for this weeks honoree, my sister, is the Sky High Hummingbird Cake by the talented Sweetapolita. I had never heard of Hummingbird Cake until I came across her blog. It’s a cake that incorporates many of the flavors you usually find in a carrot cake, minus the carrot, and plus the banana.
See, I knew all those years of math would come in handy:
Carrot Cake – Carrot + Banana = Hummingbird Cake
Sweetapolita’s cakes are always so perfectly adorned and beautifully photographed. I was quite hesitant to attempt this cake because I could not imagine my cake resembling anything even remotely close to her cake! I decided to tackle it anyway and give it my best shot. When it comes down to it, the flavor is what matters most, especially in my family.
Looks are just the icing on the cake (sorry, had to).
Now, did I mention that she decided to name it “Sky High” because her cake was 9 layers tall!?!? Seriously? My skills are far from being at 9-layer caliber. I followed her recipe exactly, however, used two 9 inch rounds and separated each round into two, making it a total of 4 layers rather than her original 9 layers. This was much more manageable for me. I also made 1 1/2 times the cream cheese icing recipe to assure I would have a sufficient amount to use as filling as well as to the ice the outside of the cake completely. This was more than enough. It actually left just enough for The Fiance (notice he went from The Boyfriend to The Fiance?) to slather on the domed part of the cake I sliced off to even out the layers.
Could cake scraps be the reason He sticks around?
While the cake was baking I knew I had made the right choice. The house was filled with the most wonderful cinnamon-y banana bread aroma! Not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all!
All in all, the cake was a huge hit, the birthday girl was extremely happy with the combination of the pineapple chunks, ripe bananas, chopped pecans, and rich cream cheese icing. I made sure everyone left with a huge slice and stayed with one for a midnight snack 
I don’t trust myself with too much of this lying around the house.
Let me press publish to dig in.
This recipe is a keeper.
Yum.
P.S. I’m engaged!!
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that cake looks absolutely wonderful. Congrats on the engagement!
Thank you!!!! 😄