What Southern Folks Eat: Sweet as the sound of hummingbird wings

 It’s hummingbird time in the South! Now that temperatures
are nice and moderately warm, I’ve started to hear the hum of a few little
birds flitting around… maybe checking the status of last year’s feeders? It’s
time to get those out and fill them.

Hummingbirds amaze me with their speed, their beauty, and
their diminutive size. They don’t let their smallness deter them from being
bold and territorial, of course, as other hummingbirds who dare to approach a
feeder that has been claimed by one knows. I’ve watched in amazement as two of
the little guys battled each other for a feeder that would easily have fed them
both, flying higher and higher until I could no longer see them, in a fight
scene that rivaled the much-too-long one in that movie, Batman vs. Superman. (I’d
rather have watched hummingbirds on my porch for those three hours, to be
honest.)

Hummingbirds, or hummers as mama simply called them, were
the inspiration for one of the South’s favorite desserts, the hummingbird cake.
It wasn’t actually invented in the South, however. It hails from lovely
Jamaica. There is a certain type of hummingbird, Trochilus Polytmus,
that the locals had nicknamed “the doctor bird,” as the little birds poked and
prodded tropical blooms with their needle-like beaks much like doctors poke and
prod their patients with surgical tools. The loved the colorful little guys so
much that they made the doctor bird the national bird of Jamaica, as it is only
found there.

The cake consists of tropical fruits, and the colors of the
pineapple, cherries and bananas apparently reminded the creator of the doctor
bird cake, as it was originally called back in the 1960s, of the color of the
Jamaican national bird. By the time a Southerner tried it and sent the recipe
in to Southern Living magazine in the 1970s, the name had been changed to
“hummingbird cake” and after the magazine published the recipe, people around
the region fell in love with the moist, fruity cake.

A hummingbird cake is made with bananas, pineapple,
cherries, and nuts, typically pecans. It is frosted with rich cream cheese
icing and topped with whatever the baker wants to top it with, typically more
pecans. It’s so decadent, so moist and delicious, that there are hundreds upon
hundreds of recipes for it on the internet. When I want to make the real thing,
I always immediately go to the website for Southern Living magazine and use
that recipe, as it is the old school original, in my opinion, and can’t be
beat.

However, when there is a need for speed in baking, I have
come up with two alternatives that use a few shortcuts for the benefit of
saving time, and both are really quite delicious. I think you’ll agree with me
if you try out either one.

First, I have adapted the original recipe into a sheet cake
format, and I used a few shortcuts that will help you get dessert ready with
less work. It is a welcome addition to any dessert buffet at church or baby
showers, but it’s also welcome on the supper table in your own home, I have
found.

Here’s that recipe: 

Hummingbird sheet cake

• 1 box yellow or white cake mix
• 8-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and chopped
• 10-12 maraschino cherries, halved, plus 2 teaspoons juice
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 can cream cheese frosting
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans, plus 2 tablespoons chopped pecans,
  reserved for topping

Method

1.  Combine all ingredients except reserved pecans in a large
   mixing bowl. Mix for one minute on medium speed with hand blender.
2. Bake in a 9 x 13-inch greased baking dish at 350 for 30
   minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
3. Cool completely, then frost with cream cheese icing, and top
   with a sprinkling of pecans. For added color, feel free to sprinkle on some
   chopped cherries when serving.

Next, I created a cool treat that features the fruits and
nuts of the cake: a hummingbird pie!

Steph’s Hummingbird pie

Ingredients

• 5 ounce box of instant vanilla pudding mix
• 20 ounce can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
• 1 cup sour cream
• small jar of maraschino cherries, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 small banana, sliced just before using
• graham cracker pie crust
• Reddi-Wip (in the spray can)

 Method

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together pineapple, pudding mix, and
   sour cream.
2. When well blended, add the pecans, reserving a few to sprinkle
   over the top.
3. You can choose to add about 1/2 jar drained cherries to the
   mixture, or put them on top of the pie, whichever you prefer, or even do some
   of each.
4. Pour the pie filling into a graham cracker crust, and smooth
   the top
5. Chill for at least two hours…I prefer to put mine in the
   freezer for that time so it gets firmer and easier to cut.
6. Just before serving, sprinkle with bananas, whipped cream,
   and the reserved pecans, as well as the cherries if you didn’t add to the pie filling.
   Enjoy this refreshing treat on any warm day!

I love making both of these recipes, and I hope you do, as
well. They’re perfect for sharing, so keep in mind that neighbor who helped you
with a project or gathered your mail while you were out of town, or the person
who is home taking care of a sick family member, perhaps… you get the idea.
It’s always fun to share something delicious as a way of saying “thank you!”

 Stephanie Hill-Frazier is a writer, food blogger and
regional television chef, whose on-air nickname is “Mama Steph.” She grew up in
Gulf County, on St. Joe Beach, a place she will forever call home. She is
married and has three sons who are substantially taller than she is. You can
find more of her recipes at WhatSouthernFolksEat.com