I first remember hearing about hummingbird cake when I was watching an episode of Cupcake Wars, where it was mentioned as a Southern wedding cake that featured bananas, pecans, sometimes coconut or pineapple, and a cream cheese frosting. It sounded like a banana-nut muffin, but with frosting, if we are being honest here. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I personally love banana nut muffins. So making a cake variation on that sounds like a great time! But in the case of this hummingbird cake, I wanted to use a few techniques to really bring it up a few notches and make it a truly memorable take on a Southern classic. I find more often than not that banana desserts can either taste too artificially banana’d(like Laffy Taffy), or the banana, being a generally mild and sweet flavor, just gets overpowered completely by other ingredients. For any banana dessert that I make, I love using either super ripe(like the peels are completely black) bananas, or roasting my bananas in the oven to tenderize them and intensify the flavor. I used that technique for my banana cake batter, just to guarantee that the cake was undeniably banana-flavored! I also wanted to use some ingredients that I had lying around my kitchen, and I happened to have some ginger powder and miso paste lying around. While these are both great staples for Japanese savory dishes, I wanted to use both the ginger and the miso in this dessert to add some complexity, just so it was not a straightforward banana sponge – since being “straight”-forward is definitely not for me. The ginger and miso bring spice and saltiness, and really ties this together as an extremely delicious hummingbird cake!

For the components, we have a brown butter-banana cake, studded with coconut flakes and pecans, a miso caramel, a ginger milk soak, and a ginger-cream cheese ganache frosting. The cake itself is temperamental – assuming you are roasting the bananas like I did, you will need those and the brown butter to cool down before you add these ingredients to the others, or else you can risk your batter coming out dense. The miso caramel can be tricky if you have never made caramel before – if so, use a thermometer for consistent results. With the ganache, in lieu of a cream cheese frosting, I used a combination of cream cheese and cream cheese chips to make a whipped topping to bring the entire cake together. I opted to use ginger specifically since it adds spice and heat, which temper down any overtly sweet elements in the dessert, without necessarily overpowering them. The ganache was fairly easy to make, mostly because the cream cheese has so many emulsifiers in it that you can’t really split or separate the ganache from whipping it too much. I found that the cake portion itself of this dessert was good enough to eat on its own, being decadent and almost brownie-like, but pairing it with a delicious sweet-salty-bitter caramel and a fragrant, creamy frosting-like situation, it is honestly a cake that is worth baking just so that you can experience that kind of pure deliciousness for yourself!

Makes 1 6-inch, 4 layer cake, or roughly 8 servings:
For the cake:
4 bananas
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, browned
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened toasted coconut flakes
3/4 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

If you are using really ripe(like completely brown, almost-black) bananas, you can skip this step. If your un-peeled bananas are yellow or green, stick them in at 350 degree F oven for at least 10 minutes, or until they are almost black on the exterior, and completely soft to the touch – you should be able to poke them and the banana will give.

Peel your softened bananas and mix them with brown sugar, brown butter, salt, and cinnamon. I recommend using a fork to smash the bananas first before using a whisk to mix them, as this helps break the bananas down further for easier incorporation of the other ingredients. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Mix to that your pecans and coconut flakes, tossing them through the flour-baking soda mixture – coating each pecan and coconut flake in the flour will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake as the batter bakes. In a third container, mix together the buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. To form your batter, alternate between mixing half of your flour mixture and half of the buttermilk-egg mixture into the banana-brown butter puree. After half each of the flour and buttermilk have been added to the bananas and mixed in, add in the rest of each, folding those through until everything is mixed in – the only lumps in the batter should be from the bananas, pecans, or coconut flakes. Pour the batter into a parchment-lined half sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 22 minutes. Allow the cake to fully cool before cutting out 4 6-inch rounds using a ring mold, forming any rounds as necessary using the cake scraps.

For the miso caramel:
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp whole milk
1 tbsp white miso paste
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, heat up the cream, milk, miso paste, unsalted butter, and gelatin on low heat, allowing the miso, butter, and gelatin to dissolve into the liquid. Keep that mixture warm as it will expedite the caramel-making process. In another pot, heat up the sugar on medium heat until it fully melts and begins to turn an amber color. Take the sugar pot off heat and pour into that the contents of the pot with the heated cream, minus the vanilla. A warning, the cream may boil up, so be careful not to keep your hands too close to the pot, and use a heatproof rubber spatula or a long wooden spoon to stir the ingredients together. Should any parts of the caramelized sugar not dissolve into the cream, return the pot to the stove on low heat, stirring until the solidified sugar pieces fully melt into the liquid. Once everything is smooth and homogenous, take the caramel off heat and transfer to another container, allowing it to cool down to room temperature before attempting to use in your cake for assembly.

For the ginger cream cheese ganache:
1 tsp powdered ginger
4oz heavy cream
a pinch of salt
8oz cream cheese chips
8oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, heat up the ginger, cream, and salt, bringing it to a simmer. Pour the simmering cream over the cream cheese chips and allow that to sit for 1 minute before stirring until combined. In another bowl, whip the cream cheese and vanilla together first until soft and spreadable, and then fold into that the cream cheese chip-cream mixture to form your ganache.

For the ginger-milk soak:
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1 cup milk
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together to form your soak. Keep refrigerated until time to use.

To assemble:
Start by placing a 6-inch ring mold on a small sheet tray lined with either a silpat or parchment – keep in mind that you need this sheet tray to fit in either your freezer or refrigerator! Line the ring mold with acetate(in a pinch, parchment can work too). Place down one layer of your cake(I prefer to use my (s)crappiest for the bottom. Add to that 1/4 of your soak then spread 1/3 of the cream cheese ganache on top of that. Drizzle onto the ganache 1/3 of the caramel. Then repeat these steps 3 more times to finish layering up your cake. Transfer the cake to the freezer and freeze the cake for at least 3 hours before attempting to unmold. If using your refrigerator, allow the cake to sit in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before attempting to unmold and serve.