Last summer, Chef Art Smith opened Homecoming Florida Kitchen and Southern Shine in Disney Springs — and it quickly became one of our new favorite dining spots at Walt Disney World. The menu is full of Southern comfort foods including Church Lady Deviled Eggs, some of the best Fried Chicken we’ve ever tasted, and just-like-mom-used-to-make Macaroni and Cheese.
The dessert menu showcases several Southern specialties but two of the items absolutely stand out! When you’re there, you MUST try the Shine Cake and the Hummingbird Cake!
Hummingbird Cake — Up Close
Today we have the recipe for the amazing Hummingbird Cake, a southern specialty combining a moist pineapple and banana cake with luxuriously thick cream cheese frosting!
This cake is one of Chef Art’s classics – he made it for Maya Angelou’s 75th birthday – and now you can serve it up at your next family gathering (or, you know, make some and keep it all for yourself!).
Chef Art Smith’s Hummingbird Cake
Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming Florida Kitchen and Southern Shine
Cake Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped ripe bananas
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans (optional)
Frosting Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 4 1/2 cups, sifted)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure you position racks in the center and bottom third of the oven.
2. Lightly butter two 9-inch round cake pans, sprinkle evenly with flour and tap out the excess. You can also line the bottom of each cake pan with rounds of parchment paper, then flour the pans and tap out the excess.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, stir or whisk the bananas, pineapple, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Do not use an electric mixer. Pour into the dry mixture and fold together with a large spatula just until smooth. Do not beat. Fold in the pecans. Spread evenly into the pans.
4. Bake 30-35 minutes until the center of cakes spring back when pressed. Transfer the cakes to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the racks (remove the parchment paper now if you used it). Turn cakes right side up and cool completely.
To make the icing:
Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined. On low speed gradually mix in the sugar, then the vanilla to make a smooth icing.
To frost the cake:
Place 1 cake layer upside down on a serving platter. Spread with about 2/3 cup of the icing. Top with the second layer right side up. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.
The cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and stored, uncovered in the refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
Serves 12
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Will you be whipping up Chef Art Smith’s Hummingbird Cake? Let us know in the comments.
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I’ve made this cake several times — it’s delicious!
Sue — Yessss! We love it tooo!
How many bananas are “two cups chopped ripe bananas”?
When I make banana cake, I mash the bananas smooth. Are the bananas in this cake left in chunks?
My boyfriend sent me this recipe begging me to make it (we are Disney nerds). I made it today and baked it as both a cake (1 pan) and cupcakes so he could bring some into work for his coworkers! This recipe is so delicious and now I’m hoping we can get to Homecoming on our next Disney trip. I posted a pic of the cupcakes on Instagram — @phillytodisney
PhillytoDisney — Yay!! Thanks so much for sharing your happy success with us!
I just this afternoon made a batch of Hummingbird cupcakes from your recipe for my boyfriend to take to work to share! In case anyone is wondering, I made the batter exactly as this recipe states, but divided it into cupcake cases and baked for *35 minutes* at around 175°c (I’m from England so my oven is in centigrade) but it’s around the same temp as is listed here. They came out absolutely perfect!! I’m so excited to eat them, haha, but not until after dinner!! The whole house smelled delicious while they were baking. I’m also going to make this cake for Easter at the weekend, we’ve got a family gathering at my parents and I think it’ll go down a treat after a heavy roast dinner! I’m a bit obsessed with banana bread and this combination of that with the pineapple and CREAM CHEESE FROSTING – naturally I ran out and bought all the ingredients as soon as I read the words.
Thanks for sharing this recipe, a little bit of Florida sunshine right here in my UK kitchen.
Natalie — Yay! Hummingbird Cake is a lovely US southern tradition, and I’m so glad that you’re enjoying it in the UK as well! And now, I really want to bake some hummingbird cupcakes… 😀
Just back from Art Smith’s in Disney Springs and sought out this recipe. This is a delicious cake!! However the cake at the restaurant and even the cake in the picture is three layers. Do I slice a cake for the third layer – or double the recipe for a higher cake?
What is the church lady deviled eggs? Can anyone help me?
Need recipe for church lady deviled eggs
Pat, try looking here. Hopefully this helps!
Oh my gosh-we were at Disney Springs this past October, and went to Art Smith’s restaurant. We were so full but I saw the Hummingbird Cake on the menu-I’ve read about it in books but have never had it before. We ordered it to share, and saw this HUGE piece of cake placed in front of us, I said “there is no way we will finish this!”. Suffice to say, we were practically licking the plate clean at the end. I think this is the best cake I have EVER had. I am so making this over the holiday season!!
We love Chef Art’s Homecoming restaurant but have never ordered dessert there because we are always too full. I made this at my son’s request. Delicious! We will definitely make it again.
Pamela, thanks for the review! 🙂
This was delicious! Can it be made in a bundt cake? If so how long would I bake it?
Kristin, I am personally a big fan of bundt pans because they seem to bake so much faster. I would recommend you do the test where you put a skewer or the tip of a knife in to see if it comes out clean. If it were me, I’d probably start checking it around 20 minutes.
I made this cake for Mother’s Day and it turned out pretty well. I mashed the bananas instead of leaving them in chunks and it came out a bit dense but not overly sweet. Does it matter if they are mashed or in chunks? BUT my kids LOVED it-so much that my oldest requested I make it for her birthday this year. Also, the icing was a bit thick-do you add anything else to it?
I’ve never had this before (we have reservations to eat here our next trip, so excited!!) decided to try it. I made muffins instead of a cake and they were so amazingly good!! The second batch I also made the frosting, which is to die for good! Now I can’t decide which way I like them better! Lol
WOW! Thank you for this recipe! I just spent the evening making it and am very pleased! I made it in two 9 inch pans, as described, but chose to to layer it; I made it into two separate cakes. Pics at my Instragram @lufta_shif if you are interested. Thanks again!
I made this cake for our Memorial Day bbq. It was a small group this year but the cake is all gone now. Loved the fact that I didn’t need to use the mixer so less cleanup too.
It was the best cake ever! Everyone enjoyed. I would definitely make it again!
Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
Restaurant serves a three layer cake. Picture shows a three layer cake. Instructions are for a two layer cake?