Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes are bite-sized bundt cakes made with a slightly modified classic Hummingbird Cake recipe. Think carrot cake with bananas replacing the carrots and you’ll have an idea of the taste and texture of this amazing cake. Don’t forget, however, the decadent cream cheese frosting that sits like a jewel atop these mini-bundtlettes.
About Hummingbird Cake
The recipe for Hummingbird Cake was first submitted to Southern Living over 40 years ago. Since then, it has become Southern Living’s most popular cake recipe of all time, and for good reason. It uses simple ingredients, is easy to make and is delicious beyond imagination. It tastes somewhat like banana bread but is much more moist. However, like carrot cake, it’s finished off with a luscious cream cheese frosting.
No one really knows why it’s called Hummingbird though. Perhaps it originated during the summer when the hummingbirds were hungrily feeding on sugar nectar. Or maybe it was so named because of its sweetness or the originator’s fondness of hummingbirds. Whatever the origin, Hummingbird Cake is truly a Southern classic. These mini-bundtlettes will quickly become your classic!
Ingredients for Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes
I used the following ingredients for these little gems: All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, Kosher salt, baking soda, eggs, bananas, canned crushed pineapple, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and toasted pecans. Just like for banana bread, I used slightly over-ripe bananas.
Making the Batter for the Mini-Bundtlettes
Making the Batter for the Mini-BundtlettesI started by whisking together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
Then, I added beaten eggs, mashed bananas, crushed pineapple with its juices, vegetable oil, vanilla and pecans to the flour mixture.
I stirred the thick batter with a wooden spoon just until the ingredients were incorporated. That’s it. I told you it was simple!
Cooking the Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes
Cooking the Hummingbird Mini-BundtlettesOnce the batter was made, I sprayed my mini-bundtlette pan with vegetable oil/flour baking non-stick spray, like Baker’s Joy. Even though my pan was non-stick, I wanted to ensure that the little cakes would be easily released. If you don’t have a pan like this, you could certainly use a regular muffin pan either with or without cupcake liners.
Once the pan was prepared, I used a large ice cream scoop to fill the cavities about ¾ full. The ice cream scoop held about ¼ cup of batter.
I baked the bundtlettes in a preheated 350° F oven for about 23 minutes. After 23 minutes, the cakes had started pulling away from the sides of the pan and sprang back when I pressed the middle. I removed the pan from the oven and let the cakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I turned the pan upside down on a wire cooling rack to release the cakes. I let the mini-bundtlettes cool completely before frosting them.
Frosting the Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Frosting the Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes with Cream Cheese FrostingWhile the cakes were cooling, I made the cream cheese frosting. Generally cream cheese frosting contains both cream cheese and butter. However, the butter tends to give the frosting a yellowish tint. Because I wanted to avoid the yellowish tint, I decided to experiment. I omitted the butter and added a bit of heavy cream in its place. Guess what? It worked!
I beat together full fat cream cheese, heavy cream and salt until it was fluffy. Then, I beat in confectioners’ sugar in stages until the frosting reached the proper consistency.
I transferred the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a #4B open star tip. Then, I piped swirls of the cream cheese frosting on top of the little cakes.
I ended up with 2 ½ dozen of the cutest and most amazingly delicious Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes that you could imagine. The banana flavored cakes were moist beyond imagination and filled with chunks of pineapple and toasted pecans. The yummy cream cheese frosting swirled on top perfectly complimented the not-too-sweet cake. Yum!
For another awesome recipe using the mini-bundt pan, check out my Copycat Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundtinis!
Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes
Ingredients
Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes
- 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (14 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups mashed bananas (3 to 4 large bananas) (See Tip 1)
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
- ¾ cup vegetable oil (See Tip 2)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup toasted pecan pieces (See Tip 3)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temperature (See Tip 4)
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream (See Tip 5)
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 cups (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray cavities of bundtlette pan with vegetable spray mixed with flour, like Baker's Joy. Set aside. (See Tip 6)
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, mashed bananas, crushed pineapple with its juices, vegetable oil, vanilla and toasted pecans.
- Stir all ingredients together just until well incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Fill cavities of prepared pan ¾ full. (See Tip 7)
- Bake in preheated 350° F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and cakes start to pull away from sides of pan. Remove from oven. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
- Frost with swirls of cream cheese frosting using #4B open star tip. Yield: 30 mini-bundtlettes. (See Tip of 8)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the cream cheese, cream and salt in a large bowl until creamy, about 1 minute. Add confectioners' sugar one cup at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition until creamy. When all of the confectioners' sugar has been added, increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Frost the mini-bundtlettes as desired. (See Tip 9)
Chula's Expert Tips
- Use over-ripe bananas (yellow peels splotched with brown flecks) for these cakes to achieve the depth of flavor and moistness. Also, 24 to 28 ounces of unpeeled bananas produced 2 cups of mashed bananas.
- I used regular vegetable oil. You could also use Canola oil. I wouldn't recommend using olive oil.
- Always toast the pecans for your baked goods. The toasting significantly enhances their flavor. To toast, spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Watch carefully to ensure that they do not over-toast.
- Avoid the temptation to use low fat or fat free cream cheese for this frosting. Both low fat and fat free cream cheese are more watery which will impact the consistency of your frosting. If you have to use low fat or fat free cream cheese, increase the amount of confectioners' sugar to the desired consistency.
- 2 tablespoons of heavy cream produced the perfect frosting consistency for me - thick and pipeable. However, add more or less cream to achieve your desired consistency.
- Even if your pan is non-stick, spray the cavities liberally to ensure that the cakes do not stick. Alternatively, you can use a regular-sized muffin pan with or without cupcake liners. If you don't use cupcake liners, spray the cavities liberally with the non-stick spray.
- I used a ¼ cup ice cream scoop to fill the cavities. You could also just use a spoon to fill the cavities ¾ full.
- You could also use the cake recipe to make a full-sized bundt cake. Make sure that the bundt pan is liberally sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Use a thinner frosting to glaze the bundt cake.
- Since cream cheese needs to be refrigerated, these frosted mini-bundtlettes should be refrigerated. However, if your house is cool, they will be all right for a day without refrigeration.
YUM! These mini bundt cakes look so delicious!
They really are delicious. My husband ate six in one sitting!
Chula, came to your site to get a printable version of the Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlette Recipe after reading it in the Tallahassee Democrat. I absolutely LOVE the detail of your step-by-step photos!
And, I just discovered how many vegetarian recipes you have, so I am a new and happy subscriber.
Thanks for all the time you put into making it easy to follow your recipes!
Wow Allie. Thanks so much for your comments! My husband has decided that we should focus more on vegetarian type dishes, so there will be more to come!
Chula
Great recipe but can not find that pan anywhere
Can u send me a link where u bought this pan
Thanks
I used the Nordicware Bundt Brownie Pan (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DE2QM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). It worked like a charm!
Chula