The Hairy Bikers' hummingbird cake

Name: hairy bikers hummingbird cake
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 10 servings

The Hairy Bikers share their recipe for Jamaican hummingbird cake, a spiced banana and pineapple cake topped with cream cheese icing.

Top down view of a cake with white icing edged with a ring of chopped nuts and one slice removed

By The Hairy Bikers | Published - 27 Feb 2026

This is an impressive cake and good for a celebration, but it’s not hard to make. The pineapple and banana make for a lovely moist texture, and it’s all topped off with a delicious cream cheese icing. They’ll be queuing up for slices of this.

Cooking time

30 mins

Serves

Ingredients

For the hummingbird cake

250g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
Rasp of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
3 eggs
150g light soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lime
175ml sunflower oil
3 bananas, mashed
150g pineapple, finely chopped (canned is fine)
50g walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

For the cream cheese icing

100g butter, softened pinch of salt
150g icing sugar
A few drops of vanilla extract or zest of 1 lime
200g cream cheese

To garnish (optional)

50g walnuts or pecans, very finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Line 2 sandwich tins (20-21cm diameter) with baking parchment.
Put the flour, baking powder and spices into a bowl with a generous pinch of salt, and whisk briefly to combine and get rid of any lumps.
Put the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and lime zest into a bowl, and whisk until really well aerated. Beat in the sunflower oil, then fold in the flour mixture, mashed bananas, chopped pineapple and nuts. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins – weigh the mixture if you want precision and a very even bake – and smooth it down.
Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until the sponge is a good colour and well risen. It should also have shrunk slightly away from the sides of the tin. Leave the cakes in the tins to cool.
For the icing, put the butter in a bowl with a pinch of salt, and beat until soft and pale. Gradually add in the icing sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until the mixture is soft and well aerated. Add the vanilla extract or lime zest, then beat in the cream cheese. Keep the mixing to a minimum at this stage, but make sure the icing is nice and smooth. You are aiming for a reluctant dropping consistency, but on a hot day it might be softer. Leave the icing to chill in the fridge for at least an hour, until it has firmed up a little and is a spreadable consistency.
When you are ready to put everything together, spread about a third of the icing over one of the cakes, then top with the remaining cake. Spread a thick layer of icing on the top of the cake, then use any remaining icing on the sides, working from the bottom up with a metal spatula and scraping it quite thinly. Smooth the top of the cake down and sprinkle with the nuts, if using.

From The Hairy Bikers’ Brilliant Bakes by Si King and Dave Myers (Seven Dials), RRP £25.

Check price

(Hero image credit: Andrew Hayes-Watkins)

Written by: The Hairy Bikers

Si King and Dave Myers, the Hairy Bikers, became national treasures with their blend of enthusiasm and humour.
They hosted more than 30 TV series combining motorcycling and cooking, and sold more than 6 million copies of their books. In February 2024, Dave Myers passed away after a long battle with cancer.

View author page