Hummingbird Cake is a Southern layer cake that features a crowd-pleasing combination of banana, pineapple, and coconut.
Originally, it was called the “Doctor bird cake”, a nickname for a Jamaican variety of hummingbird called the Red-billed Streamertail. As per Jamieoliver.com, the name came from the way the bird’s long beak probes flowers, like a doctor inspecting a patient.
So what does that have to do with a pineapple and banana cake? Some say the cake was named after the bird because it was sweet enough to attract hummingbirds (who eat only nectar), while others say the yellow streaks of banana was reminiscent of the bird’s plumage.
Others say that it makes you hum with happiness.
Check out these 6 Hummingbird Cake recipes from Southernliving.com, all of which put a special spin on the sweet pineapple-banana-cream cheese combination.