Frosted Hummingbird Bread Recipe

There are plenty of good uses for leftover ripe bananas. Banana bread, for example, is a great option, albeit a slightly overdone one. Looking to switch things up? Then look no further than this frosted hummingbird read recipe from developer Jessica Morone. In addition to bananas, this cake-like bread incorporates the tropical flavors of crushed pineapple and shredded coconut. Pecans are added for extra texture and flavor, and the bread is topped with a creamy and tangy cream cheese frosting. "The combination of all the fruit flavors with the warm spices and the luscious cream cheese frosting is a winning one because they all pair together so perfectly," Morone says.

This bread is sweet enough to be served as a dessert, or hearty enough to be a nice breakfast. It's also quite easy to make, and unlike a lot of breads out there, you don't have to worry about yeast or rising or anything like that. Whether you want to eat this in the morning with your coffee, as a snack during the day or as a dessert after your dinner, this is sure to be a recipe that you will enjoy making. 

For the bread itself you will need flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vegetable (or canola) oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, an egg, crushed pineapple, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and ripe bananas. "You can use ripe bananas, or even overripe bananas, as they tend to be sweeter," Morone advises. "Just make sure the bananas aren't too ripe." For the frosting you will need cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and more chopped pecans. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat together the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.

To the sugar mixture, add the egg, mashed bananas, and crushed pineapple and beat until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.

Gently fold in the shredded coconut and chopped pecans.

Add the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. (If the bread starts to brown too much on top while baking, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.)

Remove bread from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan.

While the bread cools, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Spread the frosting over the top of the cooled bread.

Sprinkle with remaining chopped pecans.

Slice and serve.

You need to have ripe bananas for this bread, but if your bananas aren't ripe yet, there are some tricks you can do to make your bananas ripen for baking. Morone notes that her favorite way to ripen bananas quickly is in the oven. "You just put unpeeled bananas on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet in the oven at 300 F and bake for about a half an hour," she explains. "Once thee peels turn black and they are soft, they are ready to use for baking." 

Another method for ripening bananas quickly is to poke unpeeled bananas with a fork and microwave them for 30 seconds at a time until soft. This method will make them the right texture for baking, but they wont be as sweet as if you baked them or just had regular ripe bananas. Another option (if you have 1-2 days before you want to make this bread) is to put the bananas in a paper bag and let them sit for a few days, which will make the bananas ripen faster than just letting them sit on the counter.

This hummingbird bread is a quick bread, which means it uses baking powder and baking soda to make it rise rather than yeast, so it doesn't require a lot of mixing. In fact, it's crucial not to overmix the bread batter as it can end up being dense and tough rather than light and fluffy. As Morone explains, "Overmixing causes the gluten in the flour to develop too much, so when you overmix the batter you're overworking the gluten, which leads to a tougher final product." 

To avoid the all-too-common overmixing mistake, mix until the batter just comes together and no streaks of visible flour are left in the batter. Other than overmixing the batter, the only other mistake to look out for in this recipe is making sure the cream cheese and butter for the frosting are softened to room temperature, otherwise the frosting will be lumpy. "If your cream cheese or butter are a bit too cold, you can microwave them for about 10 seconds to soften them up," Morone notes.