Hummingbird Cake Bars (+Video)
Hummingbird Cake Bars are a classic southern cake recipe made into an easy bar form. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting takes it over the top!
A TWIST ON A CLASSIC RECIPE
I am sharing a classic recipe with a twist today! Hummingbird Cake is a well-loved and well-known southern recipe. It’s a great way to use up ripe bananas! And it comes from one of my dear friends, Jennifer, who blogs at Bake or Break. Jennifer has written one of my new favorite baking cookbooks. It’s called Quick Shop & Prep 5 Ingredient Baking. So, the idea is that you have all of these basics already in your pantry and fridge. Jennifer calls it ‘The Baker’s Pantry.’
EASILY MADE WITH PANTRY STAPLES
You have items like eggs, milk, flour and butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and spices. When you always have these on hand, all you have to do is pick up a couple extra ingredients at the store to make the most awesome-est baked goods.
Jennifer has allowed me to share a recipe from her book today. It’s her take on Hummingbird Cake. The recipe is called Hummingbird Bars. It’s tender enough to be a cake but dense enough that you can easily eat it with your hands (no fork needed!)And the cinnamon cream cheese frosting? It is perfect for the flavors in the bars.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- unsalted butter
- sugar
- light brown sugar
- egg
- vanilla extract
- ripe bananas
- crushed pineapple
- chopped pecans
- cream cheese
- ground cinnamon
- powdered sugar
HOW TO MAKE HUMMINGBIRD CAKE BARS:
TO MAKE THE BARS: Preheat the oven to 350f degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix well.
Mix in the bananas and pineapple
Reduce the mixer speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined.
Stir in the pecans.
Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool completely.
TO MAKE THE CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
Gradually add the powdered sugar.
And mix until smooth.
Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cake.
Sprinkle the top with pecans.
Cut into bars and serve! Makes 24 bars.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Hummingbird Cake Bars (+Video)
Ingredients
For the bars:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:
- ½ block cream cheese (4 ounces) softened
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick) softened
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
TO MAKE THE BARS:
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and mix well. Mix in the bananas and pineapple
- Reduce the mixer speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Stir in the pecans.
- Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely.
TO MAKE THE CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled bars. Sprinkle the top with pecans.
- Cut into 24 bars and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I LOVE cheesecake. Or, any variation of cheesecake. So, so rich and delicious!
My favorite dessert, believe it or not, is Hummingbird Cake. I make it every year for my daughter's birthday. Would love a copy of this cookbook.
Love this recipe. Of course I had to make it as soon as saw the recipe. My grandkids actually started to lick their plates when they were finished. Remember my grandma making this when I was a kid. Would love the cook book.
My favorite dessert is home made chocolate chip pecan cookies warm from the oven!
Not to sound cranky – but I LOVE your blog. I love the recipe posts and the link-ups. But all of the ADS in the posts are SO DISTRACTING and make it VERY hard to read and follow the recipes – especially on a portable device like a tablet or phone. I know it's necessary to support blogs and you are certainly not the only one… it just makes it really hard to read and I find I'm less inclined to try to read or click through a post because of the ads…
I love chocolate cream pie!
This sounds like a terrific book. The recipe you posted must be yummy. What a genius idea to have a cookbook that lies flat while you are using it! And I am one who needs to have a photo to inspire me to cook, so this is something I would love to have. Thanks for the opportunity!
My favorite dessert is a Danish dessert that I absolutely love. It's called Citron Fromage which translates from French to Lemon Cheese. It's a very light dessert and everyone loves it. I make it for my husband's birthday as it's his favorite too!
Love your recipe, and I have the original Southern Living recipe from 1979, I believe. It was the first copy I ever saw and bought and I made the cake over and over from special occasions. Now I can enjoy your bars at our pot lucks where I live. My all time favorite dessert has to be homemade ice cream. Thanks for a chance to win the cookbook.
This cookbook looks fabulous! I want to try the Salted Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars! Butterscotch is my favorite!
Unbaked Cherry cheesecake. Growing up, always for my birthday! Since then? Always a favorite for church get-togethers!
This looks super yummy! My favorite dessert is chocolate pie!!!
Brownies! I am super excited to make these bars. They sound and look delicious!
I have seen Hummingbird Cake recipes on Pinterest, so these look delish. Can't wait to try!
Anything chocolate. seriously!!
Since I really like Hummingbird cake, I'd love to try the bars as it looks easier to make. I believe my favorite dessert is Mississippi Mud, the cake version.
My favorite dessert is my mom's coconut cake. 🙂
I am a huge dessert fan, and I always tend to grab a piece of pie. My favorite being homemade coconut cream!
Thanks so much for sharing from my book! I remember these quite fondly, and yours look delicious! xoxo
My favorite dessert is… all of them! It depends on my mood really and the season. These look delicious!
Sounds and looks so delicious…Some people in my household are not nut lovers. Was thinking of replacing the nuts with coconut. Do you think that would work? Thanks…
The hummingbird bars look delicious! My hubby would love them. Thanks for the opportunity to enter the giveaway.
Looks delicious, will give it a try!
I saw a great idea for holding a cook book ( such as this one) out of the way…use a skirt or pants hanger and clip that to the book and hang it over the cabinet door knob.
Good recipe for this cake – thank
Hummingbird cake is one of my absolute favorite desserts, and I have never thought about making it into bars. Naturally the talented and lovely Jennifer McHenry would think of it! I am sharing this recipe on my social media pages. 🙂