Hummingbird Cupcakes

The first time I saw Hummingbird cupcakes was on the Martha Stewart website. They were gorgeous and I loved the idea of a cupcake filled with banana, pineapple and coconut as I just adore these tropical flavours. That was almost 2 years ago. I finally decided to give them a whirl this week and I was not disappointed.

I adapted the banana cake recipe from my new book and the end result was a beautifully moist, incredibly flavoured cupcake. I used tinned crushed pineapple (with all its liquid) which kept everything moist and the coconut added just the right amount of texture.

I topped the cupcakes with a lemony cream cheese frosting and dried pineapple flowers which might require a little effort but the end result is so beautiful (and delicious) that I will make these again and again. You simply slice a peeled pineapple into thin rounds and allow to dry out in a low oven for approximately an hour before placing them into a muffin tray to allow the edges to curl up, for another 30 minutes in the oven. Keep an eye on them as they colour quickly. The pineapple flavour intensifies and the crisp, almost chip-like texture is out-of-this-world delicious.

Make these this weekend and wow your guests with a platter of beautiful, summery deliciousness!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Baked goods, Baking, Dessert

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Servings: 24

Author: Alida Ryder

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g sugar
• 200 ml plain yoghurt
• 100 g butter room temperature
• 200 g mashed banana approximately 4 small bananas
• 1 x 400g approximate weight tin crushed pineapple (with juice)
• 50 g desiccated coconut
• 250 g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

for the lemon cream cheese frosting

• 100 g plain cream cheese room temperature
• 250 g butter room temperature
• 400 g icing sugar sieved
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp milk

to decorate

• dried pineapple flowers or other cupcake decor of your choice

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°c and place 24 cupcake liners in 2 muffin trays.
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs,vanilla, sugar, yoghurt, butter, banana, pineapple (and all its juice) and coconut and beat well until the mixture is relatively smooth and thick (approximately 2 minutes).
• Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in.
• Fill the cupcake liners with the batter and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
• To make the cream cheese frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and pale.
• Add the icing sugar and beat until the mixture is thick (you want it to be able to pipe/spread easily). If it's too thin, add more icing sugar.
• Add the lmon zest and vanilla extract and mix in. If the mixture is too thick, thin it down with some milk.
• When the cupcakes are cool, pipe/spread the frosting generously over the top and top with a dried pineapple flowers.