Australia's Grain Mill Specialists

Quince Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird cake traces its roots to Jamaica, where it is known as the "Doctor Bird" cake after the island’s own hummingbird, before crossing the Atlantic and becoming a Southern US classic after a reader’s recipe appeared in Southern Living magazine in 1978. Our wholegrain spelt version swaps the usual pineapple for spiced poached quince and pecans, finished with a tahini-maple caramel instead of cream cheese icing – a moist, warmly spiced bundt cake perfect for afternoon tea.
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Quince Hummingbird Cake

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Servings: 6 mini bundt cakes (or 1 large bundt cake)
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Cake
  • 375 g wholegrain fine spelt flour plus extra for dusting
  • 390 g rapadura sugar
  • 10 g bicarbonate of soda baking soda
  • 7 g baking powder
  • 5 g salt
  • 6 g ground cinnamon
  • 480 g mashed banana from about 3 bananas
  • 110 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 180 ml quince poaching liquid at room temperature
  • 8 g vanilla bean paste
  • 60 ml apple cider vinegar
  • 150 g poached quince chopped into 1–2 cm (½–¾ in) pieces
  • 75 g pecans chopped
For the Tahini Caramel
  • 75 g maple syrup
  • 35 g tahini
  • 35 g extra virgin coconut oil
  • 3 g vanilla bean paste

Equipment

  • 26cm (10½ in) bundt tin (or six baby bundt tins)

Method
 

  1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
  2. Grease a 26 cm (10½ in) bundt (ring) tin (or six baby bundt tins) with olive oil and lightly dust with flour.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to blend well.
  4. In small bowl, whisk the banana, quince poaching liquid, olive oil and vanilla paste together to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until completely mixed through, with no dry pockets of flour.
  5. Whisk in the vinegar until bubbles form. Mix in the quince pieces and pecans.
  6. Transfer the cake batter to the cake tin/s. Bake the baby bundt cakes for 30–35 minutes, or the large bundt cake for 40–50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin/s for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack.
  8. Meanwhile, melt all the tahini caramel ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until completely emulsified. (I make the same amount of tahini caramel, whether I’m baking one large bundt cake or six smaller cakes.) Remove from the heat. Depending on how hot the weather is, you may need to let the caramel sit for 5–10 minutes to get the right consistency for drizzling. You want the caramel to run — but not sprint! It should be similar to runny honey.
  9. When the cake/s are completely cool, drizzle the tahini caramel over the top to run down the sides. Decorate with flowers or foliage of your choice and serve immediately.

Notes

Any leftover cake will keep in an airtight container for 2–3 days.

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