Hummingbird Cake with Italian 00 Flour & Coconut Oil

There are some recipes that are meant to be healthy, and some that are simply meant to be made with really good ingredients and enjoyed.

This is the latter.

I made this hummingbird cake for my best friend’s birthday, and while I wanted to stay true to everything that makes a traditional hummingbird cake so good (ripe banana, pineapple, warm cinnamon, toasted pecans and, of course, cream cheese frosting), I made a couple of swaps to better reflect the ingredients I keep in my kitchen.

Instead of all-purpose flour, I used Italian 00 flour, and rather than vegetable or canola oil, I used unrefined coconut oil.

The result was an incredibly moist, tender cake with just the right amount of sweetness, a little texture from the pecans, and that classic combination of banana, pineapple and warm spice.

And yes, we’re still using sugar and we’re still covering it in cream cheese frosting.

Because part of having a healthy relationship with food is recognizing that not every recipe needs to be optimized into a “healthy” version of itself. Sometimes I simply want to make the real thing using ingredients I feel good about.

Why Italian 00 flour?

If you’ve followed my recipes for a while, you know I love baking with Italian 00 flour.

“00” refers to how finely the flour is milled. It has a very fine, almost powdery texture that can create a soft, delicate crumb in baked goods. It doesn’t tell you anything about how much protein or gluten the flour contains, and it doesn’t make a cake healthier. I use it because I like how it behaves.

For this cake, I used 330 grams of 00 flour and was careful not to overmix the batter. That combination gave me exactly what I wanted: enough structure to hold all of the banana, pineapple and pecans while keeping the finished cake tender.

One important note: different brands of 00 flour have different protein contents, so they aren’t interchangeable in every recipe. This recipe is based on the exact proportions that worked for this cake.

Why coconut oil instead of vegetable oil?

Traditional hummingbird cake recipes use a neutral vegetable oil, which helps give the cake its signature moist texture.

For this version, I used unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil. I like it because it is minimally processed and keeps a subtle coconut flavor and aroma that works beautifully with the banana, pineapple, spices and pecans without overpowering them.

Because unrefined coconut oil is solid at cooler temperatures, melt it gently before using and let it cool slightly before combining it with the eggs. You want it fully liquid, but not hot.

The secret is really ripe bananas

This is not the recipe for your perfectly yellow bananas. You want the ugly ones.

The bananas covered in brown spots that look like they need to be thrown away? Those are your cake bananas. As bananas ripen, their starches break down into sugars, which gives this cake more natural sweetness, moisture and a deeper banana flavor.

And don’t drain your pineapple. The pineapple and its juice both go into the batter and contribute significantly to the moisture.

Leftover frosting

If you somehow have leftover cream cheese frosting, save it. I can confirm it makes a very good excuse to make homemade cinnamon rolls a few days later.