Low Calorie Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird cake first appeared in Magazines in 1978 and is known to have won numerous blue ribbons at county fairs. This low calorie version is just as good as the original! The flavors are reminiscent of a carrot cake, are super moist and light, full of pineapple, chopped bananas, pecans, cinnamon and spices, and still has the cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar (I used raw)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mashed ripe bananas
20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice, drained well
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the Frosting:

8 oz 1/3-less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
22 pecan halves

Directions:

To prepare frosting, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Refrigerate the frosting until ready to use.

For the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir well with a whisk until everything is completely mixed.

Combine the oil, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl and stir well. Add the banana and pineapple and mix well.

Fold the wet ingredients and chopped pecans into the dry ingredients. The batter will be stiff and dry, but keep folding it and it will all come together.

Spoon the batter into a lined cupcake tin and bake at 350 degrees for about 23 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let cool until you can safely handle the cupcakes without burning yourself, remove the cupcakes from the pan and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Spread frosting over the cupcakes once they are cooled and garnish each cupcake with a pecan half on top.