Hummingbird Mini Cupcakes

Again, thinking of Brek's school breakfast. I saw the hummingbird cake while flipping through the American's Test Kitchen cookbook.

The ingredients for this cake included pineapple and banana. Good timing because I just found a can of clean pineapple chunks last week. Since I had a ripen banana, I went ahead and tested the hummingbird cake recipe.

Instead of baking a big cake or cupcakes, I decided to go with the mini cupcakes. Hummingbirds have visited my family's flower garden all the time, especially during Spring. I just thought it is fitting to have mini size cake that named after these tiny birds. The only nuts I had at the time of baking this cake was almonds and cashew. I thought almonds would have better crunch than cashew, so I chose almonds. I also added ground cinnamon for the aromatic.

The verdict? The cake didn't rise very much but was super moist. My kids didn't say anything about the pineapple, which was surprising because they didn't really like to eat fresh pineapple. I wonder if the pineapples were in such small bits that they couldn't tell what they were eating. Camden had one complaint. He didn't like the almonds. Well, they were pretty crunchy for mini cupcakes. Brek had no complaints, and he had three mini ones for his school's breakfast the next day.

Hummingbird Mini Cupcakes
adapted from American's Test Kitchen's humming bird cake
makes 24 mini cupcakes

1 large egg
3/4 cup (5.5 oz) sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) safflower oil
1/4 cup (2 oz) pineapple, roughly chopped
1/4 cup (2-2.5 oz) banana, mashed
1 cup (4 oz) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 Tablespoons raw almonds, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degree. Line the mini cupcake pan with cupcake liners or spray the pan with vegetable oil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, and oil until creamy.
3. Mix in the pineapple and banana.
4. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and ground cinnamon.
5. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.
6. Mix until just combine.
7. Using an extra small scooper, divide the batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake in the preheated oven until the toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
9. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to the cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy them while they are warm or at a room temperature. Keep them in an air tight container at a room temperature for up to 3 days.

Allergy Info: These mini hummingbird cupcakes are free from or can be made without dairy, corn, legumes (soy), and fish. When looking for canned fruits, avoid the ones with added citric acid which is mainly used to preserve the fruit's coloring. For this recipe, I used the Dole brand, but I'm not sure if it is corn free. It is the only brand in the market that is without citric acid or other preservatives. Frozen pineapples are also good alternative. However, most of the frozen fruits may be dusted with corn starch. Be sure to call the companies to inquire about their products and packaging practices.