Hummingbird cake is a sweet cake made with bananas, crushed pineapple, cinnamon, and nuts. It gets its name from the fact that it contains enough sugar to attract hummingbirds! But just how much sugar does this popular Southern cake contain? Let’s take a closer look.
What is Hummingbird Cake?
Hummingbird cake originated in Jamaica and was brought to the Southern United States in the late 1960s. It gets its name from the fact that it contains a lot of sugar, perfect for attracting hungry hummingbirds!
The cake has a layered texture similar to carrot cake, with banana, pineapple, pecans or walnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla. The ingredients are mashed together rather than creamed, giving the cake a dense, moist texture.
Hummingbird cake is sweetened with sugar. Most recipes call for 2-3 cups of granulated white sugar. The cake has a very sweet flavor profile from both the added sugar and the sweet fruits.
Hummingbird Cake Ingredients
A typical hummingbird cake recipe includes:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1⁄2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 2 cups bananas, mashed
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
As you can see, a majority of the sweetness comes from the 2 cups of granulated white sugar. Let’s take a closer look at how much sugar that really is.
How Much Sugar is 2 Cups?
When you measure out sugar, you need to pay attention to if you are using packed or sifted sugar. Packed sugar means the sugar is compressed into the cup. Sifted sugar is much lighter and fluffier in volume.
On average:
- 2 cups of packed brown sugar = 320 grams sugar
- 2 cups of packed white granulated sugar = 400 grams sugar
- 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar = 240 grams sugar
As you can see, depending on the type of sugar and how you measure it, 2 cups of sugar could weigh between 320-400 grams. That’s quite a big range!
For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume the average hummingbird cake recipe calls for 2 cups of lightly packed white granulated sugar. This would be around 350 grams of sugar.
Sugar Per Serving
Now we know there are 350 grams of sugar in the full cake. But how does that break down into sugar per slice? Let’s find out.
The typical hummingbird cake recipe makes one 9×13 inch cake. This is around 12-15 servings total.
If we divide 350 grams by 12 servings, that comes out to around 29 grams of sugar per serving.
To put it another way:
- Total sugar in whole cake: 350 grams
- Number of servings: 12
- Grams of sugar per serving: 29 grams
Based on these estimates, each slice of hummingbird cake has about 29 grams of added sugar.
Daily Sugar Recommendations
To determine if 29 grams is a little or a lot, we need to compare it to daily sugar recommendations.
Major health organizations recommend limiting added sugar intake to:
- American Heart Association: No more than 25 grams per day for women, 36 grams for men
- World Health Organization: 25 grams per day
- USDA: No more than 10% of total daily calories from added sugars
As you can see, just one serving of hummingbird cake provides more added sugar than experts recommend for the whole day!
Impact on Daily Sugar Allowance
Here is how one slice of hummingbird cake would impact your daily added sugar allowance, based on the recommendations above:
| Guideline | Daily Sugar Allowance | Sugar per Serving | Percentage of Allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| AHA (women) | 25 grams | 29 grams | 116% |
| AHA (men) | 36 grams | 29 grams | 81% |
| WHO | 25 grams | 29 grams | 116% |
As the table illustrates, a single slice of hummingbird cake can provide over 100% of your daily recommended sugar! Clearly, this cake is quite high in sugar.
Sugar Per Gram
Another way to visualize the sugar content is to look at it per gram instead of per serving.
There are 350 grams of sugar in the full cake, which weighs around 1,700 grams total.
If we divide 350 by 1,700, we find that hummingbird cake contains about 21% sugar by weight.
In other words, over 1/5 of every gram of hummingbird cake comes directly from added sugar. That’s a lot!
Comparing to Other Desserts
How does hummingbird cake compare to other desserts in terms of sugar content? Here is a quick overview:
| Dessert | Grams of Sugar per Serving |
|---|---|
| Hummingbird Cake | 29 grams |
| Carrot Cake | 25 grams |
| Pound Cake | 31 grams |
| Cheesecake | 24 grams |
| Apple Pie | 28 grams |
| Brownies | 18 grams |
As you can see by comparison, hummingbird cake is quite high in sugar, more than carrot cake or cheesecake. Only pound cake is higher in sugar per serving.
Sugar Substitutes
For people looking to reduce the sugar content of hummingbird cake, there are a few simple tweaks you can make:
- Use 1 cup of sugar instead of 2
- Replace 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup mashed ripe banana or apple sauce
- Use a natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey instead of white sugar
- Replace half the sugar with stevia or monk fruit sweetener
- Use a sugar alternative made with erythritol or allulose
Any of these adjustments can easily reduce the amount of sugar per serving by 25-50 grams. The cake will still taste sweet, but be a bit more friendly for your daily sugar intake.
Making A Lower Sugar Hummingbird Cake
Here is one recipe example for a lower sugar hummingbird cake:
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla and mashed banana.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the drained pineapple, chopped pecans and cinnamon.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost with a cream cheese or whipped cream frosting.
This updated recipe cuts the sugar in half. Instead of 2 cups of sugar, it uses 1 cup sugar and 1 cup naturally sweet mashed banana.
Let’s analyze the sugar content per serving:
- 1 cup sugar = 200 grams
- 12 servings per cake
- 200 grams / 12 = 17 grams sugar per serving
By comparison, the original recipe had 29 grams of sugar per serving. So this lower sugar option cuts the sugar almost in half!
The Bottom Line
Hummingbird cake is undeniably delicious, but certainly very high in added sugar. A single slice provides more sugar than experts recommend having in a whole day!
The classic recipe calls for around 2 cups or 350 grams of granulated white sugar. This works out to about 29 grams of sugar per serving.
There are a few easy ways to lighten it up, such as cutting the sugar in half or replacing it with natural sweeteners. With just a few tweaks, you can enjoy the banana-pineapple flavors of hummingbird cake as an occasional treat without overloading your system with added sugar.
When enjoying a slice of hummingbird cake, be mindful of your sugar intake for the rest of the day. Savor the sweetness, and consider pairing your slice with protein, healthy fats and fiber to help prevent blood sugar spikes.
Like all desserts, hummingbird cake should be enjoyed in moderation as part of an overall healthy diet.
