Dr. Bird Cake (aka Hummingbird Cake)

Submitted by Diane Moffat of Mimi’s Kitchen
Country of origin: United States (Missouri)

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup vegetable oil
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (with juice)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
2 cups [approx. 6] of mashed ripe bananas (wild bananas are bat-pollinated)
1 cup chopped pecans, optional (bats protect pecan trees)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, add eggs and oil, stir until mixed. Add remaining ingredients – vanilla, pineapple, bananas and nuts. Stir until mixed. Pour into 3 well-greased and floured 9” cake pans.  A tube pan or greased and floured loaf pans may be substituted as well. Bake approximately 25-30 minutes for cake pans; 1 hour and 20 minutes for tube pan or 30 minutes for small loaf pans. Test with toothpick for doneness, as oven temperatures vary.

Cream cheese frosting (optional)
2  8oz softened cream cheese
1 cup softened butter
Beat cream cheese and butter with mixer, then add
Two 16oz boxes of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Beat well and frost well cooled cakes!
Decorate with pecan halves, if desired, and enjoy!

Role of bats in the recipe:
Wild bananas use bats as pollinators. Pecan groves are protected by bats, who hunt night-flying pecan nut casebearer moths, one of the most devastating pests of pecan nuts in the United States and Mexico.