FOOD NEWS
We Have The Jamaica Tourist Board To Commend For The Classic Hummingbird Cake
By Elizabeth Thorn
Jamaica's allure goes beyond its lush forests and sandy beaches as visitors are enticed with treats like the hummingbird cake, which was popularized by the Jamaica Tourist Board.
In the late 1960s, the board wanted to showcase Jamaica's mouthwatering flavors to the world, so they created a recipe that incorporated some of the island's most beloved fruits.
Hummingbird cake is a moist, cinnamon-laced cake that bursts with crushed pineapple, banana chunks, pecans, and nutmeg, finished with a dreamy cream cheese frosting.
It was instantly popular in Jamaica, dubbed "the cake that doesn't last," but it wasn't popular in the U.S. until the recipe was published in Southern Living magazine in 1978.
The cake's original name, Doctor Bird Cake, pays tribute to Jamaica's national bird, the swallowtail hummingbird, with coattail-like plumes and a crest that resembles a top hat.
Legend has it that the association with hummingbirds also began because the cake was so sugary sweet that it attracted the tiny birds.