The Hummingbird Recipes

THE BEST HOMEMADE HUMMINGBIRD FOOD

Steps:

• Boil your water on the stove for 1 minute.
• Remove the water from the stove and stir in the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Allow the mixture to come to room temperature.
• Fill your humming bird feeder as directed on individual instructions.
• Store leftover sugar water in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

HUMMINGBIRD FOOD

Steps:

• Bring the water to a boil.
• Take the water off the heat and add the sugar.
• Stir to dissolve completely.
• Let the nectar cool.
• Place in a clean hummingbird feeder and hang outside for the birds.
• Note:.
• Change the food at least every three to five days with a new batch to keep it fresh. Remember don't use food coloring.
• Check the bird feeder regularly and every time you change the food to see if any gray mold has formed inside the feeder base, or, any ants have crawled inside to get at the sugar water.
• If you see any take the feeder down and throw the bird food away. It's not good for the birds to drink this. Chances are they won't drink it anyway.
• Clean the hummingbird feeder by rinsing with warm water. Then, put a few drops of bleach into the water inside the feeder and clean with a bottle brush.
• Once clean, rinse thoroughly with fresh water and let dry.
• Fill up with new food and place outside.
• The birds will love you for it!

THE HUMMINGBIRD

Steps:

• Pour gin, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over ice and nasturtium blossom. Fill glass with seltzer and float leaf on top.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, eggs, pineapple, bananas and nuts. Add flour mixture, and mix together by hand.
• Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in center of each pan comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool on racks.
• Prepare the frosting by blending together the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Evenly spread frosting on middle, sides and top of cake.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat two 9-inch round cake pans with 4-inch-high sides with cooking spray, then line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper and lightly spray the paper. (If you don't have 4-inch-deep pans, 2-inch-deep will work.)
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, rose petals, and cardamom and mix well. In a medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with the vegetable oil, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt, then stir in the dry ingredients, mixing just until they are moistened. Stir in the sour cream. Using a large spatula, fold in the crushed pineapple and juice, bananas, and pecans. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes in the center of the oven for about 45 minutes, rotating the pans after 20 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of each cake. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Place a rack over each pan, invert the cakes onto the racks, and remove the pans. Peel off the parchment paper. Cool completely.
• Make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl; beat until incorporated and smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure that the frosting is as smooth as possible. Beat in the orange zest and vanilla paste.
• Using a serrated knife, trim the domed tops of the cakes so they're flat; save the scraps for snacking. Cut each cake horizontally into two even layers, creating four layers in total. Set one layer on a cake stand or plate and spread with the frosting. Continue to stack and frost the layers, then spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake.
• Refrigerate for 15 minutes, until set. Spread the remaining frosting evenly all over the sides and top of the cake. The cake will keep at room temperature for about 4 days, if it ever actually sticks around that long.