ADoes anyone have a recipe for hummingbird cake that is stable enough to be stacked and doweled for wedding cakes? I always ask because I don't mess with any recipe that can't. That way I can use them interchangeably. The same goes for a stable pumpkin cake recipe. That is from scratch and uses no boxed mixes. Would love to find a keeper for these two flavors that is super super stable for weddings. Thanks!

Try this for a pumpkin recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-cake-iii/

It's similar to the one I used for these cakes:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2013/08/happy-birthday-amanda.html

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/08/happy-birthday-gina.html

For hummingbird cake I use my carrot cake recipe and use chopped banana instead of the carrots, and pecans in place of the walnuts.  I've never covered it with fondant as a hummingbird cake, but I wouldn't hesitate to do so as the carrot cake holds up very well as you can see here:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2013/04/happy-birthday-gaetan.html

I don't see why either wouldn't stand up to stacking, since stacking is a function of the support system and not necessarily of the cake itself.

AThanks for taking the time to respond! I use the SPS system for doweling. But at one time I did a pumpkin cake from southern living that was a layer cake recipe and used bubble straws and it did not hold up. Too moist and fell apart for one reason or the other. I have my own recipes that I modify for vanilla/ chocolate base cakes. And separate recipes for carrot etc. I always make sure they say acceptable for tiered cakes and preferably sculpting if I'm going to add them on. That's just how the author writes them in one of my recipe books. So, I always look to see a stacked image or something when I'm picking. It's the paranoid in me!

ADo you include pineapple in your recipe or is it just too unstable ?

I didn't mention the pineapple because it is the one ingredient that remains the same with both recipes.

AMine doesn't include pineapple. Thanks for your time!

Hi, I love hummingbirds carrot cake. Have used it for 2 of my cakes and had no problem covering it with fondant. Just now I am decorating a vanilla cake (I used hummingbirds vanilla cupcake recipe (4x for three 8 inch cake pans) and so far it works well (have frozen it for easier handling though).