Hummingbird Cupcakes (Cake Mix)
These easy Hummingbird Cupcakes are amazing- ultra moist, fantastic flavor, and they start with a box of yellow cake mix. If you've never tried hummingbird cake, the flavors are a delicious combination of banana, crushed pineapple, pecans, a hint of cinnamon, and cream cheese frosting. Heavenly!
We love hummingbird cake recipes and have a few on our site, like our scratch Hummingbird Cake, Coconut Hummingbird Cake, Hummingbird Bundt Cake, and Easy Hummingbird Cake from cake mix. Today's cupcake recipe ranks right up there with the rest! You will love these light and fluffy hummingbird cupcakes.
Table of Contents
Why we Love Them
Fantastic flavor from bananas, pineapple, pecans, and cinnamon
- SO easy to make with cake mix!
- Fluffy and Light
- Perfect year-round dessert for birthdays, potlucks, holidays, and more!
- With the addition of melted butter and all of the flavorful add-ins, it tastes like a scratch recipe.
How to Make Hummingbird Cupcakes
You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and add cupcake liners to your cupcake pan(s).
- Add all of the ingredients except for the pecans to a mixing bowl (yellow cake mix, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and melted butter, eggs, mashed bananas, and crushed (undrained) pineapple . Stir on low speed for 15 seconds to incorporate, then increase to medium speed. Mix for two minutes.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula. Then, fold in the chopped pecans.
- Time to bake! Fill the lined cupcake wells with about ¼ cup batter each. Bake for approximately 15-17 minutes. Baking times may vary- they are done when the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched or an inserted toothpick comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs attached).
- We like to move the cupcakes to a wire rack just after baking. Cool completely before frosting.
Decorating the Cupcakes
Once the cupcakes have cooled, it is time to decorate! Hummingbird cupcakes and cream cheese frosting are the perfect combination! We used our classic cream cheese frosting recipe, which is so creamy and flavorful.
The frosting couldn't be simpler to make, with cream cheese, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and a bit of vanilla extract. It pipes great- but if at any time it becomes too soft, just pop it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to thicken.
More Fruity Cakes
In addition to today's recipe, we have many more fruity cakes for you to try! Some of our favorites are our scratch coconut cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes from cake mix, lemon mascarpone pound cake, and strawberry shortcake cake. Make sure to check out our recipe section for all of the fruity cakes!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! If you give these Hummingbird Cupcakes a try, let us know what you think. Enjoy, and we hope you'll come back again soon for more recipes!
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Hummingbird Cupcakes (from cake mix)
Ingredients
- 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (We used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Perfectly Moist 15.25 oz)
- ½ cup all purpose flour (61g)
- ¾ cup sugar (150g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (54g)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (113g or ½ cup)
- 3 large eggs
- 3 bananas mashed (approximately 1 ¼ cup or 305g)
- 8 oz canned crushed pineapple (undrained) (227g)
- ¾ cup chopped pecans. -- You can use additional on top of the cupcakes if you'd like (92g)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g)
- 16 oz cream cheese (452g) We use two 8 oz packages (full fat).
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 6 to 6 ½ cups powdered sugar (690g to 747g )
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and add cupcake liners to your cupcake pan(s).
- Ignore the instructions on the back of the box of cake mix.
- Add all of the ingredients except for the pecans to a mixing bowl. Stir on low speed for about 15 seconds to incorporate, then increase to medium speed (about a #4 if you are using a Kitchen Aid) and mix for two minutes.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula. Then, fold in the chopped pecans.
- Time to bake! Fill the lined cupcake wells with about ¼ cup batter each. Bake for approximately 15-17 minutes. Baking times may vary- they are done when the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched or an inserted toothpick comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs attached).
- We like to move the cupcakes to a wire rack just after baking. Cool completely before frosting.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
- Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
- Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
- Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Decorating the Cupcakes
- Decorate the cupcakes however you'd like! We use a disposable piping bag fitted with a large star (1M) piping tip, adding simple swirls on some (starting in the center of the cupcake and spiraling outward) and piped shells on others.
Rerigeration and Storage
- Because of the cream cheese frosting, these should be refrigerated (in an airtight container, under a cake dome, or sealed bakery box). However, for the best texture, remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator an hour or two before serving so that they have time to warm and soften.
Would you have a vanilla frosting recipe? I don’t like cream cheese.
These look 😋