When we had our house in Old Lyme, we fed all our outside wildlife. In terrible weather, I went out into the screened back porch and fed all the creatures out of 50-pound sacks of wild bird seed, sunflower seeds, dried corn and peanuts.

After larger animals broke into the screens and ate the goodies, we had a large lidded galvanized can on the porch but we kept the 50-pound sacks in the dining room.

In the late summer and until early autumn, I cleaned out the big bird feeders and hung the hummingbird feeders. As tiny as they were, I could hear the flutters of their wings and loved to see how territorial they were.

I sold the house in 2014 and moved into a condo, I still feed all the birds, but I never got a single hummingbird. This spring, my seventh year, I told the hummers that their sabbatical was over and that this would be their last chance. I bought two big fuchsia plants and made my own sugar water. (Thank you Beth Utke: 1 cup sugar, 4 cups water. Boil 1 cup of water, add the sugar, spoon the mixture until clear, add the rest of the water and change the sugar-water every other day.)

I think they got the memo. I now have hummers. So, I thought, how about the hummingbird cake. Haven’t made it in years, but it is delicious. This makes a three-layer cake.

Hummingbird Cake

Adapted from Southern Living, 1978

Yield: serves 12

3 cups all-purpose flour

1½ cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten

1½ cups vegetable oil

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 8-ounce crushed pineapple in juice (use the juice in the recipe, too)

2 cups ripe bananas (about 3 bananas), mashed

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup salted butter, softened

2 16-ounce packages confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup pecan halves, toasted

Prepare three 9-inch layer cake pans with Pam. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas and toasted pecans.

Divide evenly among the pans.

Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely, at least 1 hour.

Prepare the cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer on medium-low until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating on low until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Increase speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

After you spread the frosting between each cake and the top and sides, top the tops with pecan halves.

This cake can be made in a very large Pyrex pan and baked for at least 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. To make cupcakes, bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, also until a wooden pick inserted until it comes out clean.

Lee White lives in Groton. To reach her, email leeawhite@aol.com.