Vegetable

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

October 13, 2020
0
0 Ratings
Photo by Rich Altmaier
  • Prep time 1 hour
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

I'm from the midwest, so corn is like everything! Why not a cake? Derived from a Mexican corn cake, I make this unique form with my own "translucent corn puree glaze". This is sweet corn heaven.
Check it out!
Rich Altmaier

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the cake
  • 6 oz weight butter, softened
  • 6 oz weight granulated sugar
  • 4 oz weight masa harina
  • 4 oz weight cornmeal
  • 10 oz weight whole kernel frozen corn, thawed
  • 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • For the glaze
  • 6 oz weight whole kernel frozen corn, thawed
  • 1.5 oz weight powdered sugar
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F convection. Line a 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
  3. Place whole corn kernels, *thawed*, in a blender and run a few seconds. We want to retain about 1/3 large chunks! Just a portion to be puree, to release that sweet corn flavor into the batter! At the same time, retain about 1/2 as nearly whole kernels, for the appearance.
  4. Beat in the cream and the corn kernels.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, masa harina, salt, and baking powder. By the way, if you are not familiar with masa harina, here is a fun place to learn about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPxjQetKPoo&ab_channel=TastingHistory
  6. Fold the dry ingredients into the cream mixture.
  7. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water to get the rather thick mixture to a consistency where it drops off a spoon, but is not pouring. A nice batter consistency.
  8. Spread evenly into the baking pan.
  9. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Test at 45 minutes by slightly shaking the pan and see no wiggle in the center. This cake is somewhat dense, so also test it by inserting a probe in the middle and see that it comes out clean.
  10. Let the cake cool before adding glaze, else the glaze will soak in and disappear! We don't want that!!
  11. Prepare the glaze:
  12. Place the *thawed* whole corn kernels in a blender, together with 3 tbs of water. Puree quite a bit, to a liquid form. The objective is to get the "juice" out, so puree as much as possible!
  13. Press the puree through a strainer with the back of a wooden spoon, to collect the corn juice. We want about 2 fl oz, but 1 fl oz is just enough.
  14. Place the corn juice and powdered sugar in a small sauce pan and heat on low. Stir continuously to prevent burning, and let it boil about 1 minute.
  15. Remove from heat and *immediately* spoon over the cake. Don't touch the cake with spoon, or the surface will tear! Use the spoon to pour a bit onto the sides of the cake. Don't hesitate here, as the mixture will solidify!
  16. Post some photos of this lovely cake!

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Rich Altmaier
    Rich Altmaier
  • esskay
    esskay

2 Reviews

esskay February 28, 2022
Step 6 says "Fold the flour into the mixture. " but there is no flour in the list of ingredients.

Either flour is missing or perhaps you meant "Fold dry ingredients into the mixture. "
 
Rich A. February 28, 2022
Oops, fixed!
Rich