Mexican Sweet Corn Cake is a side dish commonly served at Mexican restaurants. It’s sweet and buttery, flecked with sweet corn pieces and is ridiculously moist. It makes a great addition to any Mexican meal and also goes really well in chili. Serves 6 to 8.
Have you’ve had Mexican Sweet Corn Cake before?
I remember the first time I had this sweet, delicious and amazing creation. It was years ago when my husband and I went to a Mexican restaurant and we ordered fajitas for two (as we normally do) and on the too-small-of-plate were these two little balls of yellow stuff. I picked at it with my fork and then tasted it. I immediately asked our waitress: “Um excuse me!? What is this and how can I get a bowl of it?”
It’s seriously so so good!
Needless to say, I had to recreate it at home. Now I can enjoy this entire pan sweet corn cake without driving 50 minutes just to get two measly mounds of it on a teeny-tiny plate.
To Make This Mexican Sweet Corn Cake You Will Need:
- masa harina – Also known as corn flour.
- yellow cornmeal – Use a finer textured cornmeal.
- sugar – Lends sweetness and flavor.
- baking powder – Will create lightness in the batter, which makes the corn cake rise.
- fine salt – Use sea or pink Himalayan.
- sweet corn – Thaw if using frozen corn.
- unsalted butter (melted)- Adds richness and flavor.
- water – Used for thinning out the batter.
- heavy cream – Lends richness and flavor.
Preheat your oven to 350°
In a mixing bowl, measure and add 2/3 cup masa harina, 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, 2/3 cup sugar (I’m using cane sugar but white granulated is fine too), 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon fine salt.
Whisk well to combine.
Next add in 1 cup sweet corn that has been roughly chopped. You can do this either by placing the thawed corn on a cutting board and use a knife to chop, or pulse a few times in a personal blender or mini food processor.
Next pour in 2 sticks (1 cup) melted unsalted butter, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup heavy cream.
Stir well to combine.
Pour the batter into an non-greased 2-quart oven safe baking dish, tap it a few times so the top evens out.
Cover tightly with foil and bake on the middle rack for 1 hour.
NOTE: Alternatively, you can place this baking dish into a larger baking dish and fill the larger casserole dish 1/3 of the way with water (i.e. a water bath) and carefully slide into your oven. This keeps the corn cake from browning or crisping and will give you a less crumbly texture. It all depends on what you prefer.
Carefully remove the foil from the pan and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
I like to use a ice cream or batter scoop.
I mean just look at that texture! So good.
This is exactly what sweet corn cake should look like, except maybe with 15 extra scoops or something.
This is so easy and I promise you everyone will love this.
No if you’ll excuse me I have some leftover Mexican Sweet Corn Cake to annihilate.
Can You Double This Recipe?
To be completely transparent, I haven’t tested it. However a few readers have and claim it to be too oily. So I wouldn’t recommend it unless you bake it in separate pans.
Enjoy! And if you give this Mexican Sweet Corn Cake recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Mexican Sweet Corn Cake
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup masa harina, (corn flour)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup sweet corn, roughly chopped
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup water, plus more for water bath
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, half & half or whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°.
- In a mixing bowl, measure and add masa harina, yellow cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and fine salt. Whisk to combine.
- Next add in the sweet corn that has been roughly chopped.You can do this either by placing the thawed corn on a cutting board and use a knife to chop, or pulse a few times in a personal blender or mini food processor.
- Lastly add in melted unsalted butter, water and heavy cream. Mix until combined.
- Pour the batter into an (un-greased) 2-quart oven safe baking dish. Tap it a few times so the top evens out.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake on the middle rack of your preheated oven for 1 hour, rotating halfway through baking.ORCover tightly with foil and place the dish into a 9x13 baking dish and then fill up the larger pan 1/3 of the way with water and bake for 1 hour. This keeps the corn cake from browning and will give you a less crumbly texture. It all depends on what you prefer.
- Once baked, let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to dish and serve the sweet corn cake.
Notes
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This sounds amazing!!
At first I thought those scoops were ice cream, but this cake is actually better! Better because I get to eat it with chili, which in my book is an awesome thing!
This is so different, but seriously sounds so incredible! I cannot wait to try it!
I’ve not had this and I think it’s high time I fixed that ; ) Want. Now.
OMG! This looks amazing! I am a huge fan of sweet corn dishes. They have this corn pudding as a side dish at STK in New York and I literally lick the serving spoon, it is that good. Yours looks so similar! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Corn cake was one of my favorites growing up! Going to have to make your recipe asap!
How have I never heard of corn cake before!? I need to get on baking this asap.
I cannot handle how incredible the texture looks – I would likely just spoon it out of the pan nonstop 😉
I agree… dishes aren’t really that necessary. 😉
I can’t take my eyes off of all of that sweet corn and creamy butter. This looks amazing. It may even be dangerous if I make this at home–no will power.
I haven’t had corn cake in years, Laurie. Like, forever! And now I am craving it just by reading this post! Sweet and savory – oh it’s so good!
My friends loveeeeeeeee this stuff. I think it’s pretty good, but I bet I’d be the best friend ever if I made it for them. 😉 Looks delicious.
Great minds think alike because I just made a vegan version of this last night! I’m here to tell you that we can run off and hide together and polish off the rest of it!
Sounds like a plan!
I’ve never seen this before, and now I don’t ever want to un-see it! I want to make this for Thanksgiving now. And dinner next week. And breakfast tomorrow. Thanks for introducing me to corn cake, Laurie!!!
HAAAA! You will love it!! Miss your face Jeannnnnnnnie!
Is this a dupe of the Mi Ranchito corn nugget?! If so God bless ya because I think about it all the time
Laurie, thank you for this recipe! I have eaten this three times, in Arizona , Texas and California. I’ve never been served enough to figure out exactly what it was- but I loved it. I’ve never had it on the East Coast. In trying to explain it to other people I have called it sweet, pudding- cake like. I knew it had corn in it. Was never sure of what else. Thank you so much.
PS Why is it served in such small amounts?
I have asked myself that question numerous times 😉 Hope you enjoy it!
I added a dash of vanilla and 3/4 of a 4oz can of green chilis. Its in the oven now. Can’t wait to taste it!
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i elliminated the whole milk and just add a can of creamy style corn it is just the right consistancy for the batter then pop it in the oven
Any suggestions to double the recipe?
Hi JD! You can definitely double it… But I would bake it in separate water baths and not in one pan. Enjoy!
In the pictorial portion it says to use 2 sticks of butter which are usually a cup each, or so I thought. The ingriedient list says 1 cup of butter. I just realized this after I used 4 half sticks (2 cups of butter). Well its in the over now!! I added a bit more flour and corn meal to attempt to compensate… Hope it turns out yummy anyway!!!
I just made this. I LOVED it. I actually sub’ed 1/2 the butter with homemade applesauce that I had pureed and halved the sugar as a result of the sweetness in the applesauce. This was a fantastic side to our tortilla soup and I’ll be making for Thanksgiving as well. So. Impressed.
I just made this recipe to go along with some skinny chicken enchiladas I made and all of it was great! It was like a sweet cornbread mixed with the corn taste of tamales from the corn flour. It was absolutely delicious. I was in a rush when I was making it so I might have melted the butter a little too long when I needed to soften and blend the butter but it still turned out great. It was so good- I couldn’t even wait the ten minutes of cooling after it came out of the oven- I dived straight into it with a spoon. I would highly recommend this recipe!
This looks like a side dish we had at Chi Chi’s. It was sooo good! Can’t wait to try it, but I am wondering if it can be made a day ahead & refrigerated till I’m ready to bring it to room temp before baking?
I think so! I haven’t tried it but I think you’d be able to!
Looks delicious! Just what I have been looking for, I can’t wait to try it,,, Thank you!
Enjoy!
Mine cane out runny. I also cooked it for s. Addition 2O minutes. Tasted so good. But it didn’t set up. What did I do wrong?
Hi Sherri! My only guess is that some of the water from the pan below may have gotten into the corn cake. This has happened to me before when I filled the bottom pan a little too full. I’m so glad you were still able to enjoy it though!
Just made it, and…………
I ATE HALF OF THE CAKE!!!!! It is sooooo good! I was questioning why it had to go into a water filled container, and why it was ungreased. But i followed the directions, and I’m glad 😉 But it could have used more of the sweet corn in my opinion.
Glad you enjoyed it! And you can’t go wrong with more sweet corn!
Hello,
I wanted to ask just out of curiosity, why do you put it in a pan with 1/3 water?
Can you tell me how you keep it ( if there’ s any left).. and How long will it keep?
I love this dish! How do you store leftovers?
Can I cook it today to serve tomorrow?
Sure!
I just doubled the recipe without reading the comments . Fingers crossed it comes out ok .
I followed the recipe exactly. But my mixture was way more dry than the pictures that you are showing here, I added a little bit of extra water and heavy cream to make it a weter consistency. I do hope it turns out as this is the first time I’m using this recipe for a brunch party. One should never do that! always try out a recipe before serving to others hope I haven’t made a mistake with choosing this from others I looked at.
Instructions say 4tables cream printed say 1/4cup cream which is it?? Also i doubled this and 2 cups butter way to much oily whats real butter amount
Hi Donna! 4 tablespoon is equal to 1/4 cup, but I can see how that may cause confusion and have updated the post. I haven’t tested doubling this recipe so I can’t confirm the results. The recipe is correct as written. Thanks for stopping by!
I have made this so many times with other recipes and it has always come out fine. This came out runny and inedible. Wasted ingredients 🙁
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Absolutely delicious recipe!! I started making your corn cake for my family a couple months ago and they all love it. I just made it again tonight and the entire pan was gone in a flash! We had to resist licking it clean 🙂
Recipe looks great. Thank you for sharing.
I love this recipe!
I wanted to know if anyone has made it without the corn and refrigerated it for later and adding the corn later? I want to make it ahead of time.