Have you ever had this Mexican Sweet Corn Cake? It’s a seriously dangerous corn cake before. Dangerous meaning I could literally go hide with it somewhere and polish it off all by myself.
This deliciously moist, Mexican sweet corn cake is buttery, flecked with sweet corn nibblets {is that even a word?} and it crumbles, but it’s so in no way dry. You could have it on the side with pretty much anything. Maybe not pasta… that would be weird. But it also goes REALLY well in chili. Yup. in. chili. I’m sharing my new favorite chili recipe a little later, so don’t ya worry.
You bake this corn cake in a water-bath, sort of like a cheesecake, and it never crisps or turns golden… so it’s kind of like a cake-y cornbread. The only thing is you can’t cut it into a square and pick it up with your hands. Oh no, no! You just take an ice cream scoop or if you washed yours in the dishwasher like I did and it turned all tarnished and groddy, then just use a round tablespoon or a spoon for crying out loud to scoop. I do realize I’m failing miserably at describing this.
I remember the first time I had this sweet cake; it was when my husband and I went to a Mexican restaurant a few years ago. We ordered fajitas for two and on the too-small-of-plate-to-hold-that-many-toppings were these two little balls of yellow stuff. I picked at it with my fork and then tasted it. Oh.my.gosh. I was like “Um excuse me? What is this and how can I get a bowl of it?”
After a few failed attempts at home… I think I finally found how I can enjoy this corn cake without driving 50 minutes just to get two measly small balls of it on a teeny tiny plate. It all starts with butter, masa harina {corn flour}, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, water, sweet corn and of course butter.
First add 1 cup of sweet corn onto a cutting board…
Then give it a rough chop and set it off to the side. Watch yourself, these like to squirt. PS. I get my sweet corn in a big gigantic bag from Costco because it’s the BEST!
Next place 2 sticks of butter into a mixing bowl.
Then, on medium-low speed, beat the butter until it’s fluffy and light in color.
Next, add in 2/3 cup of masa (corn) flour.
And then pour in a 1/2 cup of water.
Blend to combine.
Next add in the chopped corn…
The 1/2 cup of cornmeal…
… and the 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.
Pour in the 4 tablespoons of whole milk. Heavy cream, if you have it, works too but it has to be either or… none of that skim business.
Mix until combined. Use a rubber spatula to double check you’ve mixed everything and no dry goods are left behind.
Pour the corn cake batter into an ungreased 8×11 baking dish…
… and spread it flat.
Cover it with foil, and place the baking dish into a 9×13 dish and fill it one-third of the way with water. For me it was about a cup and a half. Carefully slide the corn cake into the preheated 350 degree oven to bake for 50 minutes.
And when you pull the double pan thingie out of the oven, safely retrieve the 8×11 out of the 9×13. Carefully remove the foil from the pan without burning your fingers and let cool for 10 minutes before you start scooping.
I mean LOOK at that texture… scrumptious.
This, ohhhh man, THIS is 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.
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!
My cookbook Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!
A soft, tender sweet and savory corn cake that works great as a side dish to your favorite Mexican meal or scoop some and add it to your chili. Your life will be forever changed.
Mexican Sweet Corn Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
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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!
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?