Corn recipes, we show you our favorites

Mexican corn cake, our mother’s recipe

Andrea Gámez21 February, 20230275 views

Mexican corn cake our mother’s recipe, this is one of our family’s most beloved recipes, and most well kept ones too. Corn cake, or “pan de elote” is not the same as cornbread, which is the type most people make in the US for example. This is more like a sort of cake that is made almost entirely with just natural white corn on the cob. Now, there are many variations of this type of recipe, and I am sure that throughout Mexico, being such a large country, this recipe changes a lot. In fact, I don’t even know if it is a typical recipe only in the north of Mexico, which is where we are from, or if it is also typical in the center and south of the country. If you are from Mexico, tell us if it is also made in other areas. In our case, this is a very dear recipe to us, because it is a recipe that our grandmother used to make a lot. In fact, she would crush the corn kernels in a “molinillo” which is similar to a grinder, a but really old, which was in the backyard, and many times she would make us, her grandchildren, do the hard work. Several times, while she used the corn to make a cake like this one, she also made corn tamales. And as we used to tell her, we liked her to make them “con puro elote” meaning that we didn’t want her to use flour of any kind to “fill” the texture of the cake or tamales, but just the kernels themselves. So, this recipe is made entirely and purely with corn as the base. It is a sweet, soft, rich cake, it is dense, and it is full of flavor. When you eat it (and you can see it in the photos) you can notice the pieces of the corn kernels that are left, and you can even see the husks or “skin” of each kernel. This part, for me, is the best. On top, it forms a crunchy layer that is a bit golden brown, and inside it is always juicy and soft. It has a particular flavor that I don’t know how to describe, but that everyone I know likes. It is an easy, simple and very natural recipe that always reminds us of home. Now, the corn or cob used for this recipe is the natural one, the usual white corn. You can’t use the sweet corn, very yellow in color that is sometimes sold in supermarkets, it has to be the natural corn, which is completely raw and has to be cooked from scratch. We like it very much with a glass of cold milk. Specially straight out of the oven, when it still is a bit warm, but there are many people who like it cold. In fact, Irma likes it much better cold than hot. She likes to put it in the fridge even and wait until it cools down to eat it that way. If you like this recipe, you have to check out our pineapple tamales, you’re sure to love them!

Flourless corn cake

Andrea Gámez28 April, 20200164 views

For the best mexican corn cake recipe, you are in the right place. In spanish is pretty funny that corn has lots of names: maiz, elote, choclo, jojoto, etc. Mexican corn cake is just great, we totally love it. In Mexico there is no good breakfast without corn tamales. I really like pancakes also, but corn tamales are one of my favorite breakfasts. I am actually not a fan of corn, but in tamales, I go crazy. Now, this recipe is not the tamales recipe but I needed to give you some context about my love for two corn recipes: corn tamales and the other one is corn cake, both similar but tamales are cooked in steam and corn cake is cooked in the oven. Also, if you want to see one of our tamales recipes go check out our pineapple tamales recipe, and to see some other mexican recipes you can go to our flour tortillas recipe or our tacos de canasta recipe. The recipe for this corn cake is not like the one of the typical american cornbread that calls for cornmeal and wheat flour. This recipe´s made with real corn kernels and just that with just a few other ingredients; only corn, as I once asked my grandma to make tamales with. She used to make tamales and corn cake with a small mill to grind the kernels and then mixed that with the rest of the ingredients; so you can only imagine the flavor of those grandma recipes, I do not think I make this recipe as well as she used to, but my mom makes it really similar. Corn cake is one of the most typical “desserts” if you can actually call it that, because it isn´t really that sweet, in Mexico and also in our family, which I think depends on each family, but generally everything corn is welcome. Corn cake in my family has always been a classic because it´s easy to make and always brings good memories, that´s the best part about cooking. It is important to mention that this recipe calls for white corn on the cob (not sweet), if you can find the ones with the leaves still on then it is even better. This type of corn is really easy to find in Mexico, and in that region, but I do know it is not that easy to find in some other countries, specially in Europe, it is harder to find. This is why, to make you life easier, in this recipe we mention you can also use sweet yellow corn, or even canned corn, but do note that, in spite of getting a similar flavor, the texture isn´t the same because it feels less compact; in fact, my original family recipe does not even call for eggs, but I do think it is better to add egg just in case you use sweet yellow corn. Regardless of the type of corn you can find, this recipe is great for any occasion.

Cornbread

Andrea Gámez19 February, 20190143 views

This cornbreadis the typical american cornbread. It is a classic. I like it a lot, because it is sweet , because of the honey it calls for. It is a perfect bread to eat along with meat. It is used in fact, to eat along ribs, or chicken wings, with all types of sauces, the flavors go great together. This breadis addictive. My mom makes a cornbread a “pan de elote“, like a flourless cornbread, a different type. My mom´s recipe calls for actual corn, you can feel the bits of corn when eating it and it´s a bit more savory. If you have not tried it before it is a complete must try. This cornbread is the all american recipe, it is fluffy and so soft. I like it so much that I even eat it sometimes as breakfast or as a dessert, with some extra butter and maybe some strawberry jam, or any othre flavor I like. Using honey in this recipe is key, because it gives it a mellow and rich flavor to this cornbread. This and the melted butter make this a marvellous recipe. A very imortant part of this recipe is preheating the pan or mold where you will cook this. When pouring the mixture in the pan, it has to be hot already. If it is hot as it should, you will hear a “zzzzzz” sound, and that is esactly what we want. Now, when I make this bread, I use lots of different pans or molds, sometimes I use a square mold and other I use a muffin tin, to get individual portions. You can use whichever mold you like. In fact, you can use a cast iron pan. You prehreat it in the oven and cook your bread there. This is the traditional way to cook it. If you like this recipe, you have to go see our flourless cornbread, or corn cake, which is a mexican recipe similar to cornbread.