Mexican Corn Cake is a sweet side dish inspired by a Mexican restaurant. After you have the first bite of this copycat recipe, you’ll be in love.
This recipe is a cross between cake and cornbread while hinting at custard that’s flecked with sweet corn pieces.
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Why this Corn Cake Recipe is a Keeper
Corn cake is a copycat recipe for one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. It’s great because it’s something different, delicious and doesn’t take long to make. It is perfect for a wonderful side dish.
- 10 Minute Prep: This recipe calls for 10 minutes to prepare before baking time.
- Easy Ingredients: Many of these easy ingredients can be found in your pantry.
- Family Friendly: Everyone is going to fall in love with this slightly sweet cornbread recipe.
- Adaptable: You can easily adapt this Mexican food recipe to your liking.
- Great Side: Make sweet corn cake to bring to any family event.
If you’re looking for more corn recipes, try these Mexican Corn Salad, Honey Butter Skillet Corn and Sweet Grilled Corn Salad
What is the Difference Between Cornbread and Corn Cake?
The biggest difference between corn cake and cornbread, or pan de elote, is that corn cake is going to have a pudding-like consistency instead of being similar to bread.
Corn is a Mexican main ingredient. Masa harina, or corn flour, is used to make many things like corn tortillas.
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Ingredient Notes for Mexican Sweet Corn Cake Recipe
You will need only a few simple ingredients to make this delicious recipe, you might even have some in your pantry and refrigerator.
- Creamed Corn: Canned creamed corn or homemade creamed corn both work great in this recipe.
- Corn: You can use frozen corn that’s been thawed.
- Cornmeal: The ¼ cup cornmeal is going to help to thicken your cake.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Variations and Substitutions to Make Sweet Corn Cake
- Peppers: You can add Jalapenos or other peppers to add a little kick to your Mexican corn cakes.
- Heavy Cream: For this recipe, a great substitute for heavy cream is whole milk and butter!
Special Equipment Needed for this Mexican Meal Side
- Food Processor: Using a food processor will help to roughly chop your corn.
Pro Tip
Don’t whisk the corn puree into the flour mixture vigorously. Gentle mixing, just until no pockets of flour remain, will minimize gluten development so the cake bakes up tender.
How to Make Mexican Corn Cakes Recipe
Fresh corn cake is an easy recipe comes together in a quick 5 steps. A delicious Mexican meal, perfect for cinco de mayo!
These are the basic steps for making Mexican Corn Cake. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Prep the Super Sweet Mixture
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter until creamy. Add the flour and creamed corn and mix until completely combined.
2. Add to a Blender
Place the thawed corn in a food processor and pulse a few times. You want some of the corn to be chopped while leaving some corn kernels whole.
Add the chopped corn and add the cornmeal to the mixer and combine.
3. Spread Corn Cake Mixture
In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, heavy cream, salt and baking powder. Pour this mixture into the corn mixture and mix thoroughly.
Spread the mixture evenly in an 8″x8″ baking dish or cast iron skillet; Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place into a 9″x13″ cake pan or baking dish.
4. Bake
Pour 3 cups of water into the larger baking dish (or until about 1/2 way up the small dish), to create a water bath.
Bake for 60 minutes or until the corn cake is cooked through and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Chill and Serve
Take the smaller baking dish out of the water bath and let the cake stand for 10 minutes. To serve, use an ice cream scoop to scoop the cake from the pan.
Easy Sweet Corn Cake Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips for Making This Pastel de Elote Recipe
This simple baked treat is ubiquitous in Mexican food markets, street stalls and restaurants. Called panqué de elote, pan de elote or pastel de elote. Its texture lands somewhere between cake and cornbread while hinting at custard.
- This Recipe Can be Doubled: This is a great recipe for a party. Increase the ingredients proportionately and split it into two baking dishes before baking.
- Toppings: Top this yummy cake with lime wedges, sour cream, extra corn or salted Greek yogurt
- Add-Ins: Try adding salsa, pico de gallo, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado or hot sauce.
- Shortcut: Use a box jiffy corn muffin mix and chopped fresh corn to make quicker version of this.
What to Serve with Mexican Corn Pudding
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Mexican Corn Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter, softened
- ⅓ cup Flour
- 8.5 ounces Creamed corn, 1 can
- 2 cups Frozen corn, thawed
- ¼ cup Cornmeal
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter until creamy.
- Add the flour and creamed corn and mix until completely combined.
- Place the thawed corn in a food processor and pulse a few times. You want some of the corn to be roughly chopped while leaving some kernels whole.
- Add the chopped corn and cornmeal to the mixer and combine.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, cream, salt and baking powder. Pour this mixture into the corn mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Spread the mixture evenly in an 8″x8″ baking dish; Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place into a 9″x13″ baking dish.
- Pour 3 cups of water into the larger baking dish (or until about 1/2 way up the small dish), to create a water bath.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until the corn cake is cooked through and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Take the smaller baking dish out of the water bath and let the cake cool for 10 minutes.
- To serve, use an ice cream scoop to scoop the cake from the pan.
Expert Tips
- This Recipe Can be Doubled: This is a great recipe for a party. Increase the ingredients proportionately and split it into two baking dishes before baking.
- Toppings: Top this yummy cake with lime wedges, sour cream, extra corn or salted Greek yogurt
- Add-Ins: Try adding salsa, pico de gallo, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado or hot sauce.
- Shortcut: Use a box jiffy corn muffin mix and chopped fresh corn to make quicker version of this.
Estimated Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided are estimates. To learn more about how I calculate this information go to www.itisakeeper.com/about-its-a-keeper/privacy-disclosure-policies/
This recipe is my personal adaption of an ethnic-inspired recipe. It is not intended to be an authentic recipe. I’ve recreated this recipe because I enjoy the flavors and I want to encourage my readers to expand their tastes and try new flavor combinations. The recipe, ingredients, and processes may have been adapted to make the recipe accessible to the average American. I have provided links to authentic versions of the recipe in the post above. I encourage you to visit these pages and learn more about the traditional version(s) of this recipe.