Corn Cake

 

Festa Junina. It’s a mix of pagan and Christian traditions. It is a national month long celebration in the month of June. The celebration is for Saint John, Peter and Anthony. I could write an awful lot about it but I am particularly interested in telling you about the food aspect.

It is known that in the old days it was common practice for people to leave their front doors open so that the neighbours could just walk in and taste a selection of delectable goods prepared by the hosts. During the month of June, in northeast Brasil people eat a lot of cashew nuts or Brasil nuts, plus many other delicacies made with coconut or cassava. In

the south or southeast it is time for peanuts and pine nuts. There are different sort of cakes as well. The most famous being the one with corn which is a common ingredient from north to south. The fact that it is harvest time means that corn is abundant during the month of June and there is quite a selection of corn based recipes.

Corn has been in Brasil for a very long time and even though it is not as big an ingredient there as it is on the Pacific coast of South America and Central America we love it as a nation. Our indigenous people already consumed a lot of corn in their diet but it was the Portuguese who brought it to their kitchens and started baking with it.                                     

I love everything about Festa Junina. The edible side of it just puts the icing on the cake if you know what I mean. There are always loads of food stalls, the nice quentão which is a hot alcoholic drink made with ginger and a few other bits and pieces – it’s winter after all. Peanut brittle is

another favourite and perhaps I will show you a recipe or two in the near future. For now I want to share the corn cake recipe with you. It is a

delicious cake and it has Brasil all over it. This recipe is a big recipe so if your baking tin is not very deep you will need another baking tin, a smaller one.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 can of Condensed milk – they come in one size

1 can of sweetcorn, drained (275g) (if you can use fresh corn even better but don’t fret)

200ml coconut milk

5 medium eggs

100g unsalted butter, room temperature and softned

½ cup sugar (cup of 120ml)

1 ½ cups plain flour (cup of 240ml)

1 ½ cups cornmeal (cup of 240ml)

1 tablespoon baking powder

 

Greased and floured baking tin, lined with parchment/baking paper –  deep 22cm x 30cm. Preheat the oven - 170oC

 

Throw the corn, condensed and coconut milk in a blender and whiz it until it is all combined. Sieve the flour, cornmeal and baking power in a bowl. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time beating well after each addition. Alternate the flour mixture and the sweetcorn mixture, mixing with a wooden spoon to incorporate the ingredients. Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and fold only ⅓ of the egg whites into the cake mixture first. Once it is incorporated add the remaining egg white. Pour the cake mixture in the prepared cake tin and bake it for approximately 40 minutes.