I hate waste, so when I found 3 ears of fresh corn in my fridge from a food delivery two weeks back, all I could think is Pan de Elote. My mother made this quite often when I was little and it was one of her favourite healthy treats for us. I have done nothing to the recipe other than translating it. It is perfect as it is, but I will say, this cake is best eaten while still warm, as it is crunchy in the outside and soft and moist in the inside. As it cools off, the crust softens and it somehow lessens the eating experience. If you have any leftovers, I recommend to reheat them in the microwave for 20 seconds to make them soft and warm, or to pan fry them with a little bit of butter to crisp up the outside again. The texture of this cake is not light, it's actually quite dense because of the corn, but that doesn't make it delicious.
If you noticed, the recipe is called Pan de Elote (literally translates as corn bread), but not to confuse it with the American version, which is something completely different to this, I have called it a cake. At home we use savoury corn to make it, however, we can only get sweet corn in Ireland, so I made it what that and it tasted really good!
In Mexico we make this bread a lot, loads of different recipes and methods, but this is how my family makes it and we just love it. Hope you do too.
Start by sifting the flour and baking powder and set them aside. Then get on with cleaning the ears of corn, peeling the leaves and taking out all the silk that comes with them. Then using a sharp knife, carefully slice the the corn kernels off the cob into a large bowl. If you're not sure how to do this, perhaps take a dive on YouTube to show you how best do it. We grew up knowing how to do it, it's almost instinctive for Mexicans.
Take the corn kernels and place them in the blender or food processor and add the milk. Blend them into a smooth pulp and set aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar together until they're light and fluffy, about 5 minutes in the stand up mixer. Don't be afraid of over whipping, the longer your whip these two ingredients together the better. Once they're creamed, add the eggs one at a time and whisk in between. Add the Mixture of blended corn and milk from the blender and mix.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder and the vanilla and mix to combine. The mix is going to look slightly different to a cake batter because of the corn in it, it won't be smooth. It will look lumpy an uneven, don't worry, it's ok. You also will notice this when it cooks, it will look lumpy. Again, don't worry, it's normal.
Pour the corny batter into a well greased 20 cm tin; I chose a ring shaped one, but any shape would do and I normally use cake release to grease my tins, but vegetable oil brushed into your tin will work fine too. You can always use butter to grease your tin too, but I find butter burns and browns this particular cake too much.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake taster or toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake for 5 minutes before turning it into a cooling rack.
This cake is so delicious while still warm with a cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk. You can dust it with a little bit of icing sugar if you want or serve it with a little bit of creme fraiche and some berries. When cold, lightly toasted on a pan is so so good!
