Corn cake

Little corn cakes.

I love this cake! The recipe is given by Cynthia's mum. I like to think this is a very Brazilian cake since it uses primarily corn meal, which is a common Brazilian kitchen product. Anyway, Cynthia made this cake the first time Stella and I went over to her place. Then, I asked her to make it again for one of the class dinner. The third time, I thought I'd just make it myself. That just goes to show how much I like it. :D

This corn cake can be eaten for breakfast, serve in afternoon tea, or even used as a dessert after dinner. Though I have not tried it, I think whipped cream folded through with dessicated coconut (sweetened with molasses sugar) will go nicely with the corn cake. Try it!

Corn meal here refers to superfine corn that resembles flour, not cornflour, nor is it cornstarch. I don't know if Singapore have it but it is worth every effort in finding it. I substituted 1 cup of cornmeal with polenta, a coarser mill of corn for more texture. You can use all cornmeal if you like a really light cake. And I increased the baking powder by 1/4 tablespoon to give additional lift since polenta is really heavy.

Corn cake - makes 1x20cm round tin, 12 mini muffin tins and 2 ramekins. Yeah, it gives alot of corn cake. But don't worry, you'll finish them all. I did. :)
A:
2 cups cornmeal
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup oil (canola)
1 teaspoon salt
B:
5 egg yolks
1 tablespoon baking powder
C:
5 egg whites

Orange Syrup:
Juice of 2 oranges
3 tablespoons of sugar

Combine juice and sugar, bring to boil, then cool slightly before use.

Method:

Prepare tins: oiled and lined. Preheat oven to 190 degree Celcius.

1. Combine (A) in a pot. Cook it on medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent any of the cornmeal from catching on the bottom. Bubbles will start to show when the corn mixture is boiling. Boil until the bubbles have ceased, then remove from heat and cool.

2. While the corn mixture is cooling, whisk the whites to soft peaks.

3. Add (B) to cooled corn mixture, mix well. Make sure corn mixture is at least of blood temperature. Any warmer, the egg yolks may cook. You won't want scrambled eggs in your cake.

4. Go back to the egg whites, continue to whisk them to medium peaks. Immediately, fold the whisked whites through the corn mixture. Do it quickly and gently so that you don't lose much of the aeration.

5. Pour batter into tins and bake for about 45 minutes for the round tins. Smaller tins like the mini muffins, will take lesser time, about 20 minutes. Use the colour and feel of the cake as an indicator. Golden means it is ready. Cake springs back when pressed also means it is cooked.

6. Spoon orange syrup over corn cake while still warm.

Serve.

Does your corn cake look like this??

End.