Cooked Corn Meal Cake

Cooked Corn Meal Cake

320g Fine stone ground cornmeal, I like Anson Mills www.ansonmills.com
250 g Superfine sugar or caster sugar
400ml Whole milk
150 ml Sweet butter
3 Large eggs
Zest from one orange
2 Tablespoons dry sherry, the better the sherry the better the taste
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon baking powder
extra butter and cornmeal for preparing the pan

All ingredients should be at room temperature before you begin. Set them out on the counter for at least a half hour before proceeding.

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees

Using a paper towel butter the inside of a tube pan..preferably with a lift our center. Then carefully dust all surfaces with cornmeal so that there is a light dust overall. The original recipe calls for a 23cm pan approx 9.5 inches..I found it too big and as a result my cake is not as tall as I would like.
I would try an 8 or even 7 inch angel cake pan with removable bottom.

Using a heavy pot or casserole heat the milk, over low/medium heat and slowly add the cornmeal a little at a time making sure it is whisked into the milk before adding more..wash down grains that attach to the side of the pot and make sure you get into the corners where the cornmeal can fall and start to cook and burn. Add meal and sugar slowly and continue to stir.  Make sure you beat out any lumps going one direction and another if necessary. Add the butter as you go as well as the three flavorings. When the mixture becomes thickened like good porridge, give a few more stirs then turn out into a large bowl and stir a bit.

Leave any bits that stick to the bottom as you do not want the hard cooked corn goo. Leave it in the bowl and wait for it to cool to warm not hot. Then add the egg yolks and beat.

Finally whip egg whites until they have soft peaks. Take a cup or so of the corn sponge and lightly fold into the whites. It should not be completely blended in.

Stir the baking powder into the corn mixture and finally lightly fold in the egg whites so they are almost but not quite well mixed in.

Immediately pour into the pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick plunged into it comes out clean.

Set on a rack and after you see the cake has shrunk from the pan you can lift it out by the bottom piece and let it continue to cool on a rack. When it is thoroughly cool gently with a fine knife remove the bottom of the pan from the cake. 

This gluten free cake is fragrant, soft and makes nice crumbs. Serve with juicy fruit ,plums, pitted cherries, berries or peaches. Next time I am thinking to split it  and fill the layer with custard. You can top it with a bit of ice cream or whipped cream. You can change the flavorings..a standard nutmeg vanilla mace addition might be fun..Use your imagination!



Cooking Notes on Cooked Corn Meal Cake

I always think that the gluten free cakes and breads I have had are really not very appetizing. Without gluten it is hard to make cake and bread that have a nice texture. Also for some reason most gf cakes and breads are filled with strange ingredients trying to emulate wheat flour. My sense is we need to try to find breads or cakes that already exist so that they are good.

I have been considering corn meal to make a cake..It was already in my mind to try to lighten it texturize it and flavor it. Cooking the meal would make a sponge..adding whipped egg whites would further lighten it.

I started to look up recipes on the internet that use corn meal for making a cake. Naturally most had a bit or a lot of wheat flour..But after some time I came upon this recipe:

http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2007/03/cooked-cornmeal-cake.html

It is essentially a cooked cornmeal with sugar and milk to which eggs, oil, baking powder etc are added. While I did not make it exactly I did think it would work out fine.

Then I noticed a link on that recipe back to an earlier version..it is in Portuguese..I think.. and is a little different

http://pecadodagula.blogspot.com/2006/11/bolo-de-fub-cozido.html

Then I noticed another picture of another cake..this one has butter not oil and whips the whites of the eggs separately folding them in at the end..Better, I thought..

http://pecadodagula.blogspot.com/2012/03/bolo-de-fuba-cozido-da-vovo-estela.html

Finally I had been reading the recipe on the Anson Mills site, which while it is very complex and has wheat flour had a nice idea for flavoring

http://ansonmills.com/recipes/504
 I loved sound of sherry, orange and vanilla

My recipe above is a combination of my experiences with cakes and the recipes of others before me.
Thanks to all for the help!!