Puerto Rican Style Sweet Cornbread
Foods that anchor you
Even if we call it cornbread as in “pan de maíz”, this is a sweet corn loaf cake that is sweet, soft and tender. It’s made with a mix of flour and cornmeal and other basic baking ingredients that I’m sure are in your home right now. You’ll find this cake at any Puerto Rican bakery and it’s mostly eaten as breakfast or at mid afternoon during coffee break. I have so many memories around this humble cake, but even if you are trying it for the first time, it will warm your soul for sure!
Cornbread, along with “quesitos”, has to be one of the first baked sweets I fell in love with. From a very young age, I would visit a bakery very early in the morning and I would have any of these two. For me there were no other options. To this day it’s still the same.
For some reason though, maybe because after reaching my college years I started loosing the habit of having cornbread as a snack, the mere thought of it brings me back to who I am in my core. And the feeling is beyond childhood memories, because memories come to you. In this case it’s I who travel to that place in time. Having a piece of sweet cornbread makes me feel grounded, makes me love that little kid that lives somewhere inside me and makes me feel connected to the people I loved the most around that time. It’s amazing to realize how much influence a simple and unpretentious cake can have over you.
Of course, if you didn’t grow up with a Puerto Rican bakery around, you probably won’t see this cake as I do, so now I have to tell you that even with no sweet memories attached, you’ll love this easy snacking corn cake. Think of it as a traditional pound cake but with corn’s sunny sweetness. The corn flavor is subtle but using cornmeal yields a chewier texture with a nice bite you can’t resist.
Now its your turn to make this easy and simple sweet cornbread. Here are the basic steps you need to follow when making it.
Making sweet Puerto Rican cornbread
Start by taking out the butter and milk so the butter is softened and the milk is not super chilled when added to the batter.
Then whisk by hand the cornmeal with the flour, the baking powder and the salt.
Next beat the butter with the sugar. It’s important to not over beat the ingredients in this part of the process to not incorporate too much air. About 2 minutes is more than enough.
You will see that I used a bit of vegetable oil because oil helps in keeping the cake super soft for days. Don’t skip it!
When you have ready the butter-sugar paste, add the eggs and vanilla, just to incorporate. Finish by intercalating the flour-cornmeal mixture with the milk.
Scrape batter to a greased loaf cake pan and if you have turbinado or decorator’s sugar, sprinkle some across the top. This will create a super crunchy topping.
Baking the cake at a lower temperature helps a lot in achieving a softer and moist crumb. This cake bakes at 325° for about an hour.
Eat it plain or spread a fruity jam or a bit of sweetened cream cheese. Store it tightly closed and after the second day store it in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.
I hope this humble traditional cake warms your morning as it has been warming mine since a long time ago. If you make it, let me know how it goes. Now back to the kitchen!
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Puerto Rican Style Cornbread
Ingredients
◯ Cornmeal or corn flour - ½ cup + 3 TBSP, 110 g
◯ Unbleached all-purpose flour - 1 ¼ cup, 182 g
◯ Baking powder - ½ Tsp, 2.5 g
◯ Fine sea salt - ¼ Tsp, 1.5 g
◯ Salted butter, ideally European style for more fat content and preferably made of milk from grass-fed cows, softened- 14 TBSP (¾ cup), 198.5 g, plus 2 TBSP for greasing the pan
◯ Vegetable oil - 1 TBSP
◯ Natural granulated sugar - 1 ½ cup, 319 g
◯ Large whole organic eggs, at room temperature - 3
◯ Vanilla extract - 1 TBSP
◯ Whole milk - ¼ cup
Details
Yield:
a 9” x 5” loaf cake
Total time:
1.25 hours
Prep time:
15 minutes for making the cake batter
Baking time:
1 hour
Equipment:
stand mixer or electric hand mixer, 9” x 5” loaf cake pan
Steps
Preheat oven to 325°. Grease a 9” x 5” loaf cake pan or line it with parchment paper.
In a bowl combine the ½ cup plus the 3 tablespoons of cornmeal, the 1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour, the ½ teaspoon of baking powder and the ½ teaspoon of salt using a hand whisk. Mix for 1 to 2 minutes to make sure everything is well combined.
In the bowl of a the stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl to use with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter with the paddle attachment or beaters in high speed (#6 in the Kitchen Aid) for 2 minutes. Add the tablespoon of oil and mix for one minute. Slowly add the 1 ½ cup of sugar. Stop mixer and scrap down the sides and through the bottom of the bowl to make sure there’s no sugar stuck there. Bring speed to high and beat for 3 minutes (please take note that if you are using a hand electric mixer, you should add one to two minutes at each step). Add eggs, one at a time, and the tablespoon of vanilla extract. Beat until they are fully incorporated. Stop mixer and scrape down once more. Beat for 30 seconds to make sure everything is well mixed.
Bring speed to the lowest (#1 in the Kitchen Aid) and add about a third of the flour-cornmeal mixture. Add half of the ¼ cup of milk. Repeat this once more, finishing with the last of the flour-cornmeal mixture. Stop mixing as soon as everything looks well incorporated, probably less than 10 seconds. With your rubber spatula gently finish mixing with a folding motion any streak of flour visible.
Scrape batter to your prepared pan. Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean after inserted through the middle of the cake. It should have risen and the top should look deep golden brown. If cake hasn't done yet in 65 to 70 minutes, cover it with aluminum foil to prevent burning the top.
Retire cake from oven and let it cool down a bit before turning it out of the pan. Let it cool down completely before slicing.
