Mexican Corn Cakes

“This makes my mind blowed,” declared my six-year-old eldest son, Jack.

Like mama, like son. When I first moved to Southern California at the age of 24, I practically lived on tortillas, honey butter and corn cakes for the first few months. The tortillas and honey butter because they were free, and the corn cakes because they were freaking awesome.

There was a Mexican place called El Torito not far from my apartment (and close to my work too, as luck would have it), and not a day passed that I didn’t think impure thoughts about their corn cakes. Not so much an actual cake, as much as a kind of melt-in-your-mouth spoonbread sent straight from the heavens. Slightly sweet, fantastically moist and sinfully buttery, they have lingered in my soul ever since.

This is my bacon-studded version of these sexy, little balls of corn numminess – my ode to El Torito’s muy delicioso corn cakes.

Mind: blowed.

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Mexican Corn Cakes

The kind of food that sticks to your soul (and your ass, let's be honest), but there is no shame in this corn cake game. These little balls of corny delight are sure to blow your mind.

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Cuisines

Mexican

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

50 minutes

Servings

corn cakes MetricUS Imperial

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/3 cup masa harina
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sweet corn cooked (or just thawed, if using frozen)
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cream
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 slices applewood-smoked bacon chopped

Cuisines Mexican Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 50 minutes Servings corn cakes MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened 1/3 cup masa harina 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 cups sweet corn cooked (or just thawed, if using frozen) 1/4 cup cornmeal 1/3 cup sugar 2 Tbsp cream 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp baking powder 3 slices applewood-smoked bacon chopped

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the bacon in a medium saucepan until crisp, then set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand if you're totally jacked), beat butter until creamy.
4. Add the masa harina and the water, and continue mixing until fully incorporated.
5. In a food processor, pulse the corn until it's just slightly chunky. Add to the butter mixture.
6. Add cornmeal, sugar, cream, sea salt and baking powder into the butter mixture, and mix well.
7. Fold in the bacon, along with a tiny drizzle of the bacon drippings.
8. Pour batter into an ungreased 8 inch round or square baking pan, cover tightly with aluminum foil and place into a bigger 13x9 inch baking dish or roaster that is filled with water about halfway up the side of the smaller baking pan.
9. Bake for about 50 minutes, then allow to cool for another 10 minutes once it's out of the oven.
10. When you're ready to serve the corn cakes, use an ice cream scoop or large melon baller to scoop out individual balls.