A lightened up, gluten-free, vegan, & top 8 allergy-free recipe for ‘Pastel de Elote’ Sweet Mexican Corn Cake! This traditional dessert is moist, dense, with a bread pudding like texture. Baked in a bundt pan, with fresh corn, and topped with a light glaze, this treat will be gone in a flash!
Basically, we’re talking a sweet, bread-pudding-like, super moist, Mexican-style cornbread! Using a combination of masa (corn flour) and gluten-free all purpose with real sweet yellow corn kernels, this bundt cake is super “corny”. Pastel de Elote traditionally uses tons of condensed sweetened milk, but instead this vegan, dairy-free cake uses a combo of non-dairy milk and condensed coconut milk!
MY LATEST VIDEOSWhat does “Pastel de Elote” mean?
The Spanish literally means “Cake of Corn”. Similarly, “Pan de Elote” is “Bread of Corn” and is a Mexican corn bread, not cake, but still a real food/recipe. We’re making a decadent and sweet cake, although much…MUCH more lightened up and healthy! Yet it’s just as sweet, moist, and delicious as a traditional version. This version I’m giving you today would totally work as a sweet breakfast or brunch treat! Breakfast cake, anyone?
Typically this sweet corn cake is baked right in a normal square or round cake pan, but why not make it a little more special and bake it in a bundt pan? Any time you bake a cake in a bundt pan, you automatically raise the “fancy and beautiful” factor of your dessert! No fancy cake decorating skills required when the outline of the bundt pan does the work for you! Have no fear, if you don’t have a small bundt pan (double the recipe for a full size bundt), you can bake this Mexican corn cake in a small standard cake pan or loaf pan instead.
So what is the texture like in this sweet Mexican corn cake?
Have you ever had spoon bread or bread pudding? It takes some properties of both and fuses them into a cake. This sweet corn cake has enough structure though to hold up as a bundt cake, yet it’s still super moist, soft, dense, and spoon or fork “able”. Eat it with a spoon or fork (put a big slice in a bowl if you opt for a spoon) and you’re good to go either way! But what adds to the “spoonability” is the delicious simple glaze you’ll be pouring over this bundt! I used a mixture of powdered erythritol and some vegan honey. Having that glaze soak into the cake made it even more moist, more sweet and delicious!
Of course, one of the best parts about this corn cake is the actual pops of sweet yellow corn kernels prolifically strewn throughout! I am a loud and proud lover of corn, from my obsession with canned to deliciously sweet fresh New Jersey summer corn. Depending on the season you can use fresh corn on the cob (heated in the microwave and kernels removed) or use canned, frozen (and defrosted), etc. You’ll see just how easy this recipe is in all it’s healthified, gluten-free, vegan, glory!
Gluten-Free ‘Pastel de Elote’ Sweet Mexican Corn Cake
- 1 Cup Masa Harina (Corn Flour)
- 1 Cup Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ Cup Erythritol (or preferred granulated sweetener)
- 1 Cup Sweet Yellow Corn
- 1 Prepared Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacement
- ¾ Cup Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk*
- ¼ Cup Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
- ½ Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
- For the "Honey Glaze":
- ¾ Cup Powdered Erythritol (or preferred powdered sugar)
- 2 TB Vegan Honey (or real pure honey)
- 3 Tsp Water
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and baking powder and whisk together.
- Now add the rest of the cake ingredients and mix together to form a smooth, thick cake batter.
- Pour the cake batter into a greased 3-cup bundt pan** and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze by simply mixing the 3 ingredients together.
- Allow the baked cake to cool for a bit in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to completely cool.
- Once the cake has cooled, drizzle on the glaze. Save some glaze for serving!
- Pro tip: This cake tastes amazing once chilled in the fridge!
**You can double the recipe to fill a full-size bundt pan or just use a small loaf, square, or circle cake pan for the 3 cup recipe.
So after you’ve had a delicious dinner of some gluten-free tamales, maybe this sweet Mexican corn cake will be the perfect way to round-out your very corny feast! But if you can’t wait until after dinner, breakfast or brunch is still an open option and the perfect addition to something savory…
So tell me:
+ Have you ever had (or even heard of) Pastel de Elote?
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I’m going to give this a try this upcoming weekend even thou I’m a little bit scared since it will be my first time to try this recipe. I hope I can make it looks as great as yours
Isn’t every time you try a new recipe, the first time?
Yup that’s true, It just that I’ll be making it for my family xD and you know the pressure when people try out your cooking ^^
I love pastel de elote! I have a recipe for it (here in Mexico, everyone does lol) but it’s certainly not vegan or gluten-free, so this is a great option.
Pinning and tweeting this!
Haha, right! Well now everyone can enjoy the classic!
I have had sweet corn tamales before but this looks so much easier and just as tasty! I would be honored if you would share this at our What’s for Dinner party! http://www.lazygastronome.com/whats-for-dinner-sunday-link-up-165/
Lol, well tamales are 100% different from this cake!
This looks super interesting!! My mom used to put corn in all sorts of desserts, maybe because Filipino food has so many similarities to Mexican food.
I’d assume so!
This looks and sounds delicious!
Thank you so much!
I have never heard of this but boy do I want to try it!!!
All the more reason to get baking!
That looks so good and so yummy! I like it because it is gluten free!
Glad you think so!
I’ve never tried this, but it seriously looks awesome!
Thank you, enjoy!
I love a sweeter cornbread/muffin so I’m pretty sure I would love this recipe. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Yes! This would be just the thing!
This sounds so yummy. I will have to try it.
Glad to hear it! Enjoy!
Such an interesting cake! Definitely something I would LOVE to try!
If you love corn and you love cake, you’ll love this!
Looks so yummy! Added to my gluten-free vegan recipes. Thank you very much.
Awesome! Let me know how you like it!
Ah this looks so good! I’ve definitely never tried it before! Can’t wait to try my hand at it!
Enjoy! It’s a delicious one to bake up!
Never heard of this but it looks absolutely delicious! So moist!
Yes! I’m so glad I recently heard about it and needed to make a free-from version!
This looks great – is it plain GF flour or self raising? (assume plain as baking powder in list)
We don’t have “self rising” here in the US. Follow the link and you’ll see my recommendation.
Thanks Rebecca – will check out on UK Amazon! I think I have the equivalent so will give it a go!
This cake looks so good and fluffy! Probably not too heavy to digest! I’ve saved the recipe for later
It’s a nice dense corn cake as it should be!
ive actually never heard of this before but it def looks delicious. i love something thats sweet and easy to make!
I’m sure you haven’t, it’s not very common!