Corn Cake (Bolo Pamonha com Romeu e Julieta)

I decided to do this cake on Friday afternoon just before a birthday party. My mother was making the birthday cake for our friends as a gift and it looked delicious. Because I didn’t want to be craving for cake later, I decided to make my own. This corn cake has the consistency of a pudding and the guava paste and cheese slices in the middle are the perfect touch. It’s so perfect that this combination of cheese and guava paste is called Romeo and Juliet in Brazil.

The cake was a success in my house. Everybody loved, but I ended up eating most of it.  Hopefully this will help me gain the 4 pounds I need to participate in a research study that I really want to be part. It is about meditation and I would be learning several techniques. Well, I will let you know if I pass the Body Mass Index requirement.

The only challenge of making this cake is to find the ingredients. But do not worry, they can be usually found in the Hispanic section of the Wal-Mart or in a Hispanic market. The ingredients are not really that exotic. First it is the condensed milk that I suggest you to buy the Nestle brand, since most the other brands are more liquid and may affect the consistency of the cake. The second is the guava paste which can be hard to find if you don’t live in an area where there are many Latin people. And the last is the queso fresco, which is a kind of fresh cheese that substitutes very well the cheese I’m used to use in Brazil. But don’t let that be the reason to stop you from making this amazing cake, you can use mozzarella or parmesan cheese.

I hope you enjoy this delicacy!

   Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs;
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter;
• 1 can of drained corn;
• 1 can of condensed milk;
• 1 cup of yellow corn flour;
• 6.7 fl oz of Coconut milk (or half a can);
• 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour Gluten Free;
• 3 tablespoons of shredded parmesan;
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder;
• 1 pinch of salt;

   Filling:

• Slices of guava paste;
• Slices of Queso Fresco (or Mozzarella);

   Procedure:

1. Cut a piece of wax paper and put it on the bottom of the cake pan. Then, grease and powder with Gluten Free flour the entire pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F.
3. Blend the drained corn with half a can of water, and pour it in a recipient.
4. Blend the eggs for about 2 minutes and then add the blended corn,  butter, condensed milk, corn flour (little by little), all purpose flour GF, coconut milk, parmesan cheese and the pinch of salt;
5. Put the mixture in a recipient and stir in the baking powder;
6. Now you should cut the guava paste and the cheese into thin slices and powder them with GF flour. This helps them to stay in place instead of sinking to the bottom when baking the cake.
   
7. Pour some of the mixture in the cake pan and add the guava and cheese slices. Repeat this step twice.
8. Bake it for 35-40 minutes or until is lightly brown.