Cornmeal cake with passion fruit glaze and a childhood memory

Days ago, while remembering my childhood and my beginning as a cook, I thought of the first cake I ever made and it occurred to me that I hadn’t made it in years. Many years. It was a bolo de fubá, a cake made with corn flour (not corn starch), a sort of very fine cornmeal – I instantly craved that cake but no longer had the recipe. Luckily, I knew exactly where to find a great recipe for it: my lovely friend Clarice adores bolo de fubá and she has plenty of recipes on her beautiful blog. With her help, I picked one and it was absolutely delicious.

I don’t know how difficult it would be for people outside Brazil to find corn flour, but I believe that in the U.S. it might be found since Kim Boyce has some recipes with the ingredient on her amazing "Good to the Grain".

Since cornmeal cakes are great paired with citrus flavors I decided to drizzle my bolo de fubá with a passion fruit glaze – it was a very tasty addition, but the cake is equally wonderful without it, too.

Cornmeal cake with passion fruit glaze
slightly adapted from my dear friend Clarice

Cake:
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
1 cup (150g) corn flour (not corn starch)
1 rounded tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (180ml) canola oil
1 cup (240ml) boiling whole milk

Glaze:
½ cup (70g) confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tablespoons passion fruit juice

Cake: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan (the one I used holds 10 cups and I had to bake the excess batter in a 1-cup capacity small pan).
In a medium bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, corn flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the eggs for a couple of minutes. Gradually add the sugar, whisking, then whisk until thick and glossy. Gradually add the oil, whisking. Turn off the mixer, then sift the dry ingredients once again directly onto the egg mixture. Fold in gently with a spatula, then fold in the milk – the batter will be very thin. Pour into the prepared pan and tap the sides of the pan with your hands to remove any air bubbles. Bake for about 50 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minute, then carefully unmold onto the rack and cool completely.

Glaze: sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl and add the juice, stirring, until you get the desired consistency. Pour over the cooled cake.

Serves 10-12