Cooking With Kids is a weekly recipe series on getting creative in the kitchen with the family.
If you like baking up a storm with the little ones, try something new with head chef and owner of London-based Mexican restaurant, Santo Remedio, Edson Diaz-Fuentes’s Pan de Elote Dulce – aka Mexican cornbread – recipe.
The seasonal sweetcorn makes the cake so fluffy and delicious that it’ll melt in your mouth. Diaz Fuentes’s five-year-old son, Sebastian, loves to get involved by helping weigh items and learn about the ingredients.
“It is incredible to use British sweetcorn during these months,” he explains. “In Mexico, we don’t use sweet corn as we have over 100 varieties or native corn that is completely different in flavour.”
Kids can stay engaged in the entire cooking process by putting things in the blender and lend a helping hand in the jam-making.
“If I have an earliest memory of cooking, this is probably the first one,” adds the chef. “It’s a simple recipe my mum has done for many years in her attempt to provide her children with a healthy and homemade dessert.”
Pan de Elote Dulce / Mexican Cornbread with Hibiscus Jam
Serves: 10 | Prep time: 10 mins | Bake time: 50 minutes | Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
For the corn cake:
225g butter (can be substituted with margarine or coconut oil)
4 eggs
50g brown sugar
700g cooked corn kernels
100ml whole milk (can be substituted for alternative milk)
15ml Mexican vanilla extract (we use Papantla Veracruz vanilla originated in Mexico, but good quality vanilla works well).
For the hibiscus jam:
50g hibiscus flower
500ml water
50ml orange juice
200g sugar jam
1x cinnamon stick
5g ginger, shaved.
Method:
1. Start by using a blender to slowly mix the melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, 500g of the sweetcorn kernels (200g should be reserved to mix with the dough later to provide extra texture on the cake), vanilla extract, and milk.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, including the last 200g of corn kernels, the flour and the baking powder – making sure all ingredients are incorporated and mixed properly.
3. Leave it to rest for a few minutes so we can start with the hibiscus jam. Preheat the oven to 170°c.
4. Wash the hibiscus flowers quickly under running cold water to remove dust and small particles. Leave to drain and bring some water to the boil, while adding the cinnamon and ginger.
5. Add the hibiscus flowers and sugar jam, while you keep boiling it on medium heat for the next 30 minutes (approx). Add the orange juice at the end.
6. While the hibiscus jam is on the stove, with the help of a spatula, remove all mixed ingredients from the blender and pour it into a cake mould, prepared with oil and dusted with flour. Put this into the oven at 170°C for 50 minutes.
7. Once the hibiscus jam is done after 30 minutes, remove from the stove and leave it to cool. Add to the cake to finish.