Mexican Sweet Cornbread (Tomalito)

A plate of tomalito sweet cornbread, with the casserole in the background.

4.15 from 27 votes

This sweet cornbread is soft and moist from steaming in the oven, and dotted with corn. Guaranteed to be a big hit with the kids at the table!

Prep Time20

Cook Time2

Total Time2 20

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: sweet cornbread, tomalito

Servings: squares

Calories: 139.5kcal

Author: Susan Pridmore

Equipment

8" X 8" Baking Dish
Standing Mixer
Whisk
medium mixing bowl
Food Processor
9" X 13" baking dish or any baking dish that can hold the 8" X 8" baking dish for steaming

Ingredients

6 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup sugar
¾ cup 2% milk
½ cup masa harina
½ cup fine or medium cornmeal
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups fresh or frozen corn, divided

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Butter an 8" X 8" baking dish, and heat up 2 quarts of water in the microwave or on the stove. The water will be use for steaming the tomalito cornbread in the oven. Pull out a baking dish that the 8" X 8" baking dish will fit into for steaming.
Note: The smaller dish will be filled with the tomalito batter, and will sit inside the larger dish, and the larger dish will be partly filled with the heated water. The whole arrangement will be covered with foil for steaming.
Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and mix as well as you can for another 5 minutes.
The butter and milk won't completely mix together, and you'll need to stop the mixer a few times to remove the butter from the paddle attachment.
In a separate medium bowl, Whisk together the masa harina, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add to the mixing bowl holding the butter-sugar-milk mixture.
Puree half of the corn in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a metal blade. Add to the rest of the ingredients, along with the remaining whole corn kernels.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Place the dish in a 9" X 13" baking dish and add the hot water to the larger dish, about ⅓ up the sides of the smaller dish. Cover everything with foil.
Bake for 90 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake until the tomalito cake is firm, about 20 - 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
This dish is also great reheated.

Notes

This is slightly modified from the book Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. I've made this in a single baking dish and in cupcake tins. Both worked great, but only bake the cupcakes for 1 hour before removing the foil.

Nutrition