bolão azedo de fubá com goiaba: corn and guava yogurt cake

Corn bread in Brazil is sweeter than the American version, and normally it’s eaten for breakfast, instead of with lunch or dinner. Brazilian corn flour, called fubá; though ground coarser than wheat flour; is finer than American corn meal. I grew up eating a lot of these corn cakes in the Brazilian hinterlands.

Looking back it seems that at all times there were shortages of something or another. Flour was one of those staples we could not produce ourselves. Temperate weather crops, like wheat, did not yield well enough in the tropical lands of South America. Wheat flour was used parsimoniously, really as a treat instead of an every-day thing. My mother mixed it with other types of flour, mainly corn and cassava (aka, yucca if you please).

Refrigeration was another issue. We did not get electricity until 1972! Milk would go “bad” very frequently; turning into yogurt. For some reason my mother never liked it, except when she used it to make her famous bolão azedo. Otherwise that goodness would become a feast for the pigs. I know they liked it because I was the one who fed them! If we only had known how to make Prosciutto de Parma, we’d have become rich! Well here I am reminiscing about my hometown, Olegário Maciel …. but wait, I need to go back to my cake!

The cake is made just plain and simple with corn flour and yogurt, often times flavored with whatever spices that might be available from our dispensa (pantry). These additional items might include: fennel seeds, cinnamon, dried coconut, guava paste, etc. Yesterday I made the cake using all of the above and it turned out really good. Steven and I loved it, and I hope that you do too. You can find guava paste and fubá at Brazilian stores or sometimes in specialty food stores. So in belated honor of mother’s day, here’s the recipe:

key ingredients

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups corn flour (fubá)
½ cup wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 egg whites
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 cup yogurt
1 cup guava paste, cut into cubes and dusted with flour
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 pinch ground cinnamon

How to:

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease and dust with flour a baking dish (14’’ X 9””)
Mix together eggs, oil and sugar for a couple of minutes.
Mix in yogurt and coconut
Mix in corn and wheat flours, and salt, fennel seeds and cinnamon. Add baking powder and mix again.
Pour over greased and dusted baking dish, scatter guava cubes over cake, bake it for 35-40 min or till a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

finished corn cake