Bolo de milho

Brazilian fresh corn cake: dense, moist, and fragrant with fresh corn blended into the batter, the everyday cake of Minas Gerais and the soul of the Brazilian Festa Junina table

Origin: Minas Gerais, Brazil

From the journey of Corn.

Bolo de milho is the everyday corn cake of Minas Gerais; Brazil's great inland kitchen state, whose cooking is defined by simplicity of ingredient and richness of result. Unlike European corn breads that use cornmeal, bolo de milho uses fresh corn kernels blended directly into the batter, making a cake of extraordinary moistness and intense corn flavour that is unmistakably Brazilian. Minas Gerais developed one of the richest corn cake traditions in the country: the state's cool winters, productive farmland, and culture of unhurried home cooking produced recipes that have barely changed in centuries. Bolo de milho is eaten at Festa Junina alongside canjica, pamonha, and curau; the four corn preparations that define Brazil's winter festival food. It is also simply the cake you cut at the kitchen table on any afternoon, served with strong cafézinho. Dense enough to travel, sweet enough to satisfy, and unmistakably made from fresh corn.

Ingredients

400 g fresh corn kernels (from 3–4 cobs) or thawed frozen corn
200 ml whole milk
3 large eggs
100 ml vegetable oil
200 g caster sugar
200 g fine yellow cornmeal
100 g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
0.5 tsp fine salt
50 g desiccated coconut (optional but traditional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Grease and flour a 23cm round cake tin or a bundt tin.
Blend the corn kernels and milk together until smooth. This is the base of the batter: the blended fresh corn gives the cake its dense, moist texture and vivid corn flavour.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil together until combined. Stir in the blended corn mixture.
Fold in the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and coconut if using. Mix until just combined; do not overmix.
Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40–45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top is deep golden. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

Notes

Bolo de milho is best eaten on the day it is baked, when the corn flavour is freshest. It keeps well for 2 days at room temperature, wrapped. The coconut is a regional addition from Minas Gerais; some versions omit it entirely, others use grated fresh coconut. A version with queijo minas (white cheese) crumbled into the batter is particularly good: the savoury cheese cuts the sweetness and adds a Mineiro character. For a richer cake, substitute the vegetable oil with the same weight of melted butter.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bolo de milho
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Brazil
Ingredients: 400 g fresh corn kernels (from 3–4 cobs) or thawed frozen corn; 200 ml whole milk; 3 large eggs; 100 ml vegetable oil; 200 g caster sugar; 200 g fine yellow cornmeal; 100 g plain flour; 1 tbsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp fine salt; 50 g desiccated coconut (optional but traditional)

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control