The Southern Treat That Combines Cornbread And Pound Cake To Create A Delicious Dessert

Cornmeal is a way of life for Southerners, whether it's used to make cornbread and hushpuppies or give fried fish a crispy crust. You can even grind up cornmeal yourself for a true down-home culinary experience. Besides its roles in savory foods, it makes a great base or addition for desserts. A cornbread and pound cake fusion of cornmeal cake can be whipped up with various techniques and ingredients, which include making the cornmeal the star or combining it with all-purpose flour. Recipes that combine the two either use equal amounts, or ratios like 1 cup of flour to ½ or ⅓ cup of cornmeal. 

If you use flour, adding cornmeal can make your cake drier, so fold in a wet ingredient like sour cream, heavy cream, or cream cheese — a classic in Southern pound cake. Selecting the right cornmeal is essential. Cornmeal comes in multiple textures, from a fineness similar to white flour to a coarse feel. Opt for fine and medium textures if you don't want a highly textured cake. Color also matters; white varieties have a subdued flavor that can better suit dessert-making, while yellow cornmeal tastes a little more strongly of corn.

Cornmeal cake works in any pan you'd use for a regular cake, such as a Bundt, loaf, or springform pan, though a Bundt pan will give you the authentic pound cake shape. Cast iron skillets cook up excellent cornbread, but you might avoid them for cake. The cast iron creates a toasty, crunchy bottom crust through its enhanced heat retention, which isn't always ideal for a cake recipe.

Once you have the basics down, you can dress up your cornmeal cake as you please. To achieve flavors popular in pound cake, you might top it with a lemon glaze, mix chocolate and vanilla batters for a marbled version, or incorporate a lemon-lime soda like 7-Up into the batter. Ginger ale also works as a great substitute for 7-Up in cake recipes. Soda is common in traditional Southern cakes, as the drink increases moisture and takes the place of regular leavening ingredients due to the carbonation.

Incorporate fruits like strawberries and blueberries into the mix and top the batter with them, or add lemon zest for a tangy flavor in each bite. Swap butter for olive oil to bake a cake that maintains its tender airiness with a richer flavor. Or, take a cue from our savory upside-down cornbread recipe and make an upside-down cornmeal cake with pineapples, peaches, or apples. However you decide to remix your recipe, cornmeal provides a toothsome texture that elevates ordinary cake.