Sweet Corn Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream and Blackberry Compote
I wanted to make this cake since it’s summertime! Fresh sweet corn steeped in warm milk, blended and strained into fragrant corn milk that gets folded into a tender, buttery cake batter, served with a vanilla bean cream and jammy blackberry compote that cuts right through the richness.
- 300 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 ears fresh sweet corn
- 1 1/2 cup whole milk
- 113 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 110 g vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)
- 400 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp corn extract (I got mine here)
- 1 cup corn milk (from above)
- 500 g frozen blackberries
- 60 g granulated sugar
- 20 g lemon juice
- 700 g heavy cream (cold)
- 85 g granulated sugar
- seeds from 2 vanilla bean pods
- Steep: Slice corn kernels off 4 ears into a saucepan. Add 1½ cups whole milk and heat until just simmering. Lower heat to lowest and steep 20-30 minutes.
- Blend and strain: Blend thoroughly until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Measure out 1 cup and set aside to cool.
- Cook: Combine blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until jammy and thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.
- Preheat: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 12 three-inch cake rings on a lined baking sheet.
- Dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Cream: Whisk together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Eggs: Beat in eggs and yolks one at a time.
- Wet ingredients: Mix in Greek yogurt, vanilla, corn extract if using, and corn milk until smooth.
- Combine: Add flour mixture in 2 additions, gently whisking, just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Bake: Divide into rings and bake 20-24 minutes until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool 10 minutes before removing from rings.
- Whip: Beat cold heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds to soft to medium peaks. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Core the cakes: Once the cakes are removed from the rings use a piping tip or cake corer to core out the center of each cake.
- Fill: Spoon or pipe blackberry compote into the center of each cored cake so the filling is hidden inside.
- Pipe the cream: Pipe vanilla bean cream on top of each cake. Use the back of a teaspoon to press a small indent into the center of the cream.
- Finish: Spoon more blackberry compote into the indent on top of the cream so you get a little pool of compote sitting right in the center. Serve immediately.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The corn milk — steeping fresh corn kernels in warm whole milk and blending it into the batter is the move that makes this cake taste like actual sweet corn in the best way.
- Super tender crumb — the combination of butter, oil, Greek yogurt, and corn milk gives you a moist cake that stays soft for days.
- Vanilla bean cream — light, silky, and speckled with real vanilla bean — so much better than heavy frosting against the delicate corn flavor.
- Blackberry compote — jammy, slightly tart, and the most beautiful deep purple color against the pale golden cake.
- Summer in cake form — fresh corn, fresh blackberries, warm vanilla — it just tastes like the best time of year.
Sweet Corn Cake: A Summer Bake Worth the Extra Step
I love all corn flavored things so I wanted to do flavor my cake with it. The corn milk step sounds like extra work but it genuinely makes a difference you can taste and smell from the moment it starts steeping. The original plan was a whipped honey brown butter buttercream which I still think would be an incredible flavor pairing with sweet corn — deeply nutty, caramelized, and rich — and I’m planning to revisit that combination. But not having powdered sugar on hand led me to this vanilla bean cream instead and it was honestly perfect. Cool, light, and fragrant against the warm corn cake with that blackberry compote bringing everything together with a hit of tartness.
