Description
Dominican Arepa Dulce De Maiz is a traditional dessert recipe from the Dominican Republic. This cornmeal coconut cake, also known as torta dominicana, is a moist, dense and sweet, almost pudding cake made with 3 types of milk, cinnamon and raisins. We take it to the next level with brown butter, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups of whole milk
- 1+1/2 cups evaporated milk
- 2+1/2 cups of coconut milk
- 1 can pumpkin puree.
- If you want a deeper pumpkin flavor, you can add more.
- 3 Tablespoons of Brown Butter.
- 2 cups of cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt
- 1-1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- To prevent the raisins from sinking to the bottom: mix in 1 Tablespoon flour
For buttering the baking pan or pot:
- 1 Tablespoon of brown butter
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF. Butter an enameled cast iron casserole or baking dish
- In a large pot, add the whole milk, evaporated milk, coconut milk, pumpkin puree, brown butter, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. After everything is combined, add the cinnamon sticks.
- Put the pot with the mixture on the stove over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid sticking - about 5-7 minutes. The mixture will cook quickly, so don’t take your eyes off the pot.
- When the mixture starts to boil, lower the heat and continue stirring until you reach a consistency like grits. Remove from the heat, and remove the cinnamon sticks.
- Mix raisins with a Tablespoon of flour and shake off the excess. This will prevent raisins from sticking to each other and sinking to the bottom of the cake. Add to the mixture and combine.
- Pour mixture on previously buttered enameled cast iron casserole or baking dish and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. It should be golden brown on top.
- Let it cool down to room temperature completely before removing from the pan. See notes
- Serve with hot chocolate or coffee.
Notes
- Bake in an enameled cast iron casserole, in a baking dish, or in a cake mold or spring mold.
- Use fine cornmeal
- I highly recommend waiting several hours before unmolding the arepa. When it’s cold it is easy to get out in one piece. If you are impatient like me, expect not to have one nice round cake.
- If you want a vegan option: use nut or soymilk instead of the whole milk and instead of butter uses a nut butter.
- Vitamin A34%, Vitamin C18%, Calcium28%, Iron27%, Vitamin D39%, Vitamin B126%, Vitamin E3%, Vitamin K13%
- Prep Time: 7
- Cook Time: 55
- Category: Dessert, Breakfast
- Method: Stove & Oven
- Cuisine: Dominican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 585
- Sugar: 54.4
- Sodium: 254.8
- Fat: 23.7
- Carbohydrates: 89.9
- Fiber: 4.9
- Protein: 10
- Cholesterol: 17.5
