Chef Lupita
Atole de Coco Espeso Costeño
Guerrero's Costa Chica spoon-thick coconut atole, built from fresh grated coconut, nixtamal masa, piloncillo, and canela, the sweet pantry of Afro-Mexican kitchens in Cuajinicuilapa.
Culinary Explorer
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Plátanos al Horno de Cuajinicuilapa
Created by
Guerrero's Costa Chica plantain cake, baked dense with ripe plátano macho, piloncillo syrup, fresh coconut, eggs, flour, and manteca until the edges turn gold.
Desserts
Mexican
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Celebration
30 min
Active Time
55 min cook•1 hr 25 min total
Yield10 to 12 servings
Guerrero, Costa Chica, Cuajinicuilapa. Put the town on the map first, because this dessert belongs to an Afro-Mexican community that has protected its kitchen with the same discipline it protects its music, its dances, and its family names.
This is a baked plátano macho cake, not banana bread. No me vengas con atajos. The plantains must be ripe enough that the skins are blackened and the flesh smells sweet before it touches the bowl. Piloncillo gives the dark mineral sweetness. Fresh grated coconut gives the coast. Manteca de cerdo gives the tender crumb and the browned edge that vegetable oil cannot give you. La manteca es el sabor.
I learned a version of this in Cuajinicuilapa from a woman who baked it in a metal pan set inside a clay oven, then served it on a dark earthen platter with coffee so strong it could argue back. The cake is dense, gold, a little chewy at the edges, and meant to sit on the table for people to cut pieces all afternoon. Así se hace y punto.
This is not food from a single Mexico. Esto no es comida de un solo México. The sweet pantry here is plátano macho, coconut, piloncillo, panela, yuca, and canela, because the coast cooks from what the coast grows and trades. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Cuajinicuilapa, in Guerrero's Costa Chica, is one of Mexico's most important Afro-Mexican communities, shaped by African-descended populations who worked cattle ranches, coastal farms, and trade routes from the colonial period onward. Plantain entered Mexican coastal cooking through the Caribbean and Pacific circuits of the Spanish empire, and in Afro-Mexican kitchens it became both everyday starch and sweet pantry ingredient. Baked plantain desserts from Guerrero and Oaxaca's Costa Chica are community foods, not pastry-shop cakes, and their density comes from home methods built around ripe fruit, lard, piloncillo, and wood-fired ovens.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
very ripe plátanos machos
Quantity
6
skins mostly black, about 3 pounds total
piloncillo cone
Quantity
1 cone, about 8 ounces
chopped
water
Quantity
1/2 cup
Mexican canela
Quantity
1 stick
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
1/2 cup, plus more for pan
melted and cooled slightly
large eggs
Quantity
3
at room temperature
all-purpose flour
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
baking powder
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fresh grated coconut
Quantity
1 cup
not dried coconut
vanilla extract
Quantity
1 teaspoon
piloncillo syrup or melted manteca
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for brushing the top
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very ripe plátanos machosskins mostly black, about 3 pounds total | 6 |
| piloncillo conechopped | 1 cone, about 8 ounces |
| water | 1/2 cup |
| Mexican canela | 1 stick |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| manteca de cerdomelted and cooled slightly | 1/2 cup, plus more for pan |
| large eggsat room temperature | 3 |
| all-purpose flour | 1 1/2 cups |
| baking powder | 1 teaspoon |
| fresh grated coconutnot dried coconut | 1 cup |
| vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| piloncillo syrup or melted mantecafor brushing the top | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •9-inch clay cazuela, heavy ceramic baking dish, or metal cake pan
- •Small saucepan for piloncillo syrup
- •Wide mixing bowl
- •Fork or potato masher
- •Box grater for fresh coconut
Instructions
- 1
Make piloncillo syrup
Combine the chopped piloncillo, water, canela, and salt in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat until the piloncillo dissolves and the syrup looks dark and glossy, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the canela and let the syrup cool until warm, not hot. Hot syrup cooks the eggs. We are making cake, not sweet scrambled eggs.
- 2
Prepare the pan
Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch round clay cazuela, heavy ceramic baking dish, or metal cake pan with manteca. Be generous in the corners. That fat makes the edge brown and release cleanly.
- 3
Mash the plantains
Peel the plátanos machos and place the flesh in a wide bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher until mostly smooth with a few small pieces left. Do not blend them into baby food. The small pieces give the cake its body, and a Cuajinicuilapa cook would recognize that texture.
- 4
Build the batter
Whisk the eggs into the warm piloncillo syrup. Add the melted manteca and vanilla, then stir this mixture into the mashed plantains. The batter should smell of canela, ripe fruit, and warm sugar. Add the flour and baking powder and fold only until no dry flour remains. Stir in the fresh grated coconut. Do not beat the batter hard or the cake will turn tough.
Use fresh coconut. Dried coconut drinks up moisture and gives a dusty chew. On the Costa Chica, coconut is not decoration. It is part of the pantry. - 5
Bake until gold
Scrape the batter into the greased pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the surface is deep gold, the edges pull slightly from the pan, and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs but no wet batter. The center should feel set and dense, not airy. This is a plantain cake, not a sponge.
- 6
Brush and rest
Brush the hot top with 2 tablespoons of piloncillo syrup or melted manteca. Let the cake rest at least 30 minutes before cutting. Warm plantain needs time to settle. Cut too soon and it collapses. Wait, and the slices hold their shape.
- 7
Serve family style
Serve thick wedges from the pan or turn the cake onto a dark clay platter. It belongs in the middle of the table with café de olla or atole in jícaras. No frosting. No white plate with a mint leaf pretending to help. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •The plátano macho must be very ripe. Yellow skins with a few spots are not enough. You want black skins and soft flesh. If the market only has green plantains, buy them and wait several days.
- •Piloncillo is not brown sugar with better manners. It tastes darker, more mineral, and more like the cane fields. If you use brown sugar, the cake will still bake, but you will lose the Costa Chica flavor.
- •Manteca de cerdo is correct here. Vegetable oil makes the crumb flatter and the edge less fragrant. La manteca es el sabor.
- •A clay cazuela gives the best edge, but a heavy metal pan works. If you use glass, watch the bottom because it browns faster.
Advance Preparation
- •The cake can be baked one day ahead. Wrap it once fully cool and keep it at room temperature. The plantain flavor deepens overnight.
- •The piloncillo syrup can be made three days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it slightly before mixing so it folds into the eggs and plantain smoothly.
- •Leftover slices can be warmed on a comal over low heat until the edges darken again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
430 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
70 mg
Sodium
200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
36 g
Protein
5 g
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