Cortadillo (Mexican Pink Cake, Pastel de Niños)

Hola, felíz Friday!

Because it’s Friday, I thought it would be nice to end the week on a sweet note, so today I’m sharing a recipe for cortadillo, also known as Mexican pink cake and Pastel de Niños.

If you’ve ever visited a panadería, chances are, you’re probably seen cortadillo before. It is a moist and very very fluffy yellow sheet cake that melts in your mouth, topped with a hot pink icing (sometimes white) and rainbow nonpareils. In a sea of golden bollillos, brown cuernitos and white conchas, the hot pink slices of cortadillo always stood out to me and I think that’s why I loved it so much.

I was fortunate to grow up across the street from a panadería, so my mom, dad and I would often find ourselves walking over a few times during the week for conchas, bolillos, and empanadas and a slice of pastelito fresh out of the oven that we’d accompany with an ice cold Mexican Coke before settling in for the night. You could always tell when the bread was fresh because as you got closer to the panadería the sweet smell of warm sugar, cinnamon, and anise would be so intoxicating, that it would pull you right in.

I’ve been wanting to make this cake for myself for a while now because I always get it whenever I shop at my local Mexican grocery store and I always think to myself, this would be so much better if I did this and that, and I finally had the opportunity to make it and tweak it the other day. This version is just as moist and fluffy as the original, but instead of topping the cake with a thin layer of icing, I’m topping mine with a layer of fluffy hot pink sweet vanilla buttercream.

This cake couldn’t be anymore perfect if it tried. If you get a few minutes to yourself this weekend, make yourself some cake! It’s super easy to make, and just fyi, after you frost the cake place it back in the fridge for about 30 minutes until your buttercream firms up and then have a slice. It’ll taste even better.

Have a great weekend, I have a taco and a vegan recipe coming over to you next week!

Nose vemos pronto.

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4.33 from 40 votes

Cortadillo (Mexican Pink Cake)

Makes 9×13” inch cake

Calories

Author Esteban Castillo

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
• 
  
• For the Buttercream:
• 1 cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract I used clear Mexican vanilla for the buttercream and regular vanilla for the cake
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• neon pink food coloring
• sprinkles

Instructions

• For the Cake:
• Preheat your oven to 350ºF and grease and line a 9×13” baking pan with a parchment sling so the two longer sides have a piece hanging over the pan to help with lifting later.
• In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
• Beat the butter with the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy and paler in color, this should take about 2 minutes.
• Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, making sure that ones mixed in before adding the next. After the eggs have been mixed in, add one third of the dry ingredients, mix on low to incorporate, then 1/3 of the buttermilk, followed by another third of the dry mixture, another third of the buttermilk and then finally the last amount of each. Mix just until combined then use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything’s mixed in there then add the batter to the prepared pan, smooth it out, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake is lightly golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool completely then make the buttercream.
• For the Buttercream:
• In the bowl of a stand up mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter with the vanilla and salt for a full minute at medium speed. Turn the speed down to low and add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time so you don’t end up in a powdered sugar cloud.
• After you have all the powdered sugar mixed in, add the heavy cream and turn the mixer on low to incorporate it then to medium high for a full minute to make the buttercream nice and fluffy.
• After the buttercream is ready you can color it with the food coloring. I used a regular food coloring but if you live near a cake supply store you can look there for the gel coloring, you just need to make sure it’s a neon pink to look like the traditional cake. I ended up adding 40 drops of neon pink food coloring to get the saturation correct but start with 20 and go from there. If you’re using gel coloring, start with a few drops and go up from there. Mix the buttercream just until the color is all incorporated then spread it evenly over the cake and top with the sprinkles.
• I like to place my cake back in the fridge for 30-45 minutes and wait until the frosting firms up for a clean cut, and an even better tasting cake!