Skip to main content
Dessert

Hampton Johnny-cake

A sweet, molasses-flavored cake made with graham and wheat flours, Indian meal, sour milk, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Hampton Johnny-cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Sift the cream of tartar and baking soda with the flours twice.

  2. Sift in the Indian meal and salt, then add the molasses.

  3. Gradually stir in the sour milk until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a buttered gingerbread pan.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in sour milk and cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Supplies acid that reacts with baking soda, helping the cake rise and giving a tender crumb.
Sour milk
Provides liquid and acid that activate the baking soda and moisten the batter.
Indian meal
Cornmeal that gives the cake its coarse, crumbly texture and corn flavor.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and deep color and flavor to the cake.
Graham flour
Whole-grain flour that adds nutty flavor and a slightly denser texture.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the sour milk. Adding the liquid slowly and mixing only until combined keeps the batter smooth and avoids overmixing, which would toughen the crumb. The acid and baking soda start reacting as soon as they meet liquid, so the batter should go into the pan and oven promptly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More johnny cake recipes

Apple 5Corn 5 See all 200 →

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesWheat MuffinsWheat Muffins48 recipesWhole Wheat MuffinsWhole Wheat Muffins12 recipes