Indian-meal Cake — Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, stir the boiling water into the Indian meal until a stiff dough forms.
Mold the dough into a cake about ¾ inch thick.
Bake on a board before the fire, or in a stove or range until cooked through.
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
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Forms the main structure of the cake once hydrated into a dough.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal and gelatinizes its starch so the dough holds together.
The step that matters
Stirring in the boiling water. Boiling water must be fully mixed in so the meal starch swells evenly. Unhydrated pockets stay gritty and can crack or fall apart during baking.
“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
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.