Old-fashioned, Canadian-style Johnny Cake is a baked cornmeal cake, not the American skillet-style hoe cakes known as cornmeal pancakes. Once baked, the cake is cut into squares and topped with maple syrup and butter. This vintage baked cornmeal cake with maple syrup is a nostalgic Canadian favourite.
Old-fashioned Johnny cake: at a glance
Old-fashioned Johnny cake is pure, nostalgic comfort food! Traditionally served with butter and maple syrup (or honey), the simple cornmeal cake is a perfect sponge for toppings to soak into.
- Baked as one thin cornmeal cake in an 8×8 pan, then cut into squares.
- Texture is sturdy and slightly dry on its own, but perfect to soak up butter, maple syrup, honey or molasses.
- Unlike American-style Johnnycakes or hoe cakes, this one is not fried or cooked pancake-style.
What is Canadian-style Johnny cake?
In many parts of Canada, especially the Maritimes, Johnny cake usually means a simple baked cornmeal cake made in a square pan and cut into squares. It has a sturdy, slightly coarse crumb and is traditionally served warm with butter and plenty of maple syrup or molasses, or sometimes alongside baked beans, soups, or stews.
Canadian-style baked Johnny cake differs from the American-style Johnny cakes, which are cornmeal pancakes (hoe cakes), cooked up on a griddle or in a skillet.
- Old-fashioned Johnny cake: at a glance
- What is Canadian-style Johnny cake?
- Ingredients and substitutions
- How to make old-fashioned Johnny cake: step-by-step
- How to serve Johnny cake
- Old-fashioned Johnny Cake FAQ
- Making ahead, storing and freezing
- Get the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Johnny Cake
- More old-fashioned cake recipes to love!
Ingredients and substitutions
A few note about the key ingredients …
Pastry flour – Pastry flour is sometimes labelled “Cake and Pastry Flour”, as well. If you don’t have pastry flour, I have included a quick substitute in the Recipe Card Notes below, using all purpose flour and a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch.
Cornmeal – any yellow cornmeal is fine here.
Shortening – This would be the solid vegetable shortening, such as Crisco™ You will need to melt it and let it cool slightly before using. If you don’t have shortening, replace with an equal amount of a neutral cooking oil, such as vegetable or canola oil.
Brown sugar – you can use either light or dark brown sugar. I used dark here, as I like the little bit of extra molasses flavour it brings. Either works fine.
How to make old-fashioned Johnny cake: step-by-step
This is just a simple visual walk-through of the process to make this recipe. Scroll down to the Recipe Card below for the complete list of ingredients and instructions.
You don’t need an old-fashioned sifter or a stand mixer to make this old-fashioned Johnny Cake. Simply use a fine mesh strainer to do the sifting job and a bowl and a hand mixer (or a wooden spoon and some elbow grease).
- Sift the flour and add to a mixing bowl.
- Add the brown sugar and cornmeal.
- Mix together the wet ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Mix together well.
- Spread into a baking pan, bake and enjoy!
Step 1: Sift the flour with a sifter or through a fine-mesh sieve, then measure.
Step 2: Add the sifted flour, baking powder salt and brown sugar to a mixing bowl.
Step 3: Add the cornmeal and mix it all together well.
Step 4: In a small bowl, stir together the wet ingredients.
Step 5: The wet ingredients may solidify and be a bit chunky. That’s fine.
Step 6: Add the wet ingredients all at once.
Step 7: Mix the batter just until combined.
Step 8: Scrape down the bowl well.
Step 9: Spread the batter into a baking pan, bake and enjoy!
How to serve Johnny cake
- Serve Johnny cake hot from the oven, cut into squares, with a generous pat of butter and plenty of warm maple syrup over top.
- Make it a classic Canadian breakfast or brunch by adding crispy bacon or sausage on the side, letting the maple syrup run over everything on the plate.
- For a little variation, swap in maple butter or drizzle with maple syrup and a spoonful of thick cream or vanilla ice cream for more of a dessert feel.
Old-fashioned Johnny Cake FAQ
Beyond butter and maple syrup, the cornmeal flavour also pairs beautifully with fruit, especially blueberries, so a warm blueberry sauce would be perfect. Strawberries, raspberries or peaches would also work well. Any fruit jam would also be nice, maybe with a dollop of whipped cream or Greek yogurt. For a savoury twist, how about shredded cheddar, creamed corn and green chilis? For a sweet and savoury treat, sprinkle with cooked and crumbled bacon or sausage, then drizzle with maple syrup, honey or hot honey.
No, this Canadian-style baked Johnny cake is made as one thin cake, then cut into squares to serve, as opposed to American style Johnny cakes that are often cooked up on a griddle pancake-style (“hoe cakes”).
Johnny cake is similar to a lightly sweet, finer-crumbed cornbread, but is baked as a thin cake and traditionally served with maple syrup.
Baking this Johnny cake in a skillet would move the texture closer to hoe cakes and away from the tender cake-style Johnny cake.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
Johnny Cake is best enjoyed on the day it is baked. If you have left-overs, store at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days.
Old-fashioned Johnny cake will also freeze well. Wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Johnny Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake and pastry flour, sifted first, then measured *see Note 1 for using all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, lightly packed
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 7/8 cup milk, 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 Tablespoons shortening, melted and slightly cooled or the same amount of vegetable/canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F (regular bake setting/non-convection). Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan and set aside.
- Sift the flour and then measure the 1 cup cake and pastry flour (sifted first, then measured *see Note 1 for using all-purpose flour) in dry measuring cups using the spoon and level method. Add the sifted flour together with the 4 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon fine salt to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and stir together. Mix in the 1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark, lightly packed) and 1 cup yellow cornmeal.
- In a small bowl, beat together the 7/8 cup milk (3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp), 1 large egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 3 Tablespoons shortening (melted and slightly cooled or the same amount of vegetable/canola oil). (The shortening may solidify a bit, but that's ok). Add this mixture all at once to the flour mixture and mix just until combined, with no visible dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan.
- Cut into squares and serve hot with maple syrup and butter.
Notes
More old-fashioned cake recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress-free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
This recipe is very close to the one my Gran made when I was a child. I add 1/3 cup of olive oil instead of shortening. Also I bake it in a loaf pan. So delish!
So glad to hear, Sandra! Thanks :)
This is the same one my family makes.thank you
Very good!
Thanks so much, Lynette!
Can a pan of these be frozen for use at a later time?
Hi Carol and absolutely you could freeze a pan. It should freeze well for up to 3 months.
I wanted to make cornbread pancakes, but I didn’t want to make pancakes one by one, so I decided on this recipe. This reminds me so much of cornbread, that I would be hard-pressed to put butter and syrup on top of it, but I do appreciate the ease by which I could make these johnnycakes! Oh, they turned out delicious, and a little dry like another reviewer said, but I realize these are to be eaten with syrup and butter!
So glad you enjoyed it, Faith. Thanks!
Super easy, but dry. Would reduce the baking powder a bit, and increase the butter a bit.
Hi DM, classic Johnny cake on its own is dry. It’s meant to be a “sponge” for the butter and syrup you put on top :)
Delicious or as my son said “dangerously good!”
Lol! So glad you all enjoyed it :) Thanks!
Easy to follow recipe that takes 25 – 30:minutes to make.
I used melted, salted butter as I had no oil. The Johnny cake turned out beautifully rich and moist.
My husband loved the taste and texture with a little (Walden Farms) sugar-free maple walnut syrup as the topper.
I was very pleased with the finished cake. This recipie result is the closest to the one my mother served with baked beans.
Thank you.
Just one thing: although you have provided serving values, there is no mention of how many servings this makes.
So glad you enjoyed it, Liz! Thanks :)
Thank you for sharing this recipe which I really enjoyed. My Mom use to make this in the winter and we would often have a slice with “real” butter and maple syrup before bedtime.
Thanks for the memories..it is the closest recipe I have found to my mother’s.
Merry Christmas from southeastern Ontario.
So glad to hear, Mary and glad you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to you, too! Thanks :)
I am definitely up for a couple of squares! We were just gifted a jug of maple syrup from Pennsylvania and will definitely indulge.
You are all set! It’s a wonderful way to enjoy that maple syrup :) Thanks!