[Origin uncertain; referred to in 1775, and by some later writers, as journey-cake, which may be the original form.
The cake is said to be of negro origin.]
a. U.S. A cake made of maize-meal, in the Southern States toasted before a fire, elsewhere usually baked in a pan. b. Australia. A cake made of wheat-meal, baked on the ashes or fried in a pan.
1775. Romans, Florida, 125. Notwithstanding it [rice] is … only fit for puddings,… or to make the wafer-like bread called journey cakes in Carolina.
1793. Joel Barlow, Hasty-Pudding, I. (1847), 6.
| Some talk of Hoe-cake, fair Virginia’s pride, | |
| Rich Johnny-cake this mouth has often try’d. |
1831. Jane Porter, Sir E. Seaward’s Narr., I. 229. My dear helpmate made us some johnny cakes, a West Indian sort of tea-bread.
1861. Mrs. Meredith, Over the Straits, v. 154. The dough-cakes fried in fat, called ‘Johnny-cakes.’
1868. G. Channing, Early Recoll. Newport, R. I., 25. The ‘journey-cake,’ vulgarly called Johnny-cake,—how can I sufficiently describe it?
1890. Melbourne Argus, 16 Aug., 13/1. Here I, a new chum, could, with flour and water, and a pinch of baking powder, make a sweet and wholesome johnny cake.
1892. Isabel F. Hapgood, in Nation (N. Y.), 3 March, 168/2. The receipts which I selected were mush, Johnnycake, and Boston rye-and-cornmeal bread.
