Rare Southern Hoe Cake Recipe
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If you like biscuits, you’re guaranteed to love this rare but delectable recipe for southern hoe cake.
Hoe cake (also known as a Johnny cake) seems to be a rather elusive recipe, even among southerners. Apart from my own, I have only one friend whose family still makes it. Even among us though, the variations are vast. His family makes their cornmeal hoe cakes using cornmeal and buttermilk, as seems to be the custom among recipes found on the web. While this style of generally resembles a , a is typically fluffier and doesn’t include . Meanwhile, my family’s version uses flour and produces a bread that looks like buttermilk biscuits, but with a lighter and fluffier texture and crispy coating.
Either way you look at it, hoe cake is revered by those who know of it. I am sure its origin sprang forth much like the rest of our classic southern dishes – too little time and too few ingredients. While it is a simple food to make, it will easily take over the starring role at your dinner table.
I can honestly say that this is a rare recipe for Southern hoe cakes, having searched and not found it anywhere online. I do hope you will try it and guarantee that if you like biscuits, you’ll love our southern hoe cake recipe. Serve your hoe cake as a side dish with maple syrup, apple butter, or butter with a drizzle of honey or sprinkle of sugar. It tastes best accompanying your favorite Southern-style main meal. I recommend fried chicken, chicken and gravy (use the hoe cake to soak up the gravy, yum), North Alabama-style pulled BBQ chicken, or pork chops.
Recipe ingredients
Recipe ingredients- Self-rising flour. If you don’t have self rising flour where you are, go here for the formula of how to make your own.
- Vegetable shortening
- Whole milk
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Combine two cups of self-rising flour and 1/2 cup of shortening in a .
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil into the bottom of a cake pan.
This is where the old folks use a cast iron skillet like you would make cornbread. However, at the time of this tutorial, Mama had yet to hand down a cast iron skillet to me so I figured a cake pan with a wee bit of wear on it is just as good. Either way, you’re going to add enough oil to cover the bottom of your cake pan and then stick it in the oven while it preheats.
Add one cup of milk to your and stir with a spoon until all wet.
It should look like this.
You can add about a quarter of a cup more of milk if need be, but what we are aiming for here is soupy biscuit batter.
All that brown is the crispy bread. This is SO GOOD!
Cut it any way you choose, add some apple butter and dig in!
Recipe Notes
- If you want to make this southern hoe cake a savory side dish like , you can easily add in jalapenos, grated cheese, or chopped fried bacon with a drop of .
Storage
- If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- Otherwise, you can freeze hoe cake in a sealed container or bag for up to three months.
- When you need to reheat the hoe cake, it’s best to place the slices on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven for five to 10 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with hoe cake?
Serve your hoe cake as a side dish with maple syrup, apple butter, or butter with a drizzle of honey or sprinkle of sugar. It tastes best accompanying your favorite Southern-style main meal. I recommend fried chicken, chicken and gravy (use the hoe cake to soak up the gravy, yum), North Alabama-style pulled BBQ chicken, or pork chops.
Where does the name hoe cake come from?
Just like there are a few variations of hoe cake recipes, there are some variations in the explanation of how it got its name. It appears to have first been recognized in print in 1745, according to the Oxford Dictionary. But others have pointed out that the term hoe was used for cooking and it was similar to a griddle. And that my friends seems to be where the term hoe cake (or should it be ?) got its name.
Can you make hoe cake gluten-free?
Yes, you can easily make this southern hoe cake recipe gluten-free. Just simply use gluten-free self-rising flour instead and follow the below instructions.
Ingredients
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Pour a thin layer of oil to cover the bottom of an eight-inch round cake pan and place it in the oven to heat.
- Cut shortening into the flour well. Pour milk in and stir until wet.
- Pour into the well-heated pan and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes or until browned.
- Invert onto plate.
Nutrition
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We have this just about every weekend. My mom (86 years old) makes it for breakfast. We never called it hoe cakes. She makes it the same way except she uses about 2/3 buttermilk and 1/3 sweet milk……and she bakes it in a hot iron skillet 😉 yum, yum……there is nothing better, except when she fries up some sausage and eggs to go with it. I LOVE your recipes
Yummm!!! What does she call it Penny? I love hearing what people from different parts call the same recipe. Not sure why I find that so fascinating, but I do 🙂
Thank you for posting! I grew up in Tallapoosa Ga with my dad being from Alabama. This was something he taught us to make at an early age. We had it most mornings.
It was nice seeing the Hoe Cake I grew up with, as most people think cornmeal when they hear the name.
What part of Alabama was he from Helen???
These posts remind me of the old tv commercials – “Certs is a candy mint!” “No! Certs is a breath mint!” “STOP! You’re BOTH right!” lol I am from Georgia and grew up on hoe cake – the flour kind. That is what my grandmother always called it and what I call it, too. I have been making it since I first learned to cook years ago. My husband and I really love it with butter and real maple syrup. Delicious! I guess that hoe cake is to us what we grew up being told it was and we should all keep loving our own versions and those beloved memories of growing up whenever we have a chance to enjoy our hoe cakes.
Hello,
Thanks so much for this recipe. As mentioned earlier it is not the typical southern hoe cake that is made with cornmeal but I can attest to this , it is delicious!!! I halved the recipe for hubby and I and cooked it for lunch along with fresh cooked carrots, broccoli,scalloped potatoes and navy beans. It was a real hit with hubby and me. He liked it with honey and butter on it. The bottom is so nice and crunchy. This will be my go to. So much easier than patting out biscuits on a floored board. I must say I think it to be a rather fun recipe. I think the kids of the family will enjoy it!
I did use buttermilk and leaf lard(rendered pork lard)for hoe cake, corn oil for the skillet and it still came out yummy. With buttermilk the batter was a little thicker with the ingredient amounts listed. I just poured it in the middle of the hot skillet and patted it down to reach the edges. It was kind of thin when cooked but did rise some .Recipe was halved. It had all the great taste and crunch you want..Oh , I used food processor to cut in lard, just a few pulses and it was ready for the buttermilk which I mixed in by hand in a bowl.
Thanks for the keeper recipe
Kat
I am so glad to hear that you and your husband liked it Kat!!!
How about southern crackling bread. I am from L.A. lower Alabama. Local stone ground corn meal. Water, salt and the right kind of pork crackling. About a quarter inch of oil in a cast iron frying pan. Baking oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Good with sweet milk and collard greens
I have made this 5 or 6 times since I found the recipe (only 2 weeks ago) and we love it! It’s quick and easy to make and super yummy! The best moment was when my 17 year old son asked what I was making and I said “hoe cake”! The look on his face was priceless! Thanks so much for sharing this, I know it will be a often used and requested item.
LOL, you made me laugh this morning Ester!! I would have loved to have seen the look on his face! So glad y’all are enjoying the recipe!!
My Daddy made something he called “hoecake” when I was growing up in Alabama in the 30’s & 40’s. His were the flour version, and he cooked them on top of the stove. They were like large pancakes and we ate them with butter & syrup. I haven’t had them since that time. I’m going to try this version in the oven and then next time on top of the stove. I’ll try different ways of serving them too. Thanks for sharing your version!
I hope it is similar to what you remember Billie!! Let me know what you think after you get a chance to try it!
When I was a young girl spending time with my grandparents and family in Pineville, MS, my grandfather would tell us about making hoe cakes for the family because there was never any
money after the Civil War in the South for flour to bake biscuits daily. During the week the
family would have Hoe Cakes made with Cornmeal. Sometimes on Sundays or holidays or
special family gatherings biscuits would be made. This was a special treat because there was
never in extra money during Reconstruction in the South for families to purchase flour. My
grandfather lived during Reconstruction on a farm. Thank you for sharing your version of Hoe cakes. I willing be surprising my family with your recipe this Sunday.