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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Hey Beth! Thank you so much!! Wow, this AND peach preserves, you got a lucky family!!! I bet you’re an amazing cook!!!
Bbrock Dinner, I know exactly what you mean! No one has supper on Sundays anyway :). Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment, so glad to have you here!!
Anonymous My mother makes hers in a cast iron skillet as well! I am proud to report that I have been reformed! I am now making mine in a cast iron skillet!! My matriarchs would be so proud!
Thank you all for reading Southern Plate!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
This is the closest I’ve seen to my Mother’s hoecake. The difference is she cooks it in a cast iron skillet on the stove. She uses bacon grease – just covering the bottom of the skillet, then drizzles a little around the edges of the skillet as needed while cooking. One of my favorites! Great site!!!
I haven’t had this since I was a girl, when my best friend’s mother would make it for Sunday dinner–not supper, you understand, dinner! Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories. I’ll be making some hoe cake for my family.
This is the best. I made mine in my cast iron skillet. Yummmm. Oh and served with your peach preserves recipe. Well should I say anymore? Thanks for all of the great recipes.
Hey Lauren! I’m so glad you liked it!!
It is a delicious breakfast bread!!! I save my leftovers (if I have any) for breakfast too!!!
Thank you so much for reading!!
Hey Kyle!!! If you gave me this WITH Fig preserves, I’d think I had died and gone to heaven!! I LOVE FIGS! My grandaddy used to have a fig bush and he would pick a big old bowl of them when I went to visit him and we’d sit on the couch and eat them all together.
Its so good to have you here!!!
Oh, my mama makes hers in a cast iron skillet, too! I am going to start cooking in cast iron, honest!!
Christy
Yumm! My grandmother used to make these, and we would eat them with fresh fig preserves. However, her’s were a little thinner and made in a cast iron skillet, but same recipe made with flour.
Can’t wait to try this.
This is how my mother made hers as I do also and always was cooked in a cast iron frying pan but wasn’t really thick it was thinner than biscuits but this recipe sounds a lot like the way I grew up eating hoe cake and was cooked on top of the stove too. I also love homemade fig preserves on it but it’s good with everything I think. I was happy to find this recipe that is a lot like the hoe cake I have always eaten and I love all the recipes on this site because they are the most like the foods I have grown up eating all my life and I am 74 and born and raised in South Carolina. Keep the great recipes coming I look forward to getting them in my email every day.
I agree, it’s good with most everything! And thank you for your kind words about our recipes as well as the 5 star rating 🙂 We appreciate you!
I made this last night and it was so delicious! It was part of breakfast this morning and will be part of dinner tonight! I definitely will be reading your blog from now on.