Sweet Johnny Cake

Philadelphia confectioner James Parkinson put out a call for Sweet Johnny Cake in 1878 in answer to a request for the rare recipe by one of the correspondents to The Confectioners’ Journal, which he helped edit.¹¹ A black cook from Hagerstown, Maryland, identified only as “Sam,” responded. This is Sam’s recipe.

Having made it many times, I cannot imagine Sweet Johnny Cake baked any-wh