Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gplain flour
- 2 tbspbaking powder
- 3 tbspcaster sugar
- 1 tspfine salt
- 60 gcold butter, cubed
- 280 mlwhole milk or water, cold
To fry and serve
- 1 litrevegetable oil, for deep frying
- 200 gmature cheddar, sliced, or 6 tbsp guava jam, to fill
Directions
- Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a wide bowl so the raising agent is evenly spread; a pocket of baking powder tastes soapy.
- Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs and no lumps remain.
- Pour in the cold milk in two goes and bring it together with a fork, then knead for just 2 minutes on the bench until smooth. Do not work it further or the cakes go tough and bready.
- Cover with a cloth and rest 20 minutes; the dough relaxes and stops springing back when shaped.
- Divide into 12 pieces, roll each into a ball and flatten to a disc about 2 cm thick and 7 cm across. Rest another 5 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan to 165°C (325°F). Test with a scrap of dough: it should sink, then rise within 5 seconds and bubble steadily.
- Fry 4 at a time for 3–4 minutes a side, turning once, until deep gold and puffed. The lower temperature matters, as a hot pan browns the outside while the middle stays raw.
- Lift onto a rack, not paper, and let them steam off for 2 minutes. Split while warm and fill with sliced cheddar, or eat plain with guava jam and strong tea.
Technique
- Antiguan Johnny cakes are fried, sweet and puffy, quite unlike the griddled cornmeal johnnycake of New England. The name is generally traced to journey cake, the food you carried to work.
- Oil temperature is the whole recipe. Below 160°C (325°F) they drink oil; above 180°C (350°F) they colour before the crumb sets and collapse as they cool.
- They are best within an hour. Reheat leftovers 5 minutes in a 180°C (350°F) oven to bring the crust back.
Substitutions
- No butter: use 60 g solid vegetable shortening, which is what many home cooks in Antigua reach for and gives an even lighter crumb.
- For a savoury dough, drop the sugar to 1 tbsp and add 1 tsp dried thyme.
Variations
- Bakes, the same dough cooked dry on a griddle rather than fried.
- Coconut Johnny cakes, made with 150 ml of the milk replaced by thick coconut milk.
- The Bahamian version, sweeter still and baked as a single pan loaf.
History
Fried dough rounds eaten at breakfast; the name is common across the anglophone Caribbean and probably comes from journey cake.
Frequently asked questions
What is Johnny cakes?
Johnny cakes is a bread & pastry from Antigua and Barbuda: fried slightly sweet dough puffs. Fried dough rounds eaten at breakfast; the name is common across the anglophone Caribbean and probably comes from journey cake.
How long does Johnny cakes take to make?
Johnny cakes takes 20 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 cakes. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Johnny cakes?
Yes, within limits. No butter: use 60 g solid vegetable shortening, which is what many home cooks in Antigua reach for and gives an even lighter crumb. For a savoury dough, drop the sugar to 1 tbsp and add 1 tsp dried thyme.
What is the most important thing to get right in Johnny cakes?
Pour in the cold milk in two goes and bring it together with a fork, then knead for just 2 minutes on the bench until smooth. Do not work it further or the cakes go tough and bready.
