The Journey cake I remember was a Johnny Cake....a very simple corn bread...

Could this be what you are looking for?

I'll check some of my old cookbooks later.

Rusty

Here is a link that might be useful: Journey Cake

We call them hoe cakes in AL.

There are many concepts of johnny cakes. What you consider authentic will depend greatly on where you're from. Rhode Island has a long tradition of johnny cakes. In R.I. johnny cakes are featured at spring breakfast festivals. They are typically made from stone ground, locally grown, Narragansett Indian Flint Corn. R.I. johnny cakes are not bread or muffins. They are unleavened pancakes.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnny Cake Recipes

BTW, don't miss the video of the Yankee grandmother. It's all about method, not fancy ingredients.

Jim

I'm not familiar with the "Journey cake" you mentioned but I don't think there's any similarity to the "johnny cake". Seems to me it's like apples and oranges, but what do I know?:-)

I wonder if the pronunciation of johnny cake by some New Englanders might come out sounding like journey cake?

I'm thinking of the way Ted Kennedy used to pronouce his "R".

Journey cake and johnny cake are often cited as synonymous. Many people think johnny cake is a corrupted form of journey cake. I think nobody knows for sure how these names came about.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Journey Cake Definition

Johnnycake, johnny cake, jonnycake, jonny cake, Johnnybread, johnny bread ashcake, ash cake, battercake, batter cake, corn cake, corncake, corn pone, cornpone, hoecake, hoe cake, journey cake, journey bread, mush bread, pone, Shawnee cake, jonakin, and jonikin and so on are all regional names for essentially the same cornmeal flatbread. The name, exact type of batter and cooking method varies from region to region. They may be cooked over the ashes of a campfire, on hot stones, on a griddle, in a cast iron pan, or in the oven.

It's gotten to the point where people call what's normally called "corn bread" (the cake-like stuff) by one of these names too, as did my uncle.

I agree, Jim, "journey cake" and "johnny cake" are the same here in Michigan. At least that's what Grandma told me when she made it. I understand that it started out more as a hoe cake type of bread, a cornmeal pancake kind of thing.

Annie

Rusty: THAT may be the recipe for journeycake I remembered... I shall have to try it now to see! Thanks!!

It was definately called 'journey cake' as my grandmother said it 'traveled well' on long trips by wagon & it definately did not have any cornmeal in it as she also made 'johnnycake' too with cornmeal. Here in NM molé is made by the natives (some use the blue cornmeal) like the cornmeal mush grandma used to make. The hot mush we would eat with syrup & left-overs she put in a loaf pan & refrigerated it. In the morning she would slice the loaf, dust it with flour & fry the slices & serve it with hot syrup. I prize the old cookbook that I now have in her handwriting but grandma had the habit of using quantities like: 'pinch of this', 'handful fo this', .... only she would understand these amounts!!

Vieja, it will be interesting to know if that recipe is what you are remembering.
I hope it is.
It is so frustrating to remember something like that from the past, and not be able to duplicate it.
If nothing else, maybe that recipe can be a starting point for you to recreate what you remember.

What a treasure you have, in a cookbook in your Grandmother's handwriting!

Rusty

vieja, that's how Grandma made mush too, although we ate it with milk and sugar as a hot cereal, much like oatmeal, and anything left was refrigerated, sliced, fried and served with maple syrup. I could gag down the fried crispy slices with enough syrup, I still can't eat the stuff in a bowl....

Annie

I can't imagine any kind of corn bread traveling well. It seems to go stale quickly.

no, 'barnmom' my grandmother's 'journeycake' did not have cornmeal in it .. it was not any kind of cornbread; it was more like a 'crumb cake' as I remembered it & though her's never went on a covered wagon when she made it (!), it would stay moist & fresh for a long time in her pantry (IF we grandkids didn't raid the pantry first!!).

Yes, we also ate the cornmeal mush like a cereal the first day. The southwestern equivalent I meant to write is called 'atole' & can be made from either yellow or blue cornmeal.

It's funny, I just posted about a cake that sounds like that. It is a very old recipe and one that would keep quite awhile.
Here is the recipe:
Milkless Egless Butterless Cake
2 Cups brown sugar
2 cups water
2/3 cup lard or oil
3 cups raisins
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

Boil together the brown sugar, water, oil, spices and raisins for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, then add to cooled mixture. Bake in greased and floured 9z13 pan in preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or when tested with toothpick, it comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely. Glaze with a simple powdered sugar frosting.

Frosting
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Just enough milk to reach a spreading consistency.
Do you rmember the Spanish bar from the A&P? Well, this cake tastes very much like it. My mother made this cake when we were children, and we loved it.
(The above are notes from the cookbook)

The recipe is from Beverly's Best, a cookbook of recipes from Beverly's Specialty Foods in Saratoga Springs, NY.
By Beverly Reedy.

I am in Scotland staying at a B&B on the isle of Lewis. Yesterday as we headed out for the days adventures the gentleman who owns the B&B handed us some "journey cake". He said l've you some journey cake for your journeys today! Im from the south and am familiar with johnny cake/hoe cake this was NOTHING like that...it had rasins, currents, bits of maybe orange peel...it had oats, sweet but not too, it was moulded or pressed into bars. Wonderful stuff! I will see if l can get the recipe from him. Does that sound like the "journey cake" you are looking for?

This reminded me that there's a discussion in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods on whether it should be called "Journey" or "Johnny" cake. As a child I also had the Little House cookbook and made it several times. As I recall it was just a typical cornbread that the family ate with maple syrup.

therustyone: I shall try your recipe... from the ingredients, it seems it would be like what I remember. It definitely did not have any corn meal in it like Johnny cakes do!

As I remember, it did not have a topping.. the top was rather crum-like & the cake not real moist but it kept its texture & did not dry out ... thus I suppose why it kept on a long journey.

There are different types of journeys. The Martha's Vineyard Cook Book by King and Wexler gives this recipe used on whaling trips and long sea voyages as published in the Vineyard Gazette in an issue dated August 28, 1857.

SEA VOYAGE GINGERBREAD

"Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour and then mix in a pint of West Indian molasses and a pound of best brown sugar.

Beat eight eggs until very light. Stir in the eggs two glasses or a gill of brandy; add also to the egg a teacup of ground ginger and a tablespoon of powdered cinnamon, with a teaspoon of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, etc. with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough.

Sprinkle a little flour on your paste board, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefor spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it into round cakes.

Have ready square pans, slightly buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.

These cakes will keep during a long voyage and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly spiced gingerbread a preventative to seasickness."

Oh my goodness gwensnicnac! I did some hiking in the Western Highlands 10+ years ago and one of the B&Bs I stayed at put something similar in my lunch. I would LOVE the recipe! Please ask if you are able to, and enjoy Scotland, it is a lovely land.

re: rub butter into flour

I've seen that instruction in very old recipes and wonder what it means. Do you cut it in like for biscuits or would mixing with a mixer blade be more what is intended?

I use my mixer when I see old instructions like that. Many didn't even have mixers back in the day....

the rustyone:

Just took the 'journey cake' recipe you gave out of the oven. It sure resembles what I remember my grandmother's 'journey cake' looked like... will have to wait for it to cool to taste it! As the years have gone by I'm sure my memory of her recipe isn't as acute now but it surely does look like what I 'think' it did when she made it. Thanks so much for your help!