Sweet Cornbread
Serves 8–10 Time 30 minutes Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 8 Steps 5
Sweet cornbread is a variant of the Skillet Cornbread made throughout central and eastern Ontario and Quebec and is sometimes known by the alternative name of Johnny Cake. Its presence in these southern regions of Canada is thought to be due to the influx of British Loyalists from what is now the Southern United States moving to the then-English-controlled colonies during the American War of Independence.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140 g / 4.9 oz) cornmeal
- 2 cups (275 g / 9.7 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup (160 g / 5.6 oz) maple syrup
- ½ cup (90 g / 3.2 oz) brown sugar
- ½ cup (125 g / 4.4 oz) butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
Steps
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly to break the yolks. Mix in the butter (soften beforehand by heating a little if needed).
- Add the sugar and maple syrup. Mix well. Add the salt.
- Mix the cornmeal and baking powder. Blend into the liquids.
- Add the flour slowly as needed to reach a cake batter texture, softer than cookie dough, sticking to the spoon and coming off in blobs.
- Pour into a greased pan. Bake in an oven at 200°C (400°F), 15–25 minutes.
Notes from the original
- When mixing the batter, be sure it is soft enough for a typical cake; you do not want it too moist or dry. Use milk to fill in liquid you need and a half-and-half mix of flour and cornmeal if you are too moist.
- Keep a close eye on the cake while it bakes: it will become hard fast if you do not take it out in time.
- If you want to make a crisper crust take a 3 part mix of equal volumes of flour, cornmeal and brown sugar, mix well. Add to the top of the cake half way into the baking process, but do this very quickly: leaving the door open too long will make your cake a rock. The amount required varies based on the pan you use, so use your eyes for what you need (less than a cup total). Despite the call for opening it halfway through baking, adding it at the beginning should work fine as well.
- You can substitute honey for the maple syrup, or plain sugar. Maple is used for its flavouring as much as its sweetness.
- Margarine or vegetable oil will do as well as butter for this. Butter was used traditionally and is thus listed.
- This dish is usually made for after meals and outside them rather than with them, which is how its cousin Skillet Cornbread is used. However, when having Maple Beans and Ham, Sweet Cornbread is often served with it.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Sweet Cornbread” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-07-13, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.