hot caken.
/ˌhɒt ˈkeɪk/, U.S. /ˈhɑt ˌkeɪk/ Originally U.S.
1. North American. Any of various types of cake which are baked on a griddle or fried; spec. a griddle cake, a pancake made with a raising agent.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > cake > [noun] > a cake > griddle cake
hot cake1683
griddle-cake1783
flannel-cake1792
slapjack1805
knead-cake1810
singing hinny1825
Welsh cake1867
tough-cake1881
1683 W. Penn Let. Free Soc. Traders 6 Their Entertainment was..twenty Bucks, with hot Cakes of new Corn.
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 241 Fine Corn flour..being fried in the fresh bear's oil makes very good hot cakes or fritters.
1817 M. Birkbeck Notes Journey Amer. (1818) 64 Waffles (a soft hot cake of German extraction, covered with butter).
1875 J. S. Le Fanu Willing to Die i. 12 Sometimes we..made a hot cake, and baked it on the griddle.
1891 J. S. Farmer Slang II. 18/2 Buckwheat and other hot cakes form a staple dish at many American tables.
1925 J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods xi. 141 So they got the blaze going, bacon sizzling, the frying-pan balanced on the fire, hot-cakes mixed and coffee set to boil.
1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 16 Flapjacks, the commonest name for pancakes. Batter (or batty) cakes, flitters (or flitter cakes), fritters, griddle cakes, hot cakes are all known.
1993 T. Clancy Without Remorse (1994) xxvi. 504 It didn't stop Doris from attacking the pile of hotcakes.
2. colloquial. In plural in like hot cakes, as the type of something very desirable or in great demand; originally and frequently in to sell (also go, go off) like hot cakes.
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society > trade and finance > selling > sell [verb (intransitive)] > be sold or find buyers
sell1609
utter1611
vend1622
vent1622
to go off1625
move1759
sale1809
to sell (also go, go off) like hot cakes1839
1839 C. F. Briggs Adventures Harry Franco I. xi. 74 ‘You had better buy 'em, Colonel,’ said Mr. Lummucks, ‘they will sell like hot cakes.’
1879 Congress. Rec. 15 May 1368/1 Four per cent bonds..go off like hot cakes.
1908 Daily Chron. 4 Aug. 3/4 Ice creams at 3d. a time went ‘like hot cakes’.
1930 E. Waugh Vile Bodies x. 183 Those who were fortunate enough to own cottages or public houses at the more dangerous corners..were selling tickets like very expensive hot cakes.
1971 Petticoat 17 July 3/1 You'll find amazing hessian bags..selling like hot cakes for only £1.50.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 3 July ix. 3/2 These wide-bottomed, calf-length split-skirts are moving like hotcakes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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