The Best Old Fashioned Tea Cakes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my tea cakes heavy? ›

One of the key factors that can lead to dense cakes is the incorrect ratio of ingredients. Baking is a science, and even a small deviation from the recipe can have a big impact on the final texture of your cake. Too much flour or not enough leavening agents like baking powder can result in a dense cake.

Travel cake also known as tea cake is topped with goodness of chocolate, vanilla or dry fruits, makes it a great bite for kids school snacks as well as adults over balcony coffee/ tea occasions.

Tea cakesare typically denser than sponge cakes as they contain more butter and are often made with a lower amount of rising agents like baking powder.

Tea cakes were initially made by plantation cooks for the guest of white slave owners. These tea cakes, which Etha Robinson describes as rustic approximations of European teacakes¹, were typically made with simple ingredients such as sugar, molasses, eggs, and vanilla when available.

On their own, boxed cake mixes have a structure that's loose and airy. But if you add ¼ cup flour or half a box of instant pudding mix, the texture of the cake becomes denser and tighter, ideal for a pound-cake-like consistency that will hold the shape of a Bundt pan.

There's a big chance your butter and sugar will over-cream, meaning the butter will trap more air than it should. As the batter bakes, that extra air will deflate and leave you with an overly dense cake. It's all science! For best results, cream butter and sugar together for about 1-2 minutes.

JFK's Wedding Cake Specifications:

Seven-inch, three-layer cake. Features white cake, raspberry preserves, raspberry frosting and vanilla buttercream.

The famous “Tom Cruise Cake” is a white chocolate-coconut Bundt cake from Doan's Bakery in California. Every year, Tom Cruise gifts the decadent cake to his closest friends for the holidays.

A dump cake is an American dessert similar to a cobbler but with a cake-like topping. It is so named because it is prepared by "dumping" ingredients (typically canned fruit or pie filling, followed by a boxed cake mix) into a cake pan without mixing.

The Tunnock's Teacake is a sweet food often served with a cup of tea or coffee. It was developed by Sir Boyd Tunnock in 1956. The product consists of a small round shortbread biscuit covered with a dome of Italian meringue, a whipped egg white concoction similar to marshmallow, although somewhat lighter in texture.

What is another name for tea cake? ›

Although they are widely known, tea cakes have not always gone by this name. They are referred to as currant buns or spiced buns in some regions of the UK.

Usually, a large, white tiered cake, decorated mostly in white frosting, is called the bride's cake, and a second flavor choice is called the "groom's cake". This tradition was brought over from England by early American colonists, who considered the white-iced bride's cake too light for men's tastes.

Outside the South, the words “tea cake” mean any cake served with tea. But to Southerners, tea cakes are more than that. They are the nostalgic cookies—crispy and golden around the edges, soft and cake-like inside—that are perfect for tea, or just about anything else you choose to drink.

But at the novel's climax, he saves her life during a hurricane. Later, having contracted rabies, he attacks his wife. Janie kills him in self-defense. In the epilogue, Janie cherishes Tea Cake's memory; not only her lover, he has been a cultural mentor and spiritual guide.

History of the Tea Cake

Tea cakes are an integral part of African American food culture. Originating over 250 years ago, these cookies were a recipe passed down verbally through generations.

Too much flour adds dryness and heaviness to cakes and a collapsed structure. To keep your cakes light and fluffy, make sure you're using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. This recipe uses cake flour, but feel free to swap in all-purpose flour straight out of the bag if you don't have any on hand.

Possible reasons your cake is heavy/dense: Too little baking powder. Too many eggs. Batter is overmixed.

If your cake is too dense or too heavy, you may need more leavening or liquid, or you may have used too much sugar or shortening. If your cake crust is too light, you may need more sugar. If your cake doesn't have good flavor, your formula may be unbalanced, or you may need to check the quality of your ingredients.

Dense cupcakes can also occur when the batter is overmixed, when the oven door is opened too much during baking, when the oven temperature is off (we recommend using an oven thermometer to double-check oven temp for accuracy!) or when butter and sugar aren't creamed together properly.