African American Southern Tea Cakes Recipes

SOUTHERN TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Make a well at the center of the bowl and set it aside.
• In a separate medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter until smooth. Then add in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix together until all the wet ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until it forms into a soft dough.
• Put the dough on a smooth, floured surface and divide it into two. Roll each dough ball into a disc, cover them with plastic wrap, and place them in the refrigerator for one hour. This gives the flour and gluten some time to rest and firm up before baking. The cookies won't hold their shape if the dough is not chilled.
• Preheat oven to 350℉/177℃. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, spray the surface of parchment paper with cooking spray and set aside.
• Remove dough from the fridge and plastic wrap, then place dough on the floured surface and roll it out to ¼-inch thick. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter or a glass to cut out the tea cakes, and place them out on a prepared baking sheet about an inch apart.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms are slightly browned.
• Remove the tea cakes from the oven, and place them on a cooling rack until they are cool.

SOUTHERN TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir in flour; mix well. , Drop by tablespoonfuls 2-1/2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.

BLACK FOLKS SOUTHERN TEA CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a medium-size bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for about 2 minutes until creamy.
• Add the egg, lemon zest, sour cream, mayonnaise, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract.
• Mix until well blended to make the tea cake batter.
• Sift together the remaining dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg over a sheet of parchment paper large enough to fit your baking sheet.
• Fold the parchment paper to pour the sifted flour mixture into the tea cake batter and then mix again.
• Add the batter to a lightly floured surface and roll the dough to approx ¼ inch thickness. This is where the extra cup of flour will come in handy to help with rolling because the dough is sticky!
• Cut out the tea cakes with a 2 ½" up to 3″ biscuit cutter. (I used a 2 ¾" biscuit cutter.)
• Place the rounds onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet about one inch apart. (You may need to bake more than 1 batch if all your rounds don't fit on your baking sheet.)
• Bake until light brown (but don't let them get too brown!). 5-6 minutes in the conventional oven and 3-4 minutes in the Instant Pot Omni Plus oven. (Tea cakes don't take long to bake, so keep a close eye on them to avoid burning! Like a biscuit, you want them firm on the outside and fluffy on the inside.)
• Optional: When the tea cakes are finished baking and cooling, optionally make the lemon glaze frosting by combining the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Mix well with a whisk to remove any lumps from the powdered sugar.
• Use a small spatula or spoon to drop a dollop of icing onto each cooled tea cake. The icing will harden in about 5 minutes.
• Optionally, garnish this Southern Black folk tea cake recipe with a sprinkle of lemon zest, then serve and enjoy!