Southern Tea Cakes Recipes

OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKE

Steps:

• Combine flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix.
• Scatter butter across surface. Pulse until butter is completely incorporated into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and pulse a few times until the dough clumps together. Gather dough, barely kneading until you can shape the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. On a well floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll dough into a 1/4-inch thick circle. Use a 3-inch round cutter to punch out circles from the dough; transfer circles to prepared baking sheet. Reroll scraps and cut out additional circles.
• Bake until tea cakes have puffed slightly and barely take on color, 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

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!

GRANDMA'S TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and extract; beat well. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Chill for 1-2 hours. Shape into 1-1/4-in. balls. Place 2-1/2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned (do not overbake). Cool 1 minute on pan before removing to a wire rack.

AUNT BURVIN'S SOUTHERN TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Beat white sugar, confectioners' sugar, and butter together in a stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat until fully incorporated. Pour oil into sugar-butter mixture; beat until smooth. Slowly add flour to sugar-butter mixture, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition until dough is stiff. Refrigerate dough, 8 hours to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Drop dough by the spoonful onto baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Work in batches if needed.

GRANDMA'S OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture. Knead dough for a few turnns on a floured board until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.