Tea Cakes

Happy Juneteenth Y’all.  This year, the holiday appears to be getting much more traction than ever before.  Banks are closing early.  Nike gave their employees the day off.  It seems like every major news publication has a primer on this Juneteenth.  

Jump to:

• A {brief} history of Juneteenth
• Tea Cake Revival 
• Ingredients
• Kitchen Equipment
• How to Make Tea Cakes
• Substitutions/ Variations 
• Want More?
• Recipe

A {brief} history of Juneteenth

June 19, 1865, is when the Army couriers finally made it to Texas by horse to announce that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed two and half years earlier.  As an aside, there are many theories about why it took two and half years to make it to Texas, I am not going to speculate here, but please know that I am side-eying the large gap of time. 

 Growing up in Charleston,  I didn’t know the significance of Juneteeth until much later.  Juneteenth just wasn’t a holiday we celebrated. A few years ago, I wanted to bake something traditional  to celebrate Juneteenth and I found this article in NPR listing foods to celebrate Juneteenth.  

Tea Cake Revival 

I was struck by the story of Etha Robinson, whose mission is to reclaim/revive the history of the Tea Cake.  In the article she explains the history of the Tea Cake and proclaimed that “Tea Cakes are an experience”.  And she’s absolutely right.   Mostly I was struck by her dedication to ensure that this little cake/cookie combination becomes closely tied to Black American culture. 

I’ve thought about Etha Robinson a lot this week. Every time a company announced a Juneteenth Holiday.  When the news broke that Quaker Oats decided that it was time to remove the racist “Aunt Jemima” brand from the pancake mix.   The removal of a racist trope won’t end all of the discrimination and injustice in America,  but I thought about Etha, and all of the other black women in food (chefs, bakers, food bloggers,  etc) and wondered if now we would be seen for the true depth of our experience and expertise.  Will our contributions be recognized appropriately?  I’ve heard that change happens incrementally, but I am hoping that these very rich voices find the spotlight sooner rather than later. 

So back to the Tea Cakes. I think of Tea Cakes as a handheld pound cake.   Really, they are a cross between a cake and a cookie, similar to a French Madeleine.  Tea Cakes aren’t as sweet as a sugar cookie, and aren’t quite as heavy as pound cake. Tea Cakes are best described as an experience. 

Ingredients

This recipe is adapted from Toni Tipton Martin’s Cookbook, Jubilee. Y’all probably already have everything you need to make a tea cake in your pantry.  That is the beauty of the Tea Cake.  You can pull together a delightful treat with basic pantry items.

• all purpose flour, preferably White Lily
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• unsalted butter, room temperature
• granulated sugar
• large eggs
• buttermilk 
• lemon extract
• vanilla extract
• Lemon zest
• demerara sugar

Kitchen Equipment

• Stand Mixer or hand mixer
• Measuring cups/spoons
• Cookie sheets
• Flexible spatula
• Parchment paper
• Rolling pin
• 1 ½ inch biscuit cutter

How to Make Tea Cakes

1. Make the Dough.  In a medium bowl whisk the dry ingredients  (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) together.  In a large bowl (or the bowl of the stand mixer) cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add the eggs and flavorings. The mixture will look curdled, but keep going.  Finally add the flour a half cup at a time to the wet ingredients.  Mix on low speed until a very soft and sticky dough forms.  
2. Chill.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.  At this point the dough will be firm enough to remove from the bowl. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for another couple of hours – up to overnight. 
3. Roll it out.  Generously dust a clean countertop with flour.  Unwrap one disc of dough and roll it out to about a quarter of an inch (¼)  thick.  Add more flour as necessary to make sure the tea cakes don’t stick. 
4. Cut it out.  Dip the biscuit cutter into the flour and cut out the tea cakes.  Gather any remaining scraps, pat it into a ball and repeat the rolling and cutting process. 
5. Bake.  Preheat the oven to 375ºF.  Place the cut out tea cakes on a parchment lined cookie sheet with about 2 inches around each cookie. Sprinkle each cookie with demerara sugar.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just golden brown. 

Substitutions/ Variations 

• No Buttermilk?
  • make your own buttermilk by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk. 
  • Use regular or evaporated milk
• You can personalized the spices
  • Lemon zest and lemon extract
  • Nutmeg + Cinnamon
  • Vanilla Bean (if you’re fancy like that)
  • Chai flavors

Want More?

Click over to read my {mini} Tea Cake Challenge, where I made 4 different tea cake recipes in a day. 

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