Tiny Tea Cakes: Two for the Price of One!

Tea is a bit of a family tradition. Both my nana and papa emigrated from the UK and were avid tea drinkers. It’s the only caffeine I had until I was well through college and learned what real coffee beans tasted like. And while I start my day with a cup or two of Peet’s Major Dickasons, my go-to beverage the rest of the day is tea, be it hot or cold.

While Lipton was my early introduction to tea, I expanded to the Bigelow brand in my teens and herbals in college. While I am not a fan of flavored and fruity teas, I do love a good Earl Grey, and mint or chamomile after dinner. A culinary trip to Taiwan in 2004 got me more into leaf teas and certain blooming flower teas, as have my frequent forays to the U.K. over the last decade. 

There are times when I wish I was a throwback resident in London, working in an office where the tea cart came round twice a day. But sometimes I pretend and make some little tea cakes and sit down in the afternoon with a pretty pot and cup and saucer. Occasionally I invite over friends or neighbors to partake in a little tea party.

Hence my constant search for a good tea cake to serve. In early March, before this whole shelter in place edict, two of my neighbors joined me for tea and I made my nanny’s shortbread along with cherry and almond tea cakes and some fresh strawberries. 

I found the recipe on Pinterest and it’s actually from Martha Stewart. You use stemmed cherries, and the stems poke out the top of each little cake. The recipe calls for a fresh sweet cherry, like a Bing, but I had a jar of Trader Joes Pitted Amarena Cherries with Stems (in syrup) that I keep on hand for cocktails and ice cream sundaes. They worked really well. Up to you what type you use, just make sure they’re pitted!

I also made a really delicious batch of mini lemon tea cakes about two weeks prior to Easter. They originally appeared on the blog, Back for Seconds, also found via Pinterest. I brought a basket of these little gems to each neighbor, along with decorated Easter cookies and a little bunny door decoration I made. We were a few weeks into the quarantine and I thought everyone could use a bit of cheer. 

Both recipes are worth a share. Both are pretty darn easy to make and the lemon ones make a whopping 48, so they can be shared, as I did, or frozen for later consumption. 

You’ll find the recipes after the jump….

Enjoy!

Cherry and Almond Tea Cakes

 Makes 30 

10 tablespoons unsalted butter,

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup almond meal (or finely ground unblanched almonds

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon coarse salt

5 large egg whites

4 teaspoons kirsch* (optional)

30 sweet cherries with stems, pitted

*If you don’t want to use kirsch, or don’t have any on hand, you can use any other berry liqueur or 1 teaspoon of almond or vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. You’ll need enough mini muffin tins to make 30 tea cakes. Brush each of the 30 cups with either Pam or a bit of melted butter and dust each with flour. 

Melt the unsalted butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When it begins to sputter, reduce heat to medium. Cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until butter has lightly browned. Skim foam from top and remove the skillet from heat.

Whisk together flour, almond meal/ground almonds, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add egg whites, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the kirsch. Pour in butter, leaving any dark-brown sediment in skillet, and whisk to combine. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Ladle 1 tablespoon batter into each buttered muffin cup, filling about halfway. Push a cherry into each, keeping stem end up. With a small spoon, smooth batter over cherries to cover. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and cakes are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen and unmold. Cakes can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature overnight.

Glazed Lemon Bites

Makes 48 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup oil

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest

3 eggs

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sour cream

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 48 mini muffin cups. (You can use paper liners if you prefer.) In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, oil, sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add lemon juice, salt, and both extracts and mix well. Add in half the flour and the baking soda, baking powder and cornstarch and mix thoroughly. Add in the sour cream and fully incorporate. Add the remaining flour until well mixed.  Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full and bake for 8 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  While the tea cakes cool, make your glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Beat with a whisk until all lumps of sugar are gone.  Take the tea cakes out of the tins and place on a baking rack set over a tray or piece of wax paper. Spoon a bit of glaze onto each cake or dip each into the glaze.  Allow the glaze to cook before placing in airtight container. If you want to freeze some of these little gems, do so before glazing. The glaze will not hold up well when defrosted.