by Sandra Merville Hart

I was so excited that friend and fellow author Debra DuPree Williams shared a recipe from her debut novel, Grave Consequences, that I asked her if I could share another one from her novel. Happily, she agreed. This is her family’s recipe for her Granny’s Tea Cakes.

Southern tea cakes are more like a thick cookie than a cake. They probably were created in rural Southern kitchens from basic ingredients and passed down through the generations.

“Sis and I lamented that we don’t have any of our granny’s recipes,” Debra says. “I doubt she wrote down anything. They were all stored inside her mind and her heart.”

Granny’s Tea Cakes

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbs. buttermilk

¼ tsp baking soda

flour (Note: she didn’t include quantity. See below.)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk, then soda. Add flour and beat until it is of a consistency that can be rolled out. (Sandra used about 2 cups of flour.) Roll out on floured board and cut into small cakes. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

I used a glass as a “cake cutter” and baked them in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Depending on the individual size of the cakes, you may need more or less time.

These are deliciously soft, thick cookies that remind me of my own grandmother’s stack cakes. The tea cakes are a little plain so I dusted mine with powdered sugar. The next time I bake them, I’ll add cinnamon to the batter.

This basic recipe will be easy to modify to your family’s preferences.

Thanks for allowing me to share these tea cakes with my Historical Nibbles family, Debra!

Sources

Williams, Debra DuPree. Grave Consequences, Firefly Southern Fiction, 2020.

Shannon, Patricia. “What is a Southern Tea Cake Anyway?”, Southern Living, 2020/08/22 https://www.southernliving.com/desserts/cookies/southern-tea-cakes.