Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes is a classic, vintage recipe. It’s a bit of a cross between a cookie and cake, not too sweet, and utterly delicious. Tea cakes are the perfect ending to any meal or a great mid-afternoon snack with coffee, tea, or milk.
Tea cakes are a simple, traditional cookie that has been part of Southern households for generations. Lightly sweet with a lightly crisp exterior and an almost cake-like crumb, they’re made with very basic ingredients and simply flavored, so they fit into even the most modest grocery budget.
They’re easy to make, and they keep well, which is part of why they’ve remained a favorite for so long. They’re the perfect cookie to enjoy with coffee or tea, to share casually, and to be baked again and again.
This recipe reflects the kind of baking I grew up with: dependable and rooted in tradition. If you’re looking for a classic Southern teacake with a tender crumb and familiar flavor, look no further. You’ve found it.
Recipe Snapshot: Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chill Time: up to 8 hours
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours, 29 minutes
Servings: 30
Cuisine: Southern, Vintage
Cooking Method: Oven
Primary Ingredients: Flour, butter, sugar, eggs, buttermilk
Skill Level: Easy
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
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“Thank you for this recipe for old fashioned tea cakes. It took me back to a sweet childhood memory of a family reunion at Grandma’s.“
— KHorner
“My grandmother used to make these for me. So thankful to find an authentic recipe!“
— Karla
What Makes This Recipe Special
Old fashioned Southern tea cakes stand out for their simplicity and unmistakable sense of home. The recipe relies on common ingredients and a straightforward method. There’s nothing flashy here, just plain, familiar flavors.
What truly sets them apart is longevity. Nothing trendy, nothing new, this is a recipe passed from hand to hand, baked for family, and remembered fondly. Making tea cakes is as much about slowing down and honoring memory as it is about baking something delicious, which makes the experience as rewarding as the result.
For readers who enjoy the stories that often surround traditional recipes, I’ve written more about my personal memories over on my Substack, Notes From the Kitchen.
Ingredient Notes
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There’s nothing at all fancy in this recipe because it originated in a time and place when people made do with the little they had on hand. Very smart and frugal folks!
- Butter — Have it at room temperature so it creams properly with the sugar. This is what gives the tea cakes their tender, slightly cakey crumb. I would choose a high-quality butter such as Land o’ Lakes for this recipe.
- Sugar — Plain, white granulated sugar is all you need here. It provides the classic pale color and clean sweetness. You’ll also add a sprinkle on top before baking.
- Eggs — They should also be at room temperature. Cold eggs can cause the creamed butter and sugar to separate, so let them sit out alongside the butter before you get started.
- Buttermilk — It’s only a small amount, but its tanginess balances the sweetness and also reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter. If you don’t have it on hand, here’s how to make a substitute.
- Flour — You’ll need plain, all-purpose flour; I can always recommend White Lily! Measure it carefully and don’t pack it into the cup, since too much flour is the most common reason tea cakes turn out dry.
- Baking soda — Gives the tea cakes their slight rise and keeps them from turning out flat.
- Vanilla extract — No need to spend a lot for fancy vanilla to use in this recipe. A standard brand like McCormick is great, and with such a short ingredient list, its flavor really comes through.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Recipe Variations to Try
- You can vary the tea cakes by adding lemon zest, nutmeg, or cinnamon. But I’d suggest you try the classic recipe first to judge which additional flavors you might like best.
- Other flavorings can be added to the dough. Try half almond and half vanilla flavoring or substitute rum flavoring.
- Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar while still warm.
- To be really vintage and authentic, use half butter and half lard (or shortening) in your recipe. The lard will give the tea cakes an incredible texture.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You can see this recipe on pages 282-283 of my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
How to Make Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes
Mix the Dough
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter until soft and pale yellow in color.
- Gradually add the sugar to the butter, beating well.
- Next, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the buttermilk and beat well again.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and soda.
- Turn the mixer down to the slowest speed and gradually add the flour and soda mixture into the creamed mixture.
- Add in the vanilla.
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Shape and Chill the Dough
- Shape the dough into a round or rectangle, cover with plastic wrap, and chill several hours or overnight.
Cut Out and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
- If you chill the dough overnight, remove it from the fridge about 15 minutes before rolling so that it very slightly softens.
- Working with 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll the dough to a 1/4” thickness on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut the dough into rounds using a large biscuit cutter or a drinking glass dipped into flour. Gather the scraps together, re-roll, and cut until all dough is used.
- Place the rounds 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets.
- Sprinkle tops lightly with additional sugar.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned.
- Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and allow the tea cakes to cool for several minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Recipe Success Tips
- When rolling out the dough, it’s important that it’s at least 1/4″ thick to give the tea cakes a slightly “cake-y” interior texture.
- To make rolling the dough easier, you can use either waxed paper or parchment paper. Place one piece on your countertop and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Put a portion of the dough on the paper and sprinkle its top with flour as well. Add another piece of paper to the top (making a sandwich of the paper and dough) and roll out.
- To prevent the tea cakes from spreading while baking, make sure the dough is still quite cold as you roll and cut it. Then put the tea cakes directly into the oven to bake. Keep any extra dough covered in the refrigerator until needed.
Questions and Answers: Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes
- How do I store tea cakes?
Store tea cakes for 7-8 days at room temperature in a covered container. - Do you have any serving suggestions to go with Southern tea cakes?
Tea cakes are great with ice cream, mixed fresh fruit, or fruit jams and preserves. - How about an idea for dressing tea cakes up a bit?
Try dipping the tea cakes halfway in melted chocolate for a real treat! - How long can I keep the unbaked tea cake dough in the refrigerator?
The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days. It can also be frozen for one month.
More Southern Heritage Recipes You’ll Like
If you like this old-fashioned recipe, you’ll also want to check out these.
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
Thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have you here.
Recipe
Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened (2 sticks)
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Additional sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter until soft and pale yellow in color.1 cup butter
- Gradually add the sugar to the butter, beating well.2 cups sugar
- Next, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.3 eggs
- Add the buttermilk and beat well again.2 tablespoons buttermilk
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Turn the mixer down to the slowest speed and gradually add the flour and soda mixture into the creamed mixture.
- Add in the vanilla.1 teaspoon vanilla
- Shape the dough into a round or rectangle, cover with plastic wrap, and chill several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
- If you chill your dough overnight, remove it from the fridge about 15 minutes before rolling.
- Working with 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4” thickness on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut the dough into rounds using a large biscuit cutter or a drinking glass dipped into flour. Gather the scraps together, re-roll, and cut until all dough is used.
- Place the rounds 1 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.
- Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.Additional sugar for sprinkling
- Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned.
- Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and allow tea cakes to cool for several minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
- When rolling out the dough, it’s important that it’s at least ¼” thick to give the tea cakes a “cake-y” interior texture.
- To prevent the tea cakes from spreading while baking, make sure the dough is still quite cold as you roll and cut it. Then put the tea cakes directly into the oven to bake. Keep any extra dough covered in the refrigerator until needed.
- Store tea cakes for 7-8 days at room temperature in a covered container.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
Love the nostalgic connect with the food post. Makes it so much more delicious and meaningful! Thank you for sharing this special window to your world Lana. These tea cakes sound wonderful!
I’d love reading your childhood memories and I agree with you about our parents and grandparents recipes – they are meant to be made with love and cherished.
Thanks, Dara. I do cherish all those old recipes. I especially love the church cookbooks that were published back in the 70’s and 80’s in my hometown. I refer to them often!
Oh boy!!! Yes Aunt Margie was a WONDERFUL cook. I don’t remember anything that she prepared that wasn’t delicious. Wish you and BeeBop could be here Sunday for dinner. Can’t believe that your baby sister is 50. Guess that means bringing out family recipes and gathering in the clan.
She was a wonderful cook, wasn’t she? And a fantastic hostess, too. I remember her beautiful china especially.
I grew up in a tiny Kentucky town that sounds very similar to yours. We didn’t get our first traffic light until my senior year of high school & our idea of fun was “cruising” main street from Cee Bee on one end to Ferrell’s Burgers on the other!
Once I went off to college, my Mama often shipped me care packages with her yummy tea cakes inside, and all my friends would pile up on my tiny dorm room bed and eat them while I read the sweet letter that came inside the box. Such special memories!
How sweet, Beth! I can just picture you and your friends eating teacakes in your dorm room. Glad I could bring that memory back for you.
Gorgeous post! I love everything about it- your nostalgia, your photos, your storytelling- everything! And the teacakes sound fantastic too :)
Thank you, Stephanie. I may be doing even more nostalgic posts in the near future :-)
What a wonderfully nostalgic post! Sounds like you’re from fantastic stock ;)
Thank you so much!
Being from middle Georgia, I can relate to your story in so many ways. Wouldn’t it be a better world today if we could all still live as simply as our Mom’s and Dad’s did. I’ll have to try your tea cake recipe. My hubby loves the ones his Mom used to make but I haven’t been able to perfect my recipe so far.
Tricia – I hope you and your hubby like this one. It tastes exactly the way my aunt’s teacakes always did.
Being from both Quebec and Saskatchewan in Canada, you might imagine I have never had a teacake. I am so delighted that you shared these. It’s like traveling but through food and sharing memories with a complete stranger. I will try to imagine your childhood while eating these.
And I’m delighted that I could share a little taste of the South with you! I do hope you’ll try these teacakes and enjoy them.
You are so right Lana and I can conjure up special moments even now with my beloved Grandma, just thinking of Pecan Butter Balls or one of her many German specialties. So 1965? That evokes family meals of substance that I still love even if I made some adjustments for today; spaghetti with real Parmesan and not from a green can comes to mind!
I’m sure there’s some psychological explanation for it, Barbara, but for me food has a very powerful way of bringing back old memories. Especially the older recipes that were always present in my childhood. And who cares if it’s “so 1965?” Age really has nothing to do with the quality or enjoyment of a recipe!
OMGoodness! I think we must be sister. My Mama made the exact same things that yours made and they were the best. You brought back a lot of good memories of my Mama and her cooking and meals around the table with the family. I love teacakes and can’t wait to make these even though I have been on a diet and trying not to eat a lot of sweets, but what the heck!
Pat – Just make a batch, have one or two for yourself, and share them with the neighbors. They’ll be your friends forever ;-)
What a simply lovely post, Lana, and it evokes so many similar memories for me. I guess I “know” that the rural South can’t actually be all that different from other places, but in my heart I do think of it as special in terms of the way family, food, a slower pace, and the importance given to easy chat and wonderful story-telling all came together for me personally.
I think of it as special, too. And even though it is different now, Barbara, you can still find little areas in the South where life still moves slowly. Where there’s still time to sit around the dinner table with family and tell old familiar stories. Where families still have annual reunions and churches still have homecoming (with “dinner on the grounds”).
Tea cakes remind me of Aunt Margie. She always had a batch on hand, and stored them in one of those large clear gallon-plus size jars with the screw on top. When we went to her house, having tea cakes available was just as constant as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. I know that Uncle Bud would like a batch of these, to remind him of his one true love.
Miss P
I remember it now! That big jar with the screw lid. I *knew* there was someone in the family who always had teacakes at their house, but I couldn’t remember who. Aunt Margie was an outstanding cook! And not just ordinary things, either. She would tackle any recipe no matter how complicated. I bet Uncle Bud would like some of these, too. And a slice of chocolate pie – his favorite :-)
I had an Aunt Margie and Uncle Bud in FT. Worth Texas that did the same.
Isn’t it funny how many memories we associate with food? That’s one of the reasons I’ve always made cooking real food for my kids a priority. Thanks for sharing so many happy moments!!
Absolutely! And having them cook with you creates memories that they will pass down in years to come :-)
I love reading your stories about the past! Your childhood town sounds like the town I grew up in. It was grand! All your recipes are fabulous, and I agree, cooking is a way of showing love to your family.
I love making those old recipes that remind me of wonderful times in the kitchens and dining rooms of my family members. It creates continuity from generation to generation and keeps their spirit alive for today’s little ones.
Thanks for the precious memories, L. All of us southern girls have our tales to tell about the wonderful, loving cooks we grew up with, and I loved hearing about yours. It made me think of my Mama, my “little Mama” and my Ma’Mama – true southern ladies and marvelous cooks everyone. Love you. B.
Thanks, B. I have so many more memories that I could have shared but I’ll save them for another time. I was afraid the length of this post would scare off too many people :-) Love ya, too.
Thank you for your stories about your grandmothers and your precious mother. I also come from a family of great women cooks. Your stories literally almost brought tears to my eyes as you spoke of the “good old days.”
Thank you for sharing from your heart the wonderful childhood memories of that down home southern cooking recipes. My grandmothers were great cooks and of course, but my Mom was the best. I remembered most all her recipes for the wonderful meals except her mouth watering tea cakes. When I think of her tea cakes the kids in the neighborhood would fight to get one, and of course my brothers and sisters would also. The love that was put into the tea cakes will always be special to my heart and childhood memories. I am a minister and a guy, but I loved cooking my mother’s food, she has since gone to heaven, but she will never be forgotten. I feel as I cook her meals I can feel her presence and her laughing with me ! May the Lord bless you good. Keep telling your old time stories for there are a lot of” old school” people out here that experienced so many of the same memories of childhood. Blessings to You, Bishop Alfonzo Smith, Senior Pastor Redeemed Church Detroit, MI PS thanks for the tea cake recipe!!!!