“Part of the soul food culinary tableau, tea cakes likely derive from the English tradition of consuming a biscuit or cookie with tea. Carried to the New World by European settlers, the tradition spread among enslaved people, who used small amounts of cast-off ingredients to create humble versions of the original.” ~Lily Williams, Founder and President of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans
Less sweet than a sugar cookie, the old fashioned tea cake is not quite a cookie but not exactly a cake either. Its soft cakey texture inside is utterly delicious and became a classic comfort food and a special baked treat during the holidays, which is where I first encountered it.
My grandmother baked these simple cakes every Christmas for as long as I could remember and I always looked forward to eating them. When I grew older and became interested in the history of the culinary arts, I realized that these soft little cakes had a rich history that ties us to the generations of people who baked them before us.
Speaking about its storied history, one descendant of slaves put it into perspective this way: “The tea cake was a way to savor life and have something sweet even when things were hard.”
