11 teacake recipes

Old-fashioned Southern teacakes with shortening, vanilla, and simple pantry staples. Soft, lightly sweet, and rolled out just like Grandma made them.

Traditional Irish teacakes made with yeasted dough, butter, eggs, and a hint of nutmeg. Soft, golden buns best eaten warm with a generous smear of butter.

Whole wheat pumpkin tea cake sweetened with honey and brown sugar, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, and topped with chopped hazelnuts. A lighter autumn loaf for afternoon tea or breakfast.

Black-eyed pea cakes with smoky adobo cream and melty Monterey Jack. An 18-minute vegetarian main that fries up crisp on the outside with a tender, cumin-spiced center.

One-bowl orange marmalade tube cake with warm spices, chopped walnuts, and a hint of lemon. A bittersweet British-style tea cake that dusts clean from a vanilla-wafer-lined pan.

Buttery nut ball cookies rolled in powdered sugar, also called Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies. Six ingredients, no eggs, and they melt in your mouth.

Patty's cake: a cornmeal-and-lemon tea cake with yogurt tang and fresh berries. Rustic, gently sweet, and built for an afternoon with a cup of tea.

German marble kuchen swirls vanilla butter cake with chocolate syrup batter for a tender bundt with bold dark and light bands. A traditional German tea cake baked in a tube pan.

Russian honey bread loaded with dried apricots, dates, raisins, and walnuts, warmed with cinnamon and clove. A bread machine quick bread with the rich, spiced sweetness of an old-country tea cake.

Koala Kookies are buttery walnut shortbread balls dusted in powdered sugar. Five ingredients, no eggs, and a melt-in-your-mouth texture that puts these in the same family as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, and Greek kourabiedes.

British tea loaf with raisins and sultanas steeped overnight in cold tea, baked with brown sugar and self-rising flour. A no-butter fruit bread that's moist and dense.