Super Simple Berry Tea Cake
Super simple + one bowl + 10 minutes to prepare. This delicate berry snack cake is perfect for afternoon tea. This well-loved vintage recipe, with a few modern updates, is worth baking for another 50+ years!
There’s a lovely community over on the old_recipes subreddit, dedicated to sharing long forgotten recipes of days past. If you’ve visited, you may have seen such favourites as the divorce carrot cake and murder cookies.
While this berry tea cake seems tame in comparison, I assure you it’s worth a try. The original owner of the recipe book wrote “Super” on the page, and followed that up with a post-it declaring, “Been baking for over 50 years. Mmmm good.” Well now, who could pass that up?
A Modern Vintage Recipe
I made a few tweaks to the original recipe to better suit my pantry. Since I don’t keep shortening on hand, I subbed in butter for a richer taste and added vanilla.
The original recipe calls for blueberries, but the batter is so versatile you can use any berry you want, fresh or frozen. This time I used frozen raspberries, but I’ve used fresh apples, fresh and frozen blueberries, and even fresh figs in past bakes.
The cake is so light and fluffy, dotted with moist fruit, and goes perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee. The optional demerara sugar topping gives a delightful crunch.
Can I use this recipe as a layer cake?
It’s very soft, so I would not use this recipe as written to build a layer cake. It won’t be stable enough to support any weight. But! You could add frosting to the single layer like a sheet cake. Leave off the demerara topping, and whip up a lemon buttercream to decorate.
Can I make this berry tea cake in advance?
Yes, it will keep for three days on the counter or fridge. The fruit will make the cake soggy after a few days–if it lasts that long! I haven’t tried to freeze it. If you do, let me know in the comments how it turns out!
Can I make this a vegan cake?
Absolutely! Use vegetable shortening or vegan butter instead, and substitute almond milk for cow’s milk. Use a commercial egg replacement of your choice, or add 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce mixed with an additional 1/2 tsp of baking powder.
Tips for Tea Cake Success
- This batter is quite thick. To ensure an even bake, you may need to take a spatula and smooth out the batter in the pan.
- If using fresh berries, toss them in flour before folding them in to the batter to help prevent them sinking to the bottom.
- Cover the bottom of the pan with a square of parchment paper before adding the batter to more easily remove it from the pan once baked.
- Weigh your ingredients instead of relying on scooping into cups. This is so important for good consistent results when baking! Read why you can improve your baking here with a simple scale here.
Super Simple Berry Tea Cake
Ingredients
- 76 g butter (⅓ cup), room temperature
- 240 g all-purpose flour (2 cups)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 200 g sugar (1 cup)
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 egg large
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup berries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 Tbsp demerara or raw sugar Optional
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 8×8" square pan or a 9" round cake pan.
- In a large bowl, sift flour with baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Add butter, milk, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes until well combined.
- Add egg and beat 1 minute.
- Stir in berries, and pour into greased pan. Optional: add a generous sprinkle of demerara or raw sugar to the top.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- The original vintage recipe called for vegetable shortening, so feel free to substitute the same amount.
- Use your preferred berry, fresh or frozen! I measured by berry weight to achieve one cup, which was much much more than a volumetric cup. The extra berries didn’t make much structural difference to the tea cake.
- You can also bake this in a 9″ cake pan.
