What's the difference between coffee cake and tea cake?

Tea cakes are pastries to be eaten with tea. They are usually individully sized. Coffee cake is a cake made with brewed coffee as ingredient or flavoring . Some coffee cakes are just spice cakes or dense cakes with a glaze meant to be eat...

What is special about tea cake?

Tea cakes are soft roll-out cookies that are tender, chewy and pleasantly dense. They are a cookie with a cake-like texture. The ingredients are very simple (flour, sugar, butter, milk, nutmeg, and eggs), and the gentle flavor of nutmeg is what makes these so special.

What is another name for tea cake?

It became defined as a traditional English food. In Kent, the teacake is known as a " huffkin ", which is often flavoured with hops, especially at the time of harvesting hops in September.

How long to leave ice cream cake out before serving?

The goals is to allow the cake to rise in temperature enough to slice and eat without melting the ice cream. Remove your cake from the freezer 10 to 20 minutes before serving. Keep a close eye on your cake. Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from other warm areas in your kitchen.

What is the frosting on ice cream cake made of?

Frost with whipped cream: Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla until it forms soft peaks. Use an offset spatula to spread the whipped cream all over the cake. If desired, use a piping bag to create rosettes or other decorations.

Do you freeze or refrigerate ice cream cake?

Ice cream cake are frozen confections, so they must be stored in the freezer . However, they can be quite hard when they first come out, so we recommend removing them from the freezer and allowing them to thaw for ten to twenty minutes.

What is the difference between a Tea Cake and a regular cake?

Tea cakesare typically denser than sponge cakes as they contain more butter and are often made with a lower amount of rising agents like baking powder.

What makes a cake a coffee cake?

Coffee cake or coffeecake is a sweet bread common in the United States, so called because it is typically served with coffee . Leavenings can include yeast, baking soda, or baking powder. The modern dish typically contains no coffee.

Who is Tea Cake in their eyes were watching God?

Vergible Woods , known as Tea Cake, is the third husband of Janie Crawford, the protagonist of Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).

What's the difference between coffee cake and regular cake?

The difference between coffee cake and regular cake is the topping. Coffee cake and regular cake are made with the same ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and butter and a leavening agent like baking powder. The difference is that instead of frosting on top, coffee cakes have crumble or streusel .

Saffron & Chocolate Tea Cake Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Bake

by: Samantha Seneviratne

March18,2021

7 Ratings

Saffron & Chocolate Tea Cake Recipe on Food52 (1)

Prep time 25 minutes
Cook time 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 8

Jump to Recipe

Author Notes

What makes a good love match? Chocolate needs a grown-up playmate. He needs to stop partying with gobs of ice cream, neon cherries, rainbow sprinkles, sugary goo, and just come back to earth. Cheesecake takes advantage of him. Marshmallows are clearly a bad influence.

Saffron is smart and sensible. She’s just the bright and slightly acerbic partner that he badly needs. She puts him in his place, gets that sweetness in check, and adds color, depth, and sophistication.

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Watch This Recipe

Saffron & Chocolate TeaCake

Ingredients

³/₄ cup(1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
¹/₂ cupwhole milk
¹/₄ teaspoonsaffron threads
2 cupsall-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 teaspoonsbaking powder
¹/₂ teaspoonkosher salt
¹/₂ cupwhole-milk yogurt, at room temperature
1 cupgranulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoonpure vanilla extract
4 ¹/₂ ounces(1 cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2–inch loaf pan.
In a small saucepan, bring the milk and saffron to a simmer over medium heat. Immediately remove from the heat, cover, and let stand for at least 15 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together the saffron milk and the yogurt. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and granulated sugar together until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Fold in the chocolate.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top liberally with sanding sugar. Bake until puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Using a sharp knife, carefully loosen the cake from the edges of the pan, tip out the cake, and set it right-side up on the rack to cool completely.
The cake is best the day it’s made, but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to a month.

Tags:

Cake
American
Saffron
Bake
Dessert

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Emrie Tomaiko
ifjuly
See Also
Irish Sausage Rolls Recipe - Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking
Ahtoy
NXL

Popular on Food52

6 Reviews

Emrie T. March 7, 2021

An interesting concept. I think I may not be accustomed to the flavor of the saffron? Not my favorite, but certainly not bad

Ahtoy May 21, 2020

What a divine cake. It is inherently elegant in its fragrance and golden hue, and yet understated as a loaf with chocolate chips. It’s the ultimate surprise for guests who think they know what they’re getting into. My house smells fantastic every time I’ve made this. It’s a reliable recipe and even bakes well with dairy substitutes, if necessary. Also, thanks for giving us such a tender and intimate view into the author’s family life.

NXL March 29, 2020

The batter was so beautiful that I was very excited about the final product. I think, though, that perhaps I just don't care for saffron? I used bittersweet chocolate , so per one reviewer's note, maybe another would have complimented better.

Serena January 4, 2020

Oh my god- this tea cake is unreal. I love making unique recipes and I’ve never had anything like this before. Everything about it was perfect and so many people loved it- it isn’t too sweet, the dark chocolate is perfect in this recipe. The saffron is divine. Five stars!

ifjuly December 24, 2019

I too love this one. Have made it twice now, and thought a lot about it afterward each time (by definition a compelling recipe!), and my personal takeaways include: 1) one of the best charming and true recipe intro write ups, what! 2) the scent that permeates the kitchen while steeping the saffron in simmered milk is DIVINE, as alluded to in earlier comment...so wonderful it tempts one to make this cake too often, to enjoy that experience regardless of whether a finished loaf's needed/desired at the time or not 3) personally after the first time I made a note that instead of my usual go-to intense dark/semi/bittersweet chocolate, sweeter milk chocolate suits as indeed, per the recipe notes/introduction, the saffron lends a seriousness that if anything needs softening/tempering/balancing, not bolstering, via chocolate. (I have to say I can't recall just now another time I've encountered this observation about chocolate vis a vis saffron, how uniquely they complement and challenge each other in a good way...I feel like this cake might not be for "everyone", a lazy no-forethought-needed crowdpleaser, at least not yet, but to me it's a good "indicator", bold observational statement/assertion that, upon scrutiny, holds up in a "well I'll be!" sort of pioneering way.) The second time I made it, it was for an office potluck and I did use good milk chocolate and the entire thing got eaten (much to my surprise given there was so much other food too; I'd made 2 types of cookies alongside). It made me happy in this goofy-of-me "other people DO get it too!" way. Looking forward to making it again!

Nishi P. December 13, 2019

I made this and it was one of the best tea cakes I have ever had in my life. My entire family was in love with this cake. Also, this cake made my entire house smell amazing.