Golden, warm Irish Tea Cake is an easy dessert to serve with your St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef and Cabbage. It’s also a homey, delicious Irish baking recipe that’s also perfect any time of year.
What is Irish Tea Cake?
Irish Tea Cake is not the same thing as making Irish Soda Bread then adding a handful of raisins. I have to say this because there are some purists out there who have conniption fits about Irish Soda Bread recipes involving more than four ingredients.
It’s not Irish Soda Bread
They’re not altogether wrong, mind you. Traditional Irish Soda Bread uses only flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. That’s it. No sugar, no butter, and certainly no raisins. As explained by the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread (yes, there is such a thing), anything else is “tea cake.”
And so, this recipe is for Irish Tea Cake and not Irish Soda Bread with Raisins, though you’re welcome to call it whatever you like. One thing you’re bound to call it is your new favorite Irish baked goods for St. Patrick’s Day, because it’s so simple to make and delicious with a hot cup of tea.
Irish Tea Cake Recipe Steps
Rub Cold Butter into Dry Ingredients
To make Irish Tea Cake, combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Next, add the cubes of very cold butter and, using your fingertips, rub them into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. This step leads to a “shorter” bread which minimizes the breakdown of gluten, so you wind up with a more tender result.
You might need to fish around in there a few times to ensure there are no more large chunks of butter. Shaking the bowl a bit also helps.
Pour Buttermilk into the Well
Once the butter is completely rubbed in, make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Quickly pour the buttermilk into the center of this well and stir until the ingredients are just combined. Don’t use beaters or a stand mixer or you’ll over-stir and end up with a tough cake at the end.
Add Raisins and Bake
Sprinkle the raisins in during the final few strokes and stir just until they’re mixed into the batter. Doesn’t it look like chocolate chip cookie dough? It has about the same consistency, too, so don’t expect it to flow as a cake batter would.
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Spoon the dough into a well-greased cake pan, pushing it to the edges with your spoon then sprinkle on the remaining sugar. Again, try not to overhandle the dough or it’ll get tough. Since this is a rustic-style Irish baking recipe, you want it to have a craggy top to catch butter when you serve it. Oh, man, it is so good with butter!
Bake for roughly 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It’ll develop a gorgeous golden brown top while it cooks and your kitchen will smell amazing!
Let it Cool a Bit After Baking
Once it’s ready, remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. I let it cool for another 15 minutes longer while I heated the kettle to make tea. After that, we couldn’t wait one more minute to dig in.
Storing Irish Tea Cake
Irish Tea Cake keeps well up to 3 days if stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. If you want to freeze this Irish Tea Cake, let it fully cool and wrap it well in cling wrap followed by two layers of aluminum foil. Defrost fully before serving.
Irish Tea Cake
Inspired by Irish Soda Bread, this sweeter version is studded throughout with raisins and sprinkled with sugar. It’s delicious on its own or slathered with good Irish butter.
Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C and position a rack in the center of the oven.Grease an 8-inch cake pan well.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, 4 tablespoons of the sugar, and all of the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add butter to the bowl and, using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the center of the dry mixture.Quickly pour the cold buttermilk into the well and stir just to combine.Add in raisins during the final few strokes.
Spoon the dough into the prepared cake pan and use the spoon to bring it to the sides. Do not flatten or smooth the top of the dough — you want it to remain craggy.Sprinkle the dough with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.
Bake at 375°F / 190°C for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.Cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
Notes
Storage: Keeps well up to 3 days if stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. If you want to freeze Irish Tea Cake, let it fully cool and wrap it well in cling wrap followed by two layers of aluminum foil. Defrost on the counter before serving.
What do you think? Are you ready to give my Irish Tea Cake Recipe a try?
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Made your Irish Tea Cake recipe but the texture is dry. Why is this as I followed your directions exactly. This should be soft and dense in the inside? And crunchy hard on the outside?
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It’s a tea cake, not soda bread, so it shouldn’t be crunchy on the outside. If that’s what you were aiming for, then my guess is you cooked it too long which would result in a dry texture.
Love this! Just had it for tea..with butter and marmalade. Absolutely perfect. So quick and easy to make, followed directions as written. Thank you so much!
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I’m so glad you liked it, Peggy. It’s a favorite here, too. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. Coniption fit! Ha ha. Happens to be one of my own personal sayings. Delighted you had the metric conversion. Waterford, Ireland 🇮🇪
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I just made this and it is delicious!
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I’m so glad you liked it, Lynda!
Can I use any dried fruit?
Reply
I haven’t tried a lot of different dried fruits but can’t think of why you couldn’t try some. Let me know which ones work out for you!
Can I add pecans or walnuts along with raisin s?
Reply
I don’t see why not! They sound like yummy additions. Maybe just a handful, though, so you don’t need to adjust the other ingredients.
This is delicious! It is just sweet enough and has a nice dense, but not heavy, texture! I had to add a few extra splashes of buttermilk to get my dough/batter to come together. It was easy to make and I will make it again!
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I’m so glad you liked it!
Totally trying this! Timing is perfect. I am totally on an Irish Breakfast tea kick, AND I have fresh buttermilk in my fridge right now. Thanks for the recipe, for your hilarious newsletter yesterday (3/6/17), and for your amazing blog. The quality of your content, and your personality, humor, and professionalism bring me back every week. I’m a fan, Katie B!
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Thank you so much for the kind words, Erin!
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Combine cake mix and pudding mix in a large bowl. Beat in eggs, Irish cream liqueur, oil, and water with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Pour batter over nuts in the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour.
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.
Prepare the food: Irish tea cakes, Irish soda bread, Irish soda bread scones, Irish potato cookies, Irish shortbread, and Irish chocolate potato cake. Place all the food items on the serving table. Be sure to check that there are enough serving tools for each food item.
Teacakes are often larger and flatter with a slightly harder consistency, meaning they can be enjoyed with a range of condiments, including jams and marmalades. A Hot Cross Bun is softer, with more spices baked in, so is often just enjoyed with butter.
Irish cream is sweet, smooth, and creamy. It's slightly nutty and has notes of vanilla and chocolate. Of course, the Irish whiskey gives it hints of warmth and oakiness.
Good old Irish cream comes together with an easy-to-love blend of whiskey, cream, a sweetener, and flavorings like chocolate syrup and instant coffee powder. Sure, it's not top-level mixology, but it doesn't need to be — it's hard to deny the allure of a stiff, sweet, and creamy drink.
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.
The Tunnock's Teacake is a sweet food often served with a cup of tea or coffee. It was developed by Sir Boyd Tunnock in 1956. The product consists of a small round shortbread biscuit covered with a dome of Italian meringue, a whipped egg white concoction similar to marshmallow, although somewhat lighter in texture.
Although they are widely known, tea cakes have not always gone by this name. They are referred to as currant buns or spiced buns in some regions of the UK. Similar baked goods have different names in other nations.
Imported from English merchants, Irish tea was generally of cheaper quality so they added milk, sometimes as much as 1/3 of the cup, to cover up the taste. This, of course, meant that Irish tea had to be brewed stronger than its English counterpart, a custom which still endures.
Due to its strength, Irish breakfast tea is commonly served with milk, but may also be consumed black, with sugar or even with honey. Irish breakfast tea has a robust taste, and is red in colour. As dairy products are a major part of the Irish economy, most people drink tea with milk.
No one knows for certain when the tradition began, but in 16th century England, bakers were limited by law to occasions when these special doughs could be made. Good Friday was one; 'cross buns' marked this holy day towards the end of the Lenten fast.
A teacake in England is generally a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered. In the U.S. teacakes can be cookies or small cakes. In Sweden, they are soft, round, flat wheat breads made with milk and a little sugar, and used to make buttered ham or cheese sandwiches.
'Teacake' in England means a yeast raised sweetish bun with fruit, toasted and buttered and eaten with a cup of tea; in Scotland a teacake usually means the Tunnock's biscuit, marshmallow and chocolate delicacy.
To be a true Irish cream liqueur, a key component is the definition of cream – you must ONLY use Irish dairy cream. A true Irish cream is also made of whiskey. Wine or white spirits can make a liqueur – but do not come close to the original and best Irish cream liqueurs.
At first, it has a smooth flavor that resembles something sweet that you would have after dinner for dessert. Then, the Irish whiskey comes out and gives it a hint of spice. Adding sugar, cinnamon, and other ingredients can further limit this spiciness or bring it out even more.
Answers. Yes, the frosting has baileys in it, therefore this cake is not suitable for those looking for a non-alcoholic option. However, a great non-alcoholic alternative is our delicious double chocolate cake: https://jackandbeyond.com/products/do...
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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