These almond poppy seed tea cakes are buttery and light with a crunchy crackly exterior. Baked in a muffin pan, the delicate tea cakes are simple, but they taste fancy and are perfect for a tea party. For a little something extra, drizzle each cake with lemon almond icing.
Almond tea cakes are often lumped into the muffins or cupcakes category, but they’re entirely unique with their own identity. Muffins and cupcakes typically have a soft texture throughout, but tea cakes boast a lovely crisp exterior with tender centers. In fact, one might argue that muffins and cupcakes pale in comparison.
Let me introduce you to almond poppy seed tea cakes. I had the pleasure of working with America’s Test Kitchen when I promoted their cookbook The Perfect Cake and shared their delicious recipe for Boston cream pie. This cookbook continues to be a reliable source of inspiration, and their intriguing lavender tea cakes became the starting point for this recipe. There’s a few modifications: I reduced the sugar and salt, used sour cream, added poppy seeds, and chose almond and vanilla as the primary flavors.
Almond Poppy Seed Tea Cakes Details
- Texture: These almond poppy seed tea cakes are more than meets the eye. Their crunchy crackly coating belies the light, fluffy cake inside. It’s an unexpected yet pleasant texture surprise!
- Flavor: You’ll enjoy sweet almond flavor and the topping is a light lemon almond glaze. What a combo! If you enjoy almond extract in desserts, you might like these cherry almond shortbread cookies too.
- Ease: Nothing too tricky here. Bake the cakes, let them cool, then add a drizzle of icing. You can also freeze the baked tea cakes. See recipe below for more details.
- Time: You’ll be enjoying these homemade tea cakes in under an hour. Set aside about 15 minutes for prep and another 15 for baking. Cool for a bit, then drizzle with the lemon icing. This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
Here’s what my team and I learned as we tested and baked this recipe.
- Filling the pan: Too much batter causes the tea cakes to overflow and spread all over the pan. Divide the batter between all 12 cups, so each is only about halfway full. Though the tea cakes will slightly rise in the very center of the surface, there isn’t enough flour in the recipe to create substantial muffin-like domes.
- The crunchy exterior: Use 1/2 cup of butter in the recipe: 6 Tablespoons for the tea cake batter and 2 Tablespoons for the exteriors. Using a pastry brush, brush a mixture of melted butter and sugar into each cup before adding the batter. Don’t be shy with the butter mixture—use every last drop because you want a noticeable buttery crunchy coating on each cake.
- Cupcake liners: You *could* use cupcake liners, but they defeat the purpose of greasing and sugaring the pan. And then you *could* grease and sugar the cupcake liners, but the crunchy sugar coating will peel off as you unwrap the tea cake. Trust us: brushing the pan with a butter + sugar mixture is key to the unique taste and texture!
- Finishing touch: Finish the almond poppy seed tea cakes with a light glaze. You need nothing more than a squeeze of lemon juice, some almond extract, and confectioners’ sugar. Feel free to swap lemon juice for milk or use vanilla icing instead.
Interested in mini bite-sized almond tea cakes? Use a mini muffin pan and see the recipe note below for details. Or if you want to try other flavors, don’t miss my brown butter berry tea cakes.
What to Serve at a Tea Party
- Madeleines
- Mini Cheesecakes or Mini No-Bake Cheesecakes
- French Macarons
- Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti
- Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Choux Pastry Cream Puffs (Pâte à Choux)
- Mini Fruit Galettes
- Glazed Orange Poppy Seed Bars
- Mille-Feuille
