This wonderful recipe for Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares is a vintage recipe taken from the Farmers Weekly magazine circa 1920.
A Fabulous Vintage Recipe for the School (Office) Lunchbox
This recipe for Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares is a vintage recipe taken from the Farmers Weekly newspaper/magazine circa 1920. It’s a really wonderful recipe which is easy to make, and which makes a lovely sweet addition to the school (or office) lunchbox.
Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares is a recipe which uses very few ingredients and yet the light, buttery and warmly spiced crumb is packed with dried fruit. It’s baked in a baking tray, and is cut into squares once it’s cooled. Perfect with a cup of tea, and for a more decadent touch, is simply divine when buttered.
What’s in a Name?
So, what’s in a name? What exactly is a Tea Cake? Tea Cakes can mean so many things in the recipe canon, from yeasted buns to tea loaves and of course cakes that are served at tea time. Then, there’s the Tea Cakes and Breads that are made with hot tea, as in the dried fruit is soaked in tea before being set aside overnight.
I usually associate Tea Cakes with the yeasted fruit buns, beloved of all tea rooms and “caffs” in the UK, which are nearly always toasted and buttered, and served with a pot of tea of course. I suspect today’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares, as originally shared, was exactly that, a cake that is served for TEA, as in tea time.
But back to today’s recipe, this recipe is rather strange, insofar as the butter to flour ration is the same. It’s a “rubbed in cake” method, where the fat is rubbed into the flour, but, the fat to flour is exactly the same, which is unusual in cake making.
By adding the equal amounts of butter to flour, the result is a fabulously buttery, crumbly and soft cake, with a meltingly soft crumb. However, it IS hard to rub in, and it gets very messy! So my advice is to dip your fingers into extra flour to stop them becoming too sticky, or, have a bowl of warm soapy water handy to wash them.
Baking Notes and Substitutions:
- In place of the mixed dried fruit, use currants, raisins or sultanas.
- Add chopped mixed peel to the mixture and orange zest for a fruity version.
- Omit the spice and add vanilla extract to the beaten egg.
- Use white granulated sugar or white caster sugar in place of golden caster sugar.
- Vegan version: Use plant based margarine in place of butter, as well as oat milk. Omit the egg and add 1 to 2 teaspoons baking powder to the SR flour.
- This is the original recipe as seen in the old vintage cookbook, see image below. (Please note, my updated recipe with spice and mixed fruit is AT THE END of this post)
More TEA CAKES and TEA BREAD Recipes
- Yorkshire Teacakes Recipe
- Manor House Cake
- VE Day Condensed Milk Cake
- Traditional “Bara Brith” Tea Loaf
Yorkshire Tea Cakes 
Manor House Cake 
Condensed Milk Cake 
Bara Brith Tea Loaf
- Hikers’ Walnut Bread
- Farmhouse “Teacup” Spiced Fruit Loaf Recipe
- Sticky Ginger Marmalade Tea Loaf Recipe
- Old-Fashioned Granny Loaf (Egg-Free and Fat-Free) Recipe
Hikers’ Walnut Bread 
Farmhouse “Tea Cup” Fruit Loaf 
Sticky Ginger Marmalade Tea Loaf Recipe 
Old-Fashioned Granny Loaf (Egg-Free and Fat-Free) Recipe
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Step-by-Step Process Slideshow
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, and add the salt. Rub in the butter 
Add the sugar 
Add the mixed spice, mix well, before adding the dried fruit. 
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. 
Remove from the oven 
Cut into squares when the cake is cold. I sometimes sprinkle caster sugar over the cake as a finishing touch. 
Perfect with a cup of tea
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Recipe for Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares
Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares
This recipe for Old-Fashioned Tea Cake Squares is a vintage recipe taken from the Farmers Weekly magazine circa 1920.
It's a really wonderful recipe which is easy to make, and which makes a lovely sweet addition to the school (or office) lunchbox.
It’s a recipe which uses very few ingredients and yet the light, buttery and warmly spiced crumb is packed with dried fruit.
It’s baked in a baking tray, and is cut into squares once it’s cooled. Perfect with a cup of tea, and for a more decadent touch, is simply divine when buttered.
Ingredients
- 115g SR Flour
- Pinch of salt
- 115g Butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Mixed Spice
- 115g Golden Caster Sugar
- 75g Mixed Dried Fruit
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
- Milk, to mix
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200C/180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6. Grease and line a square baking tray, 8" x 8" (20cms x 20cms)
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, and add the salt.
- Rub in the butter, as the butter is an equal amount to the flour, you may need to dip your fingers into extra flour to stop them becoming too sticky! Or, have a bowl of warm soapy water handy to wash them.
- Add the sugar and the mixed spice, mix well, before adding the dried fruit. Mix again.
- Add the beaten egg and mix well, adding milk to make a soft, droppable consistency - the mixture should just drop off a wooden spoon.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for a further 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cut into squares when the cake is cold. I sometimes sprinkle caster sugar over the cake as a finishing touch.
- Serve plain or buttered.
Notes
This is the original recipe as seen in the old vintage cookbook:
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 squares Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 172Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 38mgSodium 91mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 1gSugar 13gProtein 2g
Mary says
A lovely fruity square to enjoy with a pot of tea! Is it cake-like or scone-like.? You mentioned you liked it spread with butter.
I found it interesting to see the measurements written in ‘grams’ as a first choice or even at all It sent me to look at recipes in some of my really old recipe books but none had them in grams. Very forward thinking for the time.
Thankyou Karen. :))
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you Mary.
The recipe is shared in lbs and ozs in its original form in an earlier cookbook I have – but cannot find it after our last house move!! However, this is from a later edition of the Farmers Weekly recipe collections, that I bought from the National Trust a few years ago.
The texture is like a soft cake, with a soft buttery crumb.
Hope that helps.
Karen 🙂
Louisa Rodrigues says
Must try! Thank you for sharing!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Louisa, I hope you enjoy them. Karen
Roberta Field says
Thank you for the lovely recipe, I made these last week and they were lovely and very moreish!
Karen Burns-Booth says
THANKS so much for letting me know!
Sandhya S says
A lovely Fruit cake to enjoy at TeaTime. Love the recipe!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you again 🙂
Sandhya S says
A lovely Fruit Cake to enjoy at Tea Time. Love old-fashioned recipes – they are always so delicious.
Karen Burns-Booth says
The old recipes are always the best sometimes!
Kate says
Oh what a gorgeous, old-fashioned treat – I’d take this over a buttercream-piled cupcake any day! And every time I visit your blog I covet your beautiful crockery collection.. so, so pretty!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Kate, they are so easy to make and taste lovely! I am the same about the overload of buttercream too. Karen
Chloe Edges says
Such a cute and easy twist on a classic!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Chloe! 🙂
Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes says
Thanks for sharing, these tea cake squares look lovely 🙂
Karen Burns-Booth says
These fruit squares are great for picnics too!
Yolande says
Made this recipe today at my workplace in a residential home.
I made it with the creaming method not the rubbing in one.
It was soft, moist and everything a cake should be.
A definite winning recipe from a chefs point if view:)
You really can’t beat the old fashioned recipes.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks for letting me know Yolande, and I’m so pleased to hear that this was a winner. Karen
Wendy Partridge says
Have made the tea cake squares twice now and really enjoy them also the condensed milk cake which is delicious toasted. Thank you so much for sharing these recipes.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks for letting me knw Wendy – that’s made my day! Karen