These brown butter berry tea cakes are delicate miniature sponge cakes perfect for a tea party, bridal shower, Mother’s Day, or any gathering where you’re serving coffee or tea. The browned butter gives the batter its depth of flavor, which accents the juicy berry at the heart of the tea cake. If you enjoy madeleines, but crave something easier, try these!
What exactly is a tea cake? Turns out that question has many answers, depending on where you are in the world. For example, in England, it’s a yeasted bun made with dried fruit (similar to a hot cross bun), toasted and buttered and enjoyed at afternoon tea. And in the American South, tea cakes are more like a cake-like cookie. What are tea cakes like in your region?
My idea of a tea cake is a miniature sponge cake perfectly suited for serving at a tea party, like these almond poppy seed tea cakes. They’re like delicate little… cakelets.
Are These Just… Mini Muffins?
Sort of, but not really. Although we’re baking these tea cakes in a mini muffin pan, the texture is different from a muffin or a cupcake; they’re actually most similar to madeleines, but much easier to make! I compare them below.
Tell Me About These Little Treats
- Flavor: Browning the butter gives these a subtle nutty, caramelized flavor, complemented by almond flour, fresh lemon zest, and a sweet-tart berry. The treats are like small French financier cakes.
- Texture: Whipping egg whites to soft peaks gives these brown butter tea cakes their spongey, airy texture. They’re soft with a slightly chewy crust, similar to a madeleine, with a juicy burst of berry in the middle.
- Ease: Much easier than making pastry, and no icing or fancy decorating required! The trickiest bit is browning the butter, but I’ll walk you through it.
I tried a few berry options, but I like these brown butter tea cakes best with fresh raspberries and blackberries—one berry in the center of each little cake. Perfect!
Like Madeleines, But a Lot Easier
This recipe is a great introduction to making madeleines, because these tea cakes are reminiscent in taste and texture, but they don’t require the same level of precision.
- No super special pan: We’re baking these tea cakes in a mini muffin pan. This recipe yields 30-36 tea cakes, so it’s helpful to have 2 mini muffin pans, but you could certainly also just use 1 pan and bake in 2 batches. Though if you want to go fancy, this NordicWare tea cake plaque would be just the thing to impress your guests!
- No chill time: Unlike with madeleines, you don’t need to chill the batter.
- Less fussy: The brown butter tea cake batter is pretty forgiving. In regular sponge cakes (like angel food cake) and madeleines, we take great care to not deflate the egg whites, but in this recipe, it’s not quite as important. You could certainly sift the dry ingredients in, but the texture was still amazing without being so precise. Just use a mixer to combine the whipped egg whites with the rest of the ingredients.
You and I are breaking all the rules here… and we like it!!!
Grab these 10 ingredients:
The first step is to brown the butter. Have you ever done this before? It’s fairly simple, but if you’re new to browning butter, reviewing my How to Brown Butter page will be helpful.
Success Tip: How to Brown Butter
Brown butter is melted butter with an enhanced flavor brought on by gently cooking it, and it’s a staple ingredient in many French pastries. In less than 10 minutes, the butter melts, sizzles, foams… then transforms into a complex, nutty, caramelized-flavored ingredient. It’s liquid gold, and just as valuable to this recipe!
Make sure to stir constantly, and I recommend using a pan with a light interior, rather than a dark pan, so you can see the color change. The difference between brown butter and burnt butter is just a few seconds! I usually use my Le Creuset enameled cast iron fry pan and a silicone whisk for browning butter, but a stainless steel pan works well too. See Notes if you’re using a darker pan.
Step Photos: How to Make Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes
After browning the butter, separate 2 Tablespoons and use that to brush your mini muffin pan. (Extra brown butter flavor on the exterior, yum!) Let the remaining brown butter cool for 30 minutes. During that time, prepare the rest of the batter.
Whip egg whites into soft peaks:
Below left: Add all of the other ingredients (except vanilla extract and reserved brown butter) and beat on low speed to combine. Below right: Batter thins out when you beat in the butter and vanilla.
Spoon into greased muffin cups, about 2 teaspoons batter per tea cake, and then top with a berry:
When they’re done, the cakes should be golden brown around the edges. If there’s a hump in the middle, that’s completely normal—that’s actually what you want when you bake madeleines. Adding the berries on top reduces the rise, but if you leave out the berries, they will form a little dome while baking.
Serving Your Tea Cakes
These tea cakes don’t need much to dress them up, I just give them a little sugar shower! Use a fine mesh sieve or sifter to sprinkle a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. You could also drizzle some melted white or dark chocolate on top.
Don’t forget your coffee or tea! (Or champagne.)
Can I Make These in a Regular Muffin Pan?
Yes! This recipe yields about 10 tea cakes when baked in a standard-size muffin pan. See Notes for adapted instructions.
More Recipes Perfect for a Tea Party
See Your Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! 🙂
Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
- Yield: 30-36 mini cakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These brown butter berry tea cakes are delicate miniature sponge cakes. They’re similar to madeleines, but much easier to prepare! As instructed in step 1, be sure to cool the brown butter used for the batter until it’s no longer warm.
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons (140g) unsalted butter
- 4 large egg whites (140g), at room temperature
- 1 cup (105g) almond flour
- 2/3 cup (85g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (130g) fresh blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries (see note)
- optional: 1/4 cup (30g) confectioners’ sugar for dusting on top
Special Tools
Instructions
- Brown the butter: Set out a medium heat-proof bowl because you’ll need it at the end of this step. Slice the butter into Tablespoon-size pieces and place in a light-colored skillet or saucepan. A light-colored interior is crucial for determining when the butter begins to brown. (See Notes if using a dark skillet or pan.) Melt the butter over medium heat and stir or whisk constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Continue stirring/whisking, keeping a close eye on it. After about 5–7 minutes, the butter will begin browning and you’ll notice lightly browned specks forming at the bottom of the pan. The butter will have a nutty aroma. The color will gradually deepen, from yellow to golden to golden-brown; once it’s a light caramel-brown color, remove from heat immediately and pour into the bowl, including any brown solids that have formed on the bottom of the pan. Separate out 2 Tablespoons of brown butter—we’ll brush that in the muffin pans in step 2. Cool the remaining brown butter (about 1/2 cup) for 30 minutes in the refrigerator, or until room temperature and no longer warm. Don’t cool longer than that because the butter will begin to solidify.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Using a pastry brush, brush the cups of a 24-count mini muffin pan with the 2 Tablespoons of browned butter. This recipe yields 30–36 tea cakes, so grease a 2nd pan or bake the batter in batches. If using mini muffin liners, brush the liners with the brown butter.
- Make the tea cakes: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on high speed in a large bowl until soft peaks form, about 2–3 minutes. Add the almond flour, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Beat on low speed until combined and don’t worry that the egg whites deflate, you’ll still taste their fluffy goodness in the cakes! Mixture will be sticky, lumpy, and thick. Pour in the vanilla extract and cooled brown butter and beat on low speed until combined.
- Spoon 2 teaspoons of batter into each greased muffin cup. Lightly poke a berry into the center of each. No need to submerge the berry, just stick it on top.
- Bake for 14–16 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing. Tea cakes will slightly deflate as they cool.
- If desired, lightly sift confectioners’ sugar on warm or cooled tea cakes before serving.
- Tea cakes are best enjoyed the day they are made. Store leftover tea cakes covered lightly at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked and cooled tea cakes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on the counter before dusting with confectioners’ sugar and serving.
- Using a regular 12-count muffin pan: Makes 10 tea cakes. Use a scant 2 Tablespoons of batter per tea cake and 2 berries on top. Extend the bake time to 18–21 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Browning butter in a darker skillet/pan: I recommend using a light-colored skillet or large pot when browning butter so you can see when the butter is browned. (It’s only a few quick seconds between brown butter and burnt butter.) If you only have dark cookware, I suggest setting a timer, and checking the color by spooning some butter into a glass bowl to determine if it has browned. Check it at the 5-minute mark, then every minute after. Don’t let it cook longer than 8 minutes.
- Almond flour: Almond flour is finely ground blanched almonds. You could also use almond meal, which is coarser. You can make your own almond flour, but be very careful because almonds can quickly release their oils, clump up, and turn into almond butter. It might be easier to just pick up a bag of fine almond flour. It’s common in grocery stores these days—I use and love Bob’s Red Mill brand.
- Can I make these without almond flour? We weren’t able to successfully make these without almond flour without the texture completely changing. Instead, I recommend making these almond poppy seed tea cakes. You can leave out the almond extract and poppy seeds, if needed/desired, and pop a berry into the tops before baking like you do with today’s recipe. See Notes in that recipe for using a mini muffin pan.
- Berries: You can use frozen berries instead of fresh, but be sure to thaw them first. I recommend blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries. You need 30–36 individual berries. If your blueberries are small, use 2 per tea cake.
Keywords: brown butter berry tea cakes
Wondering if this recipe would be good with orange zest instead of lemon. Anyone tried it?
I loved how simple this recipe is! I want to make it again with all almond flour. Just make sure not to overfill the pans so you don’t get little “tops” on them. 🙂
★★★★★
These turned out so delicious! They’re perfectly sweet & tang because of the lemon zest and berries and that little crunch on the outside is to die for.
Definitely heed Sally’s advice about not pushing the berries down though! I didn’t think I pushed mine down too much but a lot of them stuck to the bottom of the pan and didn’t come out very pretty (still tasty though!). Just place them on top – they’ll sink down when baking.
★★★★
Immediate family favorite and I appreciated something delicious that was relatively easy!
★★★★★
Easy to make and very tasty. I used small, halved strawberries that came out looking like hearts.
★★★★★
These were delicious! We made them gluten free for a dinner guest by simply replacing the all purpose flour with a gluten-free blend and it worked out great! Also, since we have some no-fruit-in-dessert people in our house, we made some with white chocolate chips instead of raspberries. Those were good, but the consensus was that the raspberries were better. Thanks for a great recipe that we’ll make again.
★★★★★
Not too difficult, and very tasty! I love the contrast between the sweet cake and the tart raspberry. I used a splash of almond extract along with the vanilla extract for extra-rich flavor.
★★★★★
This recipe was easy to make, simple to put together yet elegant! I made with raspberries for Mother’s Day as a little gift and was very happy with the results!
★★★★★
These were the best!! My whole family loved them on Mother’s Day.
I have mini Madeleine pans, do you think I could make them in that?? I am hosting a beach party and thought it would look like a shell. Do you think the pan would work?
★★★★★
Hi MaryJo, We are so happy you enjoyed them! We have not tested them in that particular pan but let us know if you give it a try!
Simple and delicious!!
★★★★★
Wonderful recipe and quite simple! We made these for a Mother’s Day Tea this year and they were fantastic. We used a regular muffin tin and 3 blueberries in each muffin, which made it look like a heart. I also added extra lemon zest because we love lemon. The only thing was that the muffins seemed to be done before the 18 minute mark. The texture and flavor of these muffins was fantastic!
★★★★★
I thought this was an amazing and easy recipie! I would definitaly do this recipie again. It was so light, fluffy and it tasted delicious! Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
These are sooo delicious and very simple to make! I think they would even be great without the berries, but I used raspberries and they are delicious. Light and perfectly sweetened.
★★★★★
These are delicious and easy to make. I made the mistake of leaving out, by accident, the flour in my first batch this morning, something I’m sure everyone has done at some point , so I decided to make the recipe again, this time, making sure all ingredients were in there, I am so glad i did, these are a new favorite of mine, will make them again when my raspberries are ripe.
Delicious – think the lemon zest added something to it. Was easy and I brought to a neighborhood gathering and they were a big hit. Can’t wait to try with some other fruit fillings.
★★★★★
Loved these. Very buttery & a great compliment to Mothers Day.
Looking forward to next months challenge.
I thought the taste was rather bland and they were heavy (I probably overworked the batter – however, I only used a mixer for the egg whites).
★★★
This recipe was simple yet delicious! I didn’t have any berries so I filled with jams and jellies!
Get these away from me before I eat them all. Holy cow! Easy to make and an instant hit – made some with raspberries and some with gooseberries, which provided the perfect hint of tartness to balance the sweet cake.
★★★★★
These were quick, easy to make, and delicious! Bonus if you make them on Mother’s Day, you don’t have to do any of the clean up
This was such a simple recipe! I enjoyed making them and selling them at a Mother’s Day bake sale. Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
This recipe was perfect! I think everything is better with brown butter, and this was no exception. I loved that it was a quick recipe for a same day dessert on Mother’s Day, and it went perfectly with a cup of coffee in the morning. I also liked that it was easy to halve the recipe so that it was just the right amount for our family. And it’s ingredients I almost have on hand, so it can be a last minute dessert option to keep in mind. All the things that make a perfect recipe. Happy Mother’s Day to you Sally, your team and all the other Mamas who make this community so great!
★★★★★
These are so good! I didn’t have a mini cupcake pan, so I used standard size and it made 12. I used blueberries and they taste like a lighter blueberry muffin. I think raspberries would be a great sweet/tart combo.
★★★★★
Delicious flavor and so easy to put together.
★★★★★
These are sooooo yummy! My husband and I are totally addicted. They’re the perfect balance of buttery and sweet & the raspberries add just the right amount of tartness. Absolutely will be making again!
★★★★★
These were pretty easy and my family really enjoyed them. I’ll be making them again
★★★★★
Delicious! And a super easy recipe to follow – blackberry ended up my favorite! Freezing half, and I can’t wait to pull some out and have them all over again!!
★★★★★
This recipe required a few steps, but outside of needing to source the almond flour, it was relatively easy and turned out great. Thanks Sally and team!
★★★★★
Perfect recipe for a quick sweet treat!
★★★★★
These were simple and delicious! A great summer sweet treat! I used raspberries and can’t wait to try blackberries next
★★★★★
Such an easy, yet fancy looking dessert! These little cakes are delicious.
★★★★★