tea-cake

Noun

teacake (plural teacakes)

1. (Ireland, Southern-England, UK) A flat, round bread bun, usually containing currants, sultanas or peel and often served toasted and buttered with tea.
   • Molly poured from the teapot and Judith drank the strong hot tea and ate the buttered teacakes.2008 December 11, Rosamunde Pilcher, Coming Home, Hachette UK, →ISBN
2. (Cumbria, Northern England, Lancashire and West Yorkshire) A bread roll without fruit; a barm.
   • ... in Yorkshire and Lancashire mill-workers largely use the plain teacake as a convenient form of bread to be consumed at the meals which they carry with them to eat during the day when living far from their work.1917, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, The Parliamentary Debates (Official Report): House of Commons
3. (Ireland, Scotland, UK) A snack consisting of shortbread or wafer topped with meringue or marshmallow, coated in chocolate.
   • Sometimes there was a Tunnock's wafer or (bastard) a chocolate marshmallow teacake in its red-and-silver foil.2005 October 6, Nigel Slater, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, Penguin, →ISBN
4. (Southern US, US, especially) A traditional type of dense, large cookie, typically hard-baked, not particularly sweet, and with few extra fillings.
   • He turned to get her attention then, but I didn't hear what he said because that was when Celeste asked me if a teacake was an American madeleine. And I said not really because it was really a very plain, not very sweet soft cookie, whereas a madeleine was very sweet like a down-home muffin and was...2007 December 18, Albert Murray, The Magic Keys, Vintage, →ISBN
5. (US) A small delicate cake or pastry; a petit four.
   • Madeleines: These buttery French teacakes, something between a sponge cake and a butter cake in texture, are traditionally baked in scallop-shaped madeleine molds, but you can use miniature muffin pans or small tartlet pans in any shape.2002 September 10, Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, Joy of Cooking: All About Cookies, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 120
6. (Australia) A sweet cake similar to pound cake, sometimes sprinkled with cinnamon and caster sugar, often served warm.
   • Teacakes in Australia are actually pound cakes, sometimes sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and so called just because they are eaten at teatime.2007 11, Corby Kummer, Andrews McMeel Publishing,LLC, 1001 Foods To Die For, Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, page 881

See all 9 meanings of teacake