Of all Lottie’s handwritten recipes from 1912 that I’ve tried so far, this has been the most difficult. I didn’t recognise it, I couldn’t find any similar recipes with such a title and my first few attempts at making it were disastrous… but it was worth persevering, because Lottie’s “German Tea Cakes” turned out to be pretty yummy! Moreover, hopefully I’ve done all of the hard work now – so you won’t find this one to be quite so tricky.
I think I’ve said before that I am no food historian (I could tell you much more about old buildings!), so if you know anything about this recipe then I would love to hear from you. A friend of mine, whose family comes from Germany, suggested that Lottie’s “German Tea Cakes” might be a type of “Hefeteilchen” – “which is normally a sweet, enriched dough with some form of fruit, jam or custard, either inside or on top”.
Similar recipes that I’ve come across have been for “Hefezopf” and “Buchteln”. “Hefezopf” are sweet breads which are often braided and usually served at Easter, while “Buchteln” are pull-apart style sweet rolls filled with jam and dusted with sugar. I clearly need to do some more research into Lottie’s “German Tea Cakes”, but they’ve already taken up several weekends, so I think we’ll just have to enjoy eating them for now and I’ll revisit the history later!
Before we go any further, I should note that I haven’t been able to make this recipe successfully without the use of an electric mixer and dough hooks. This probably says more about my ability to knead than anything else, but you have been warned! Read on for Lottie’s instructions and my advice for following them for yourself.
“German Tea Cakes”
Ingred:-
1 lb risen dough, 1 egg, 2 ozs fine sugar, 3 ozs butter, & a little jam :-
Preparation & Cooking
Put the dough into a large basin, add the sugar & beaten egg. Slightly warm the butter before putting it in :-
Knead these ingredients in. Flour a board & rolling pin, make into a large cake about an inch thick and cut into small round cakes with a glass, bake on greased tins in a hot oven, cut the cakes open while hot, spread a little raspberry jam between, put together again & dust over with caster sugar
Through trial and error, I have settled on making the dough by combing 500g flour with 1 tsp salt and 7g sachet instant dried yeast. I then make a well in the centre, add 300ml milk and mix together. I knead this on a floured surface for around ten minutes or until the dough is smooth. The dough then gets placed in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with cling film and left to rise for one hour or until it has doubled in size.
This is where the electric mixer comes in! I add the sugar, egg and butter to the risen dough, just like Lottie says, but I allow the dough hooks to do the kneading. This can take quite a while, but don’t panic – it will all combine eventually and start coming away from the sides of the bowl. You can then roll out and cut with a glass, as Lottie directs, or cheat by using a knife or a cookie cutter.
Once the cakes are on greased tins, I cover them loosely with oiled cling film (or a clean tea towel) and allow them to prove for an hour. I then heat the oven to Gas Mark 7 / 425°F / 220°C and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. I would definitely recommend Lottie’s suggestion of serving “German Tea Cakes” warm with raspberry jam and a dusting of sugar – it’s delicious! However, I have also enjoyed them cold.
Would you like to try making these “German Tea Cakes”? Do you think you could do all the kneading by hand? I think Lottie must have had pretty toned arms back in 1912!
Please do let me know if you recognise anything about this recipe or if you try it out – I’d love to hear from you.
Katie
Hearthside Stories 
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