Paleo Victorian Sponge Tea Cakes ~ gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free

My Love for tea started when I was a young girl and I thought every proper young lady should drink tea in a tea cup with a beautiful teapot and what goes better with tea than Tea cakes!

My favorite tea when I was a little girl was peppermint and I would insist only peppermint! I would stay up late at night and read my romantic mystery books while sipping my favorite peppermint tea. My Tea palette has grown since then and I now embrace all types of tea, From black, green, red, to white tea.

And now I even have a etsy site where I sale my hand blended tea’s

KitsuneTea.etsy.com

I also have quite the obsession with tea parties I find the act of drinking tea and attending tea parties to be elegant and lady like in a fun and delicious way that appeals to my inner Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse and I’ve had the pleasure of catering a few tea parties myself including a Christmas tea party just this last year.

These adorable little tea cakes are my paleo version of a Victorian sponge cake which is traditionally served at an afternoon tea party.

The duchess of bedford is credited with turning afternoon tea in England into a late-afternoon meal.

Traditionally loose leaf tea was served with milk and sugar.

Sandwiches, scones, and sweets such as tea cakes where served to accompany the tea.

These paleo tea cakes are perfect for a birthday party or for afternoon tea with the girls.

They are moist! sponge cake made with coconut flour, a strawberry coconut cream icing and topped with a fresh strawberry for garnish.

&

These perfect little cake bites go absolutely marvelous with orange blossom white tea.

 

Victorian Sponge Tea Cakes:

Makes: about 16 ~ 20 tea cakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp fleur de sel or sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup olive oil  or coconut oil (or oil of your choice)
1/4 cup ghee (if you do not want to use ghee than you can use 1/2 cup oil instead)
1/2 cup Local honey or maple syrup
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease a large rectangle pan (I used a glass one) and cut out and place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom.

Combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda in a glass bowl mix them together a bit.

Crack all six eggs in a separate small bowl first (this is called the quarantine method) so you don’t have to go searching for egg shells in you mixer.

In the bowl, of a stand mixer cream the ghee and oil with the paddle attachment on medium speed for a 3-5 mins to incorporate air, then add the honey, beat on medium~low speed until combined thoroughly.

Add eggs 2 at a time mixing on low ~ medium speed making sure they combine thoroughly before adding the next 2, once all the eggs are mixed in add the vanilla extract.

Now pour the dry ingredients in to the wet and mix on low speed until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan scraping everything out of the mixing bowl with a spatula and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool completely.

 

Strawberry Coconut Frosting

Makes: about 1 1/2 Cups

Ingredients: 

1 (13-ounce) can coconut milk 
1/2 cup organic palm shortening.
3 tablespoon local honey (using local honey can help allergies)
2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
20~26 strawberries (washed and tops cut off) (depending on how many cakes your making)

Instructions: 

Cut the tops off of 5-6 strawberries and chop them in to quarters. 

Heat the strawberries, 2 tbsp of the honey and 1 tsp of the vanilla extract in a small saute pan on the stove top on low~medium heat until the strawberries are soft, but not cooked through all the way and be careful not to burn them!

Place the semi cooked strawberries in a food processor and chop until smooth about 3~5 mins (there might be bit’s of strawberry still but that’s OK.)

With a spatula scoop out the strawberry puree and place in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool. (make sure it is completely cool before you move on)

 

~Also make sure to refrigerate the can of coconut milk at least 24 hours before making the frosting, so the coconut milk separates from the fat.~

Take the coconut milk out of the refrigerator and remove the lid, the top half of the can should be the coconut cream and the bottom half should be the liquid coconut milk.

Scoop out the coconut cream and try not to get any of the coconut milk, save the coconut milk for another use by wrapping the can with press and seal and putting it back in the refrigerator.

Put the coconut cream and palm shortening in a glass bowl and using a hand blender or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip the fats until fluffy and smooth about 1~2 mins.

Next whip in the last 1 tbsp of the honey, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Add the cooled strawberry puree (if it’s warm it could melt everything.) and whip until combined.

 Assembly: 

• You will need a small circle cutter (This is the set i have and i used the tiny biscuit cutter)
• 1 piping bag
• A  1M wilton  decorating tip or one of a similar size.

Using the tiny cutter cut out little circles of cake and stack them off to the side on a plate until you have all the circles you need.

Place the decorating tip in the piping bag and cut the end of the piping bag until it fits the tip well with out it falling out.

Place the piping bag in a mason jar or drinking glass and fold the edges of the bag over the rim of the jar/glass. (this keeps the bag in place while you fill it)

Scoop the frosting into the pipping bag, pull up the edges of the bag and twist the top to secure so you can begin piping.

Place the first layer’s of cake circles on your serving plate and pipe little circles of frosting on top of all the first layer’s, place the second layer of cake on top of the frosting and then pipe another little circle of frosting on the top of this cake layer and then add strawberry garnishes to complete your cakes. (I picked out the smallest strawberries I could find to make good toppers for the tea cakes.)

 Enjoy eating your yummy tea cakes with some tea and friends!