Soft, cake-like tea cakes are topped with a rich lime cream cheese glaze for the best little dessert or snack bite!
Tea + cake! In other words, little soft, cake-like cookies that are mini-sized, covered with frosting, and so tiny you can eat several without any guilt.
There are several versions of tea cakes out there and this version you see today is most reminiscent of southern-style tea cakes. This means we’ve got a soft almost sugar cookie-like texture only just a touch lighter and fluffier with lots of buttery flavor.
And did I mention lime cream cheese glaze? I mean, C’MON.
The dough for these cakes is a pretty standard cookie dough that can be mixed up both in a stand mixer or by hand. Super simple ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, eggs, etc. Nothing fancy happening here today!
Just a little bit of dessert magic, that’s all.
These Cakes feature…
- A soft and light texture
- Lots of lime flavor in both the cakes and the cream cheese glaze
- An easy dough that comes together in minutes
Making the Tea Cakes
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Lime zest
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- 2% or skim milk
Tips for Perfect Tea Cakes
- Cream butter and sugar together – make sure your butter is softened to room-temperature and cream well with the sugar several minutes until completely smooth.
- Bring egg to room temperature – this will help mix the egg cohesively into the butter.
- Use a stand mixer or mix dough by hand – this recipe is both mixer-friendly and bowl-and-spoon friendly.
- Spoon and level flour – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Chill dough – chilling the dough for about 2 hours before baking will prevent the cakes from excessive spreading.
- Bake cakes at 325F – this lower temperature will help the cakes bake up soft and fluffy.
- Allow cakes to cool before glazing – if you try to glaze the cookies while they’re still warm the glaze will melt off.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on this recipe.
- Try another citrus – replace the lime with lemon, orange, or grapefruit zest.
- Skip the glaze – drizzle tea cakes with caramel or melted chocolate instead.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
Allow cakes to cool completely, then frost and store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 4 days. For best results, I recommend bringing cakes to room temperature before serving.
To freeze cakes, allow to cool completely, then wrap well and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw cakes completely at room temperature and top with glaze just before serving.
Be warned, friends, it’s WAY too easy to accidentally demolish at least 2 or 10 of these cakes in one sitting! The soft, buttery cookie base with that dreamy lime cream cheese glaze swirled into every bite is a thing of magic.
You’ve been warned, keep these far out of reach.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
More cookie favorites to try next!
Tea Cakes With Lime Cream Cheese Glaze
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Ingredients
Tea Cakes
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Lime Cream Cheese Glaze
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated lime zest
- 1-2 tablespoons 2% or skim milk
- Additional grated lime zest for garnish
Instructions
Tea Cakes
- Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment OR in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Mix on medium speed or by hand until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, vanilla, and lime zest beating well until smooth.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold into butter mixture until dough is just combined.
- Scrape dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough 2 hours or up to 4 days.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325F and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a 4-inch round cookie cutter to cut out tea cakes and place 1-inch apart on prepared sheet pans.
- Bake tea cakes at 325F 8-10 minutes until cookies are puffy and edges are a very light golden brown. Allow tea cakes to cool 10 minutes on sheet pan then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Lime Cream Cheese Glaze
- Place cream cheese in a medium bowl and use a handheld electric mixer to beat until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, lime zest, and just enough milk to give glaze a drizzling consistency.
- Spoon glaze over cooled tea cakes and garnish with additional lime zest. Allow to set 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 7/10/25.
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