As a professional baker—and therefore my friend group’s designated dessert-bringer—I constantly search for trendy, seasonal recipes for get-togethers. This summer, I’ve run through a checklist of the expected: berry galettes, lemon possets and all kinds of strawberry desserts. Recently, though, Carla Hall’s recipe for sweet tea lemonade snack cake came across my desk. I had this “aha!” moment right there; never in my life had I thought to bake with sweet tea or lemonade—two drinks that just scream summer.
I sat down with Carla to get the scoop behind the summery dessert. She partnered with Milo’s Tea for the brand’s Tastes Like Memories campaign. For Carla, this cake was an ode to her grandmother. “I feel so connected when I have lemonade sweet tea because my grandmother made the sweet tea for all of our holiday gatherings,” says Carla.
Once I saw how much sweet tea and lemonade went into this cake—and all the creative ways Carla infused the two—I knew this was a passion project for her. I tried it myself and brought it to a late-summer craft night with my friends. The shareable, casual cake made me wish summer was starting all over again.
How to Make Carla Hall’s Sweet Tea Lemonade Snack Cake
Valerie Goodrich For Taste Of Home
The type of cake we’re making here is a butter cake, so you’ll start by creaming the butter and sugar with lemon zest and vanilla. Beat in eggs so the cake has something to bind everything together.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, leavening agents and salt. In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the sweet tea and lemonade. Carla swears by Milo’s Famous Sweet Tea for its three simple ingredients: tea, water and cane sugar, so that’s what I used for my cake.
Now, alternate between adding the flour mixture and the liquid mixture to the egg mixture, beating between additions. I always like to start and end with the flour mixture for the most stable and strong cake.
Finally, bake the cake in a greased and lined 9-inch square pan in a 350°F oven until a toothpick comes out clean, 28 to 32 minutes.
While the cake bakes, you’ll make the syrup. Simmer the syrup’s sweet tea measurement with the sugar. You want to cook this down in a saucepan until the liquid reduces by about half, so the flavor becomes very pronounced and the texture turns into something similar to simple syrup. It took me longer than expected to do this, but after about 20 minutes, mine finally reduced to a 1/2 cup.
Remove the cake from the oven and, while it’s still warm, poke holes all over the top with a skewer or a fork. Spoon the syrup all over the poked cake.
Finally, as the cake cools, make the glaze. Just like you did for the syrup, you’ll cook down the glaze’s lemonade measurement just until it measures 2 tablespoons. It really makes the lemon flavor pop! Mix it with the confectioners’ sugar, a little sweet tea and a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness. Once the cake has cooled completely to room temperature, pour the glaze all over the top.
How did it taste?
Valerie Goodrich For Taste Of Home
I was delighted by this sweet tea lemonade snack cake. It reminded me of summers growing up, where I’d ride bikes with friends and stop at 7-Eleven around high noon to cool down with lemonade iced teas. I hadn’t thought of that in years.
Although the snacking cake was a bit more time-consuming than most, I loved all the smart ways Carla infused the sweet tea and lemonade throughout. I was worried that the drinks would be too lightly flavored and get lost in the cake, but concentrating the liquids and using them in each of the cake’s three components made them truly stand out. I made sure to buy Milo’s Famous Sweet Tea, but my store didn’t carry the brand’s lemonade. Simply Lemonade worked just fine in its place.
I toted the snacking cake to craft night and brought home zero leftovers. As summer winds down, I have time to bake one more batch before I inevitably retire the recipe for fall desserts. Next summer, though, I’m not waiting until the end of the season to bake another.
Would you try this cake? Let us know in the comments below!
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Dining and Cooking