The Old School Cake From The '70s That Deserves A Major Comeback

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Chuck Taylors and vintage denim are dominating the fashion scene in 2025, but decade hits aren't just influencing what we wear these days. Throwbacks are inspiring food, too. Depression-era crazy cake is coming back into style, and people are starting to put stuff in molded Jell-O again, like they did in the '50s — let's skip the jellied potato salad this time around, shall we? The 1970s are showing up for dessert, inspiring all sorts of old school delights that your grandma probably used to make. And among the list of bundts, cobblers, and upside-down cakes are sweet, bite-sized treats known as almond tea cakes.

Almond tea cakes are like a cross between a miniature pound cake and a French financier. They have a history that crosses cultures, starting as the name suggests, as a treat with afternoon tea. But one of these snackable cakes is satisfying any time of day. You'll sometimes see them at your local coffee shop — small, round pastries dusted with powdered sugar and flavored, of course, with almond. Sometimes they'll be garnished with a toasted almond on top or filled with jams and jellies, other kinds of nuts, and berries.

Almond tea cakes are so easy to make, it leaves us to wonder why they haven't yet stolen the spotlight in 2025. With an hour and 10 ingredients or less, you can make a traditional batch of 30 dainty, light, and very sweet almond tea perfect for after-dinner treats. Freeze the leftovers for impromptu entertaining, morning coffee, and midnight snacking. While they're traditionally made to be bite-sized and almond-forward, you can change up the flavors and the sizes of these cakes — like making a single, oversized almond tea cake to slice up in lieu of a regular birthday cake.

You don't have to do any baking to get almond tea cakes, though. If you don't want to turn on the oven, you can buy a box of Twin Dragon Almond Cookies on Amazon, or go to the nearest Walmart — and if you're gluten-free, keep an eye out for Biscuiterie de Provence's gluten-free almond tea cakes in supermarkets, too. Pop your store-bought almond tea cakes in the microwave or oven to warm for a few minutes, dust them with some fresh powdered sugar, and you'll have a beautiful plate of treats ready to go without much work at all.