Recipe: Insomnia Teacake

Insomnia has begun to really kick in for me on this home stretch of pregnancy. The combination of waking up every two hours to use the bathroom and being kicked in the ribs throughout the night (it’s okay, Bug… I’d rather you move too much than too little!) has made for some rough nights of sleep. Some nights it’s just better to throw in the towel and make nighttime productive time.

In the wee hours I decided to bake up a teacake (or pound cake) – a little treat for the morning when I am feeling sleepy or maybe a tasty snack in the afternoon when I wake up from a nap. It uses lots of eggs for such a small cake and would be divine with some preserves served alongside. You can find the original recipe here from a website collection of Middle-Earth recipes (yes, I am a huge Tolkien nerd). My summarized recipe below:

• 1 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

Cream together the sugar, butter, lemon zest and juice. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into a buttered loaf dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Rather than ice the cake, I dollop some of my strawberry-lemon marmalade onto each slice. It didn’t fully set when I cooked it up last fall, so it will make the perfect accompaniment to a sweet cake. A great way to incorporate some preserves and make use of these small windows of time.