Tea Cakes

Tea cakes are basically any sort of snack to have with tea. Depending on where you’re from, you can have either biscuits, which, in America is just cookies, with your tea, or something more fancy, –though the standard tea accompanient in the U.K. is a small package of plate of biscuits. In the U.S., afternoon tea is generally not a tradition, though many people do still have tea, it’s just not an actual meal time as it is in other regions. Various regions actually have a specific type of baked good they refer to as a teacake, such as:

Northern Ireland: Teacakes are a chocolate covered marshmallow cookie, traditionally, though over there, it would be “biscuit”, despite its cookie-ness in the U.S. The distinction between biscuit and cookie is as of yet unclear, though there are still both in the U.K., it’s basically just hard to tell which is which.
England, or Great Britain: Teacakes different depending on the area of the country, in some places, they’re something like scones, and closer to the American idea of biscuits. Usually it’s like a bun, or an “English muffin”, in which are raisins, currants, or other fruit. It’s toasted, buttered, and served with afternoon tea. In other areas, teacakes could be a plain bread roll, a “manchet”, which is more like a scone, and flavoured more heavily, or it could even be a small bread flavoured with beer, or just hops.
North America: In the U.S., or Canada, a teacake is just a cookie.
Sweden: The traditional teacake is triangular, and sweet; usually plain wheat soda bread, but served toasted, or warmed with butter and preserves.
Australia: Teacakes actually resemble cake in Austalia; they’re made firm enough to pick up, however, and with plenty of sugar, and cinnamon sprinkled over the top. In other areas of Australia, the traditional teacake is a Boston Bun, which is also popular is New Zealand. It’s basically a large cinnamon flavoured cake, topped with coconut and white icing, also occasionally containing potatoe.