Rock Cakes
Cuisine: British
Rock Cakes are British rock buns: rough-dropped scones with dried fruit, sugar and butter, baked until craggy and golden. Rub butter into flour, stir in fruit, bind with egg and milk, then pile rustic mounds—do not smooth. Eat the day they are baked while the edges stay crisp.
At a glance
Time: about 30 min · 10–12 cakes · Difficulty: easy · ≈ 210 kcal each
Rock Cakes are British rock buns: rough-dropped scones with dried fruit, sugar and butter, baked until craggy and golden. Rub butter into flour, stir in fruit, bind with egg and milk, then pile rustic mounds—do not smooth. Eat the day they are baked while the edges stay crisp.
Tutorial
Ingredients
- 225g Self-raising Flour
- 75g Caster Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 125g Butter
- 150g Dried Fruit
- 1 Eggs
- 1 tbs Milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Steps
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and rub in the cubed butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then mix in the dried fruit.
- In a clean bowl, beat the egg and milk together with the vanilla extract.
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until the mixture just comes together as a thick, lumpy dough. Add a teaspoon more milk if you really need it to make the mixture stick together.
- Place golfball-sized spoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Leave space between them as they will flatten and spread out to double their size during baking.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden-brown. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a couple of minutes then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool.
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Time and temperature
Oven: 190 C / 375 F · 15–18 min until golden at edges
Nutrition
210 kcal · Protein 4 g · Fat 8 g · Carbs 30 g
1 cake (estimate)
Substitutes
- Currants → raisins or mixed peel
- Caster sugar → soft brown
- Milk → buttermilk
- Add lemon zest
Storage
Tin 1–2 days. Refresh in a warm oven. Freeze baked 1 month.
FAQ
- Why are they called rock cakes?
- The craggy look of British rock buns, not a rock-hard texture when fresh.
- Mine turned out tough
- Overmixed. Stir Rock Cakes dough only until it just comes together.
- Can I use self-raising flour?
- Yes—skip or reduce baking powder per your flour brand.