More than a biscuit but not as indulgent as cake, and just perfect with your morning coffee, rock cakes have, over the years, become a quasi-mythical currency with us 3 Growbags.
I rarely travel on any visit with or to my sisters without a little Tupperware box with a few in (especially to Caroline’s where the home catering can be a very hit or miss affair). I even have a special ex-takeaway carton that holds at least six and still gets past the hand luggage dimensions inspection on loop Easyjet.
My go-to recipe is based on one from Mary Berry’s Aga Cookbook 5th reprint from 1995 – so bang on trend. The recipe is introduced by Mary’s no-nonsense assertion that they take ‘No time at all to prepare’ – and she’s right as you can have a lovely warm batch of them on the kitchen side barely half an hour after you think you could do with some.
The ingredients are:
225g (8oz) Self-raising flour
1 good teaspoon baking powder
1/2 level teaspoon ground mixed spice (optional but I always put it in)
100g (4oz) soft margarine (I always use softened butter – don’t judge ..)
50g (2oz) Demerara sugar
100g (40z) mixed dried fruit*
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
*This is where you can be a bit creative and I’ve tried all sorts of variations over the years.
My current favourite combination for the 100 g of dried fruit needed is as follows (and photographed in the photo below, clockwise from top right)
20g candied peel
20g walnuts, broken into little nobbly pieces
20 g sultanas
40g mixed cranberries and raisins (Tescos do these – other brands available I’m sure)
But you can use whatever combination you like or have in your store cupboard! The only things I would avoid are ginger (too dominant) dates (too fibrous) and glacé cherries (too sickly sweet). A lot of other recipes seem to recommend currants but personally I find them a bit hard and mean-spirited. I keep meaning to try a bit of desiccated coconut in the mix but this might be straying a bit too far from its heritage.
Method
Lightly grease one large or two smaller baking trays and preheat the oven to 200c then
- Measure the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl and rub in the margarine (butter!) until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
- Add the sugar and fruit and mix to a stiff dough with the egg and milk, adding a little more milk if necessary
- Spoon the mixture in rough mounds onto the baking trays using two spoons – they will make 12-15 cakes depending on what size you choose to make each one. I like my rock cakes spiky to increase the surface area of their crispy golden exterior but I’ve seen others that are more rounded – it’s whatever you prefer.
- Sprinkle the top of each with a little Demerara sugar (optional, and I never do due to a desire to maintain them as a low sugar alternative to cake – which they are!)
- Put the baking tray/ trays into the oven and DO NOT LEAVE THE KITCHEN as timing is critical and it’s very easy to singe the protruding edges and fruit which is a real downer. They will take only 8-10 minutes to cook and you will need to turn the tray half way through if using just one big tray, and both turn and swap the trays over if using two smaller ones. The cakes should be golden and slightly crispy on the outside and softer but not sticky on the inside.
- After removing them from the oven I always leave mine on the warm baking trays for 10 minutes to just carry on cooking through, and don’t bother moving them to a wire tray. They never seem to stick.
- Mary thinks they are ‘best eaten straight from the oven’ and again she’s right, but they also store well in an airtight tin, and a good trick is to zap them for 10 seconds in a microwave to recreate that cottage-core ‘just baked’ illusion 😉
- A final note is that they also freeze well – and honestly with a slice of cake costing upwards of £3.50 in garden centres and National Trust properties nowadays I’d be slipping a couple of these in your pocket to go with your latte next time and spending the money you save on plants (I’m sure Mary would approve…)
If you also bake rock cakes I’d love to hear what variations on the basic scheme you would recommend.
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