Rock Cakes
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, then you’ll know that biscuits and scones are some of my favorite things to bake. However, if you’ve paid attention to my personal techniques for making both of them, you’ll also know that it’s a process. Not a difficult one, but one that does involve a little more time, effort and tools than some may be able to spend.
No judgment; sometimes I’m the “some” that I’m talking about.
There’s nothing wrong with taking short cuts in the kitchen so long as the finished product still tastes good. Even though it’s still my preference to go with my tried and true way of doing things, there are times during the week when I don’t have time to ‘go the longer way’ in making biscuits or scones, and I too choose to ‘take a shortcut.’
The quickest shortcut for making biscuits that will still turn out tasting great are Drop Biscuits, where you make a biscuit dough, but rather than going to the trouble of rolling out the dough, you just scoop it out and plop it onto a pan and bake it off. The result is a biscuit that has a craggy outer texture, but (so long as you haven’t overworked the dough) is still tender on the inside. The scone counterpart to a Drop Biscuit, is the Rock Cake.
Don’t be thrown off by the name. Rock Cakes are far from the tough hockey pucks you may be imagining they taste like. In my opinion, the name likely comes from their appearance. Because the dough hasn’t been rolled, smoothed out, or given time to rest, it bakes with an uneven and craggy exterior. But that exterior is where the rough inconsistency ends.
If you break open a rock cake, you’ll find that the texture is much closer to a traditionally made scone than you might expect. It was close enough to where I was genuinely surprised at the result. They’re not as fluffy or light as normal scones, but they are tender enough to where you’re not disappointed that you took the shortcut in the first place to make them.
I had just bought a muffin top pan that I wanted to try out, and this seemed like the perfect recipe to break it in. I had really great results with it, but if you don’t have one that’s no problem. The cakes will probably just spread a little more on a regular sheet pan–and as a remedy to that, you can always place the batter/dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes to make a bit more stiff before baking.
These are really great smeared with butter and jam alongside a cup of your favorite morning beverage– or just by themselves at any time of day.
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Rock Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (225 grams) self-raising flour
- 1/3 cup (75 grams) white sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (about 125 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut in to cubes*
- 1 cup (150 grams) dried fruit (I used Trader Joe’s Orange Dried Cranberries)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. spray the cavities of a muffin top pan (Mine makes 12 at a time) with cooking spray, or line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and cut in the cubed butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. (You can cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a fork, a pastry blender, or as I always prefer, grate the butter in with a box grater). Mix in the dried fruit.
In a small clean bowl, beat the egg and milk or heavy cream 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/heavy cream if you need it to make the mixture stick together.
Place heaping tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. If you’re not using a muffin top pan, leave space between them as they will flatten and spread out to double their size during baking.* (As a way to lessen the spread, you can always place the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking to make it ‘stiffer’)
Sprinkle the tops with white sugar.
Bake for 15–20 minutes, until golden-brown. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool.
Linking to Fiesta Friday #380, cohosted by Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons.
The texture of these looks really inviting!
Thank you Dorothy!
What would happen if you used fresh or frozen fruit instead? I ended up with left over frozen cranberries from the apple cranberry pie I just made.
I think using fresh fruit in these would be fine, especially cranberries since they don’t release as much water when they bake as other berries do. Since they were frozen beforehand, I’d probably drain them in a colander for about an hour before I intended to bake, toss them in a tablespoon of flour on their own, mix them into the dry ingredients, then add the rest of the wet ingredients to make the dough 🙂
I just made these. I used the left over frozen cranberries, as we’d discussed, about a cup or so of them, and rolled them in flour. I also added orange zest. I didn’t sprinkle sugar on top as the dough was sweet enough for me already. They are yummy!
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear you liked them, thanks for letting me know 🙂
Yes, I just eat them as is, room temperature. I’ll make them again.
I actually prefer these types of scones. The nubby bits are crispier so they are more interesting in a textural sense. Thank you for sharing on Fiesta Friday. I’ve pinned it.
Thanks Liz!
You missed the best part the spices- cinnamon and ginger powder. I’ve been making these since i was a kid and never used baking powder just self raising flour – they turn out fine. Never used a muffin pan just a flat tray – never had them spread. I’ve never tried using fresh or frozen fruit – maybe you would need baking powder and a muffin pan in that instance. But they are a nice easy little treat to make aren’t they!