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Home » Dairy Free Recipes » The Best Gluten Free Rock Cakes Recipe

The Best Gluten Free Rock Cakes Recipe

Cakes, Bakes and Biscuits, Recipes

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My recipe for Rock Cakes was a pure accident originally. I was actually developing the prefect scone recipe which incidentally you can find here Gluten Free Scones Recipe – Best Ever with vegan clotted cream. One of the batches of scone mixture instantly took me back to my childhood when I taste tested it. I immediately knew what it was I was tasting – Rock Cakes!

How awesome is that to have been looking for one thing and accidentally found another. Not just a gluten free Rock Cake recipe, oh no. These traditional bakes are packed with nostalgia and childhood memories. I go all doe-eyed just thinking about when I used to eat these all the time and of course then all the other childhood food memories come flooding back. How amazing that food can have such powerful recall in our memories.

Gluten free Rock Cakes with dairy and egg free option

What is a Rock Cake?

A Rock Cake is a hybrid between a shortbread and a scone I guess. They tend to be egg free, as you would expect from a simple scone recipe and of course no eggs go into a shortbread. There is a reason for the lack of eggs but we’ll come onto this in the next section.

Typically, Rock Cakes are rough and ununiform shaped with a scattering of currants and very little sugar. They have a crunchier exterior than scones and unlike shortbread have a slight give to the touch. They are a class of their own really!

How to make Rock Cakes

What is the history behind Rock Cakes?

If you know me by know, you’ll know I can’t let a recipe like this go un researched. So, when I sat down to type up my adapted gluten, dairy and egg free Rock Cakes recipe, I delved into the past to find out where they originated and why?

Rock Cakes became popular in the 1940’s during the Second World War. Due to rationing, families had to be inventive with their meals each week and with one egg allowed per family you had to choose wisely how to use that egg.

Sugar was also hard to come by due to blockades and tanker bombings prevent imports so families had to find other ways to sweeten their food, or simply go without. Honey Cake makes a big appearance during this period for that very reason.

Rock Cakes were an excellent way to make slightly sweet buns that were dense enough to fill a starving tummy and easy to bake in ovens, on stove fires and even in well kitted out shelters.

But, the Rock Cake predates the 1940’s and can be found in Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management (1861), a book I have personally and refer to all the time to satisfy my curiosity for recipe origins.

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Can I make these Rock Cakes dairy free?

The simple answer is yes you can make my Rock Cakes Recipe dairy free. The cakes in the photos are dairy free, using a dairy free and vegan plant butter block. I use Flora but there are a few more solid vegan butter blocks coming onto the market now. The important thing to remember is that if replacing dairy in a recipe try to replicate the original structure. What I mean is, replace butter with a solid block, margarine for a dairy free spread and so on.

Gluten free Rock Cakes with dairy and egg free option

Can I make the Rock Cakes vegan?

If you read the paragraph before you’ll know that you can easily make these Rock Cakes dairy free, and before that I explained that eggs were never intended to be part of the ingredients so all the other ingredients in this recipe are naturally vegan.

That said, when baking anything gluten and dairy free you take away important structural elements required in baking. If you do plan to make these dairy free then I would recommend adding some flaxseed and psyllium husk to the ingredients to reintroduce some of those important building blocks.

If you are new to a vegan diet and need to know what you CAN use for eggs (but not necessary for this recipes) I have added a useful how-to for flaxseed eggs. This is the type of ‘egg’ I often use in my recipes, otherwise I simply add the flaxseed dry to the flour and combine before mixing with the wet ingredients.

How to make a flax egg

to make 1 flax egg you need the following ingredients:
– 1tbsp ground flax seed
– 3tbsp water
– 1tsp psyllium husk (optional but does add elasticity to baking)

Simply add all ingredients to a glass and stir before measuring out the other recipe ingredients, by the time you come to use your ‘egg’ mixture it will have thickened to a frog-spawn consistency (thicker if you added psyllium husk)

Then just add to your baking as you would an egg. For 2 eggs double the ingredients but note that recipes that require more than two eggs may fail due to lack of support in the structure.

If you are new to baking gluten free and vegan you’re going to find this post really useful Ingredients and Simple Recipes for a Gluten Free Veganuary, the post is aimed at Veganuary but the same tips and advice apply all year round.

What’s the best way to store Rock Cakes?

I’m not going to pull the wool over your eyes here. These Rock Cakes taste phenomenal on the day they were baked. My husband and I got carried away on our trips down memory lane the first time I baked these and we ate all eight in one afternoon.

If they do carry over to the next day or the day after that I find a quick zap in the microwave for 10 seconds is ample to freshen them up to have with a hot cup of tea.

I’ve kept these under a glass dome and in Tupperware and both allow me to keep them for up to but no longer than three days – otherwise you really will be eating Rock Cakes!

Gluten free Rock Cakes with dairy and egg free option

Other Gluten Free Traditional Recipes

  • Delicious Coffee and Walnut Cake made gluten free
    Coffee & Walnut Cake (GF)
  • Belgium Buns made gluten, dairy and egg free on a cake stand
    Belgium Buns (GF, DF, Ve)
  • Batternburg - gluten free and vegan
    Battenburg (GF, DF, Ve)
  • Easy Gluten Free Apple Turnovers
    Apple Turnovers (GF, DF, Ve)

Gluten Free Rock Cakes Recipe

If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.

Gluten free Rock Cakes with dairy and egg free option

Gluten Free Traditional Rock Cakes

Glutarama
A wonderfully simple recipe for these nostalgic Rock Cakes. Made gluten free with a dairy free option. No eggs so this can easily be made vegan too. Take a trip down memory lane and create new memories for the next generation.
3.76 from 33 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 25 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course Tea Time, Treat
Cuisine Vegan
Servings 8 buns
Calories 197 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 200 g gluten free self raising flour
  • 100 g currants (or raisins)
  • 50 g vanilla yogurt (I used Alpro vanilla yogurt)
  • 100 ml milk (I used soya milk)
  • 65 g butter (I used Flora plant butter)
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • ¼ tsp salt

Optional if making dairy free

  • 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • ½ tsp psyllium husk powder (optional) , both help with bake structure

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C | 170°C fan | 375°F | Gas 5
  • In a large bowl measure the flour, 'butter' and sugar. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter/blender.
  • Add the currants and mix to combine. Also add the flaxseed and psyllium husk powder if using them.
  • In a separate jug, measure the milk, yogurt (I find that vanilla flavour adds a lovely sweet taste) and lemon juice, whisk to combine. Don't worry if the mixture thickens this will be the lemon juice setting to work.
  • Make a well in the crumble mixture in your large bowl and pour the wet ingredients into the middle.
  • Using a spatula cut through the mixture lightly until the dry and wet have been mixed. Don't worry if you can see little lumps of 'butter' this is fine.
  • On a prepared baking sheet (I use silicone baking mats) spoon 8 mounds of mixture, no need to worry about how they look, you want your Rock Cakes to look rough and unique to each other.
  • Bake for 25mins until just golden brown and once ready remove and cool before eating.
  • or, be like me and eat them whilst they're still warm.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Gluten Free Traditional Rock Cakes
Amount per Serving
Calories
197
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
8
g
12
%
Saturated Fat
 
4
g
20
%
Trans Fat
 
1
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
 
1
g
Monounsaturated Fat
 
2
g
Cholesterol
 
19
mg
6
%
Sodium
 
141
mg
6
%
Potassium
 
151
mg
4
%
Carbohydrates
 
30
g
10
%
Fiber
 
3
g
12
%
Sugar
 
14
g
16
%
Protein
 
4
g
8
%
Vitamin A
 
235
IU
5
%
Vitamin C
 
1
mg
1
%
Calcium
 
55
mg
6
%
Iron
 
1
mg
6
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Keyword Dairy Free, Easy, Gluten Free, Simple, Traditional, Vegan
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Rock Cakes Recipe made Gluten Free

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So to date I have made £78.58 since I first started the scheme in 2017. It won’t pay the bills, that’s for sure but it does help to pay for ingredients or little treats to cheer me up!

20 Autumn Gluten Free Desserts by Glutarama

20/09/2021 · 19 Comments

Previous Post: « 30 of the Best Homemade Gluten Free Cake Recipes
Next Post: The Best Gluten Free Eve’s Pudding »

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Comments

  1. Sylvia Pag says

    12/07/2024 at 5:23 pm

    Brilliant results. Used crème fraiche and vanilla essence instead of yogurt. Perfect results. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Phoebe says

    11/02/2024 at 2:11 pm

    Missing info. What do you do with the flour butter & sugar in step 2? Where does the salt go? Every version has “8 mounds of mixture” whether you’re doing half recipe or triple, so do you just have 8 massive cakes for the latter?!
    Managed to make sense of it since I’ve made these before to another recipe but this mix came out very wet compared to my usual rock cake mixture, in the oven now.. hopefully they’ll be good despite the odds!

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      11/02/2024 at 3:55 pm

      Thank you for your comment Phoebe it’s always great to have this kind of feedback so I can make sure my recipes make sense. Sadly the body text doesn’t change when you alter the recipe yield so its a case of using common sense i.e. double the ingredients then make 16 rock cakes not 8. I hope you enjoy the rock cakes when they’re finished. I’ve not had any complaints so far and the feedback has been that they’re lovely and just hoe people remember them 🙂

      Reply
  3. Marcia says

    19/07/2023 at 10:22 am

    To make a gluten flour/vegan rock cake is so simple: Gluten free flour, sugar, milk (or dairy free milk) 1 egg (or egg substitute- I use 10g chickpea/gram flour mixed with 20mls water) and dried fruit is all that’s needed for GF vegan rock cakes. My mum made these during the war in London (UK where they originate) but with non gf flour obviously. No vanilla though! I’ve been making either vegan or gf (or both😃) for some years. There’s so much more we can make and bake that’s gf.

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      19/07/2023 at 11:13 am

      I’m only 38 miles from London and although I’m not that old (!!!) I do remember my gran and then my mum making these when I was a kid so this is a fantastically nostalgic recipe for me. So pleased to hear you are a confident freefrom cook in the kitchen. Thank you for commenting.

      Reply
  4. Donna Lee says

    10/05/2022 at 1:59 pm

    These gluten free rock cakes are the best I’ve ever made. The texture inside is really is soft.
    Even after a couple of day’s they still taste delicious especially when warmed in the microwave for 15 seconds 😋
    This is great news for me as I’m allergic to egg, and I’m coeliac.
    My husband is impressed too. He has to eat 2 at a time with butter and jam inside. I’m not sure that’s a good thing though because then it’s less for me!
    I shall have to hide them in future 🤣

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      10/05/2022 at 9:39 pm

      Donna this is the BEST comment to come on here and read. I was so excited when I perfected these rock cakes, I knew they were good because they really did remind me of childhood baking….but there’s always that little voice saying ‘is it really?’ You’ve just confirmed it for me so 100 thank you’s. Oh, I also have a husband who eats way more than his fair share of these! xx 😂

      Reply
  5. Anna says

    02/05/2022 at 3:24 pm

    I’ve recently had to go Gluten Free and am pleased to have found and tried your wonderful gf rock cake recipe.
    I have Family over frm Au, one of whom is Gluten Free and they love them.

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      03/05/2022 at 11:34 am

      Oh Anna, I’m thrilled your family loved them, sorry to hear you’re gluten free now but I hope you’re quickly realising that it’s not the end of the world. just the beginning of a new one. Rebecca x

      Reply
  6. Stuart says

    06/04/2022 at 4:08 pm

    Great recipe,
    I took mine from my father and adapted with GF flour. I also add cinnamon 1-2 tsp or nutmeg if you wish.
    Baking in a deep muffin tray. Less traditional look but taste great
    Adds a different dimension

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      06/04/2022 at 4:36 pm

      They sound lovely, I do eat with my eyes so for me a rock cake has to look uneven like a rock cake. Love the fact you took the recipe and added spice too. Thank you for coming back and taking the time to comment Stuart.

      Reply
  7. AnnaKate Williams says

    20/12/2021 at 11:58 pm

    Hello! I can’t wait to try these! Although, I don’t have GF self-rising flour… could I substitute baking powder or baking soda, and how much should I use? Thank you!

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      22/12/2021 at 9:17 am

      Sorry I’ve not replied before now Anna Kate. For 200g of GF flour I’d add 2tsp baking powder and 0.5tsp of bicarb if you have it. Hope you love them as much as we do x

      Reply
  8. Carrie Carvalho says

    26/09/2021 at 1:05 am

    Such a nostalgic recipe for me, and so lovely with an afternoon cuppa!

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      26/09/2021 at 4:25 pm

      Absolutely this recipe for Rock Cakes had a lovely response

      Reply
  9. jo says

    21/09/2021 at 3:01 pm

    Wow I have not seen rock cakes for years – my mum used to make me these!! Will be trying these with my 2 girls, thank you for posting.

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      22/09/2021 at 1:22 pm

      Its a really memory rush, so many people are saying the same, I’m just pleased to make it possible for them to eat Rock Cakes again.

      Reply
  10. Lesley says

    21/09/2021 at 11:49 am

    I love rock cakes they are such a simple bake but so full of flavour. What a great GF recipe.

    Reply
    • Glutarama says

      22/09/2021 at 1:23 pm

      Thank you, and yes they are so very simple – once you realise how :-)

      Reply

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Hi I'm Rebecca, slightly bonkers but can you blame me! Mum to two teens with additional needs and a great combination of dietary requirements. With over 15 years experience of cooking gluten free from scratch. Please note: whilst we are not a vegan family, many of my bakes are vegan or have a vegan alternative as I cannot tolerate dairy or eggs. Welcome to my site you lovely person, now learn how to make anything gluten free with me!

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