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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.
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!
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.
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!
Other Gluten Free Traditional Recipes
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 Traditional Rock Cakes
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
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Brilliant results. Used crème fraiche and vanilla essence instead of yogurt. Perfect results. Thank you.
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!
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 🙂
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.
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.
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 🤣
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 😂
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.
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
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
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.
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!
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
Such a nostalgic recipe for me, and so lovely with an afternoon cuppa!
Absolutely this recipe for Rock Cakes had a lovely response
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.
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.
I love rock cakes they are such a simple bake but so full of flavour. What a great GF recipe.
Thank you, and yes they are so very simple – once you realise how :-)