From My Kitchen

Just like cheesecakes, I don’t think that Rock Cakes qualify as cakes really – to me a cake has to involve some kind of sponge! Let’s call them a biscuit. Kind of. Whatever they are, they’re delicious and I can’t believe that I’ve not yet posted this recipe seeing as it’s one I’ve been making since I was a teenager in Home Economics class at school a worrying number of decades ago. Straightforward, speedy, and no presentation skills required – these are excellent. This recipe makes 8.

Ingredients

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp mixed spice (pumpkin spice in the US)

Pinch of salt

125g unsalted butter, chilled

100g caster sugar + extra to sprinkle

125g sultanas or dried fruit

1 large egg

1 tbsp milk

Method

1. Heat your oven to 170C Fan and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, spice and salt in a large bowl and mix.
3. Cut your butter into small cubes, tip them into the bowl, get your hands in there and gently rub the floury butter between your fingers until the whole bowl looks like wet sand. Give the bowl a shimmy every now and then and all of the lumps will rise to the surface so you can find them.
4. Stir in the sugar and sultanas.
5. Make a well in the centre and crack in the egg, then tip in the milk.
6. Grab a fork and whisk up the egg then stir to combine the whole shebang.
7. Use a couple of spoons to dollop rough lumps of dough into 8 rocks – absolutely no need for precision here, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy.
8. Sprinkle 2 tbsp or so of caster sugar onto the rock cakes, then slide the trays into the oven when it’s hot and bake for 20 minutes until golden.
9. Try to leave them to cool before you eat them. Good luck with that!