I never understood why Rock Cakes have become to unpopular in baking. If these are the fashions I don’t care about being on trend. A quicker version of the classic scone, humbler but no less rewarding. The raggedy surface meaning that you have crunchy pieces alongside softer internal structure, what’s not to love? 

RECIPE:

• 350g PLAIN FLOUR

• 175g LIGHT BROWN SUGAR

• 1 Tsp GROUND CINNAMON

• ¼ GRATED NUTMEG (Ha that quantity is a joke, just grate a bunch a pinch, nutmeg is pretty powerful stuff!)

•  2 Tsp BAKING POWDER

• INCY WINCY PINCH OF SALT  

•  175g UNSALTED BUTTER (Cold and Cubed)

• 125g RAISINS(Have other dried fruit or random candied peel? Why not, pop them in instead)

• 1 WHOLE MEDIUM EGG

• 50ml MILK (Plus, extra if the dough seems dry and brush the tops for a golden bake not because you’re some kind of milk pervert)

BEFORE YOU START…

Preheat your oven to 160c, (160c fan oven, 170c for other, less powerful ovens)

METHOD:

Mix the dry ingredient together, removing any lumps.

NB: DARK SUGARS, BECAUSE OF THEIR HIGHER MOISTURE COTENT (hello molasses nice to meet you), TEND TO CLUMP . This can cause problems when working with butter because either we have lumps BOO or we overmix the ingredients in an attempt to remove the lumps DOUBLE BOO. So this step (before adding the sugar to ingredients such as butter or eggs) is a good habit to learn when using unrefined sugars. Just to break them up and ensure you’re not caught out by random lumps of sugar -been there, it's painful.

No we have lumps of sugar in our mix, sand the butter into the dry ingredients until no lumps are visible OF BUUTER THIS TIME (is this recipe just all about removing lumps!?). This can be done either by hand or in an electric mixer, just be careful not to over mix it. Fold through the raisins (or other dried fruit if using. OooO! dried cherries are fun!)

 Break up the egg and mix with milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix slowly until you have a tacky almost cake-like dough. Portion into 12 rock cakes (I used an ice-cream scoop to initially help to divide the mixture evenly). Brush the tops with a liberal amount of milk wash and bake for 10-12 minutes at 190c then reduce the oven and bake for a further 8-10 minutes until golden cooked through. 

 Leave to cool on a wire rack completely (does anyone actually do this?) before dusting with icing sugar and enjoying with your hot bev of choice.