Rock buns/ rock cakes, whatever you want to call them. They're a good, old fashioned, British bake. My Granny used to make fantastic rock buns, my aunty still makes fantastic rock buns and I baked them a lot as a child and whilst at uni. If my biscuit barrel tin was standing out on the counter in my student flat, you knew there was a stash of rock buns hiding inside.
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Perhaps it's just the nostalgia factor which makes them so comforting but I also think there's something extra rewarding about making tasty bakes from basic baking cupboard essentials. Rock buns are never going to win a beauty competition with their craggy appearance but their soft texture and buttery flavour more than makes up for it.
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They could be pimped up with the addition of ground cinnamon, mixed spices or lemon zest, but I must admit I like them in all their plain glory. My aunty adds a sprinkling of granulated or demerara sugar on top before baking which gives them extra crunch. I must admit I'd quite like to try that sometime.
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I've been looking through old recipes from my Granny and her sisters recently and I'd love to bake more of them. A goal for this year perhaps? As much as I love using blogs/the internet for sourcing recipes there's something lovely about family recipes scrawled on the backs of envelopes, all torn and splattered from years of use... even if they're rather minimal with instructions.
I would say now is good time to delve into baking some of my long bookmarked recipes considering the current COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, however it appears all the supermarket shelves are completely empty of flour. (Is flour the new toilet roll?) I'll have to choose my recipes carefully to make the most of the bag of flour in my cupboard at the moment.
Rock buns
Recipe passed down from my Granny
8oz self raising flour
4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
A good handful of sultanas (or other dried fruit such as currants or raisins)
Ok, confession time, despite having made these COUNTLESS TIMES in my lifetime I cannot remember what temperature they need in the oven (Granny's recipe doesn't actually say and my memory is truly awful)... let's go with preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. I'll update the recipe when I next bake them.
Line a couple of large baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Cream together the sugar and butter until well combined (they don't need to be mixed until light and fluffy like a cake batter, just a minute or so with the mixer will do.) Add the egg, mix again, then add the flour. By this point the mixture will become a stiffer dough so you may prefer to mix by hand with a blunt knife rather than an electric mixer. Lastly chuck in a good handful of sultanas and mix until evenly distributed.
Shape the mixture into small-ish , rough knobs and place on the trays, leaving space in between each one. They spread a little in the oven but not much. You should get at least 12 rock buns from the mixture.
Bake in the oven for approx.15 minutes (depending on the size of the rock buns) until risen and golden. Leave to cool on the trays for a couple of minutes as they'll be quite soft straight from the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack to firm up.