Skip to main content
Dessert

Rock Cakes

A small cake made from flour, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, milk, and optional currants or candied peel, baked in a greased tin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. J. Edmonds Ltd. · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Rock Cakes

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Rock Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Rub the butter (or lard) into the flour.

  2. Add the other dry ingredients.

  3. Add the beaten egg.

  4. Add sufficient milk to make a stiff dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into rocky shapes on a cold greased oven shelf.

  2. Bake in a hot oven for 10 or 12 minutes.

Mix and bake in tins

  1. Rub the dripping well into the flour.

  2. Add all dry ingredients.

  3. Beat the egg well.

  4. Mix with a breakfastcup nearly full of milk.

  5. Mix all together.

  6. Bake in greased patty-tins for about 15 minutes.

Bake in a tin

  1. Cream the butter and sugar.

  2. Work in the flour until the mixture becomes a firm dough.

  3. Place the dough into an ungreased tin.

  4. Press the dough well down with the knuckles.

  5. Smooth the surface with a knife.

  6. Prick the dough with a fork.

  7. Bake in a slow oven for 1 hour.

  8. Cut into shapes while the dough is still hot in the tin.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. J. Edmonds Ltd.. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with liquid and fat.
Butter
Fat that coats flour particles, giving a short, crumbly texture.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure and richness.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough, helping the cakes rise and lighten.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
Milk
Adds moisture so the dry ingredients form a dough.

The step that matters

Add sufficient milk to make a stiff dough. Too much milk makes the dough slack and sticky, so the shapes spread instead of holding their rocky form. Add it gradually and stop once the dough holds together.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More rock cakes recipes

Coconut 5Orange 3 See all 75 →

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes