Mrs. Weasley's Rock Cakes

I had read about rock cakes in Harry Potter and always thought they were something made up for the book, kind of like cauldron cakes or butterbeer.

Although, these light and fluffy delicacies are not made up, in fact they are a very popular tea cake in Britain, eaten cold with a nice hot cup of tea.

I have done you all the liberty of finding a recipe on the internet, from britain and converted it to imperial and even tested them out on myself before I posted the recipe, just to see if they'd turn out.

Oh, and I am sure you are wondering by now why they are called rock cakes.... It's not because they are hard. In Harry Potter, Hagrid's rock cakes are so hard, you will practically crack a tooth on his rock cakes. The reason they are called rock cakes is because when you drop them on to an aluminum sheet, they resemble the shape of a rock. :) I hope some of you out there will at least try my recipe... If you're not from the United States, I will post the recipe like this "4 cups / 450g flour" that way everyone from everywhere can make this recipe! :)

EDIT: July 15th, 2009 - After realising that my metric to imperial conversion skills are horrible, I realise that this recipe should nearly be doubled for the correct conversion. It is great the way it is, it's actually a half recipe, so underneath this I will post the correct conversion and fix the recipe I've posted.


Makes 6 Large or 8 Medium Rock Cakes

This is the half recipe version!

2 cups / 240g self-raising flour (or plain flour, plus 2 tsp / 10 mL baking powder)
1/2 cup(1 stick) / 120g butter
1/4 tsp / 1.25 mL kosher salt
1 tsp / 5 mL mixed spice (if you know what trader joe's is, I highly encourage you to go to that store and buy the pumpkin spice they sell, it works very well for this and it's a mixed spice blend)
1/2 cup / 100g granulated sugar
1/2 cup / 75g dried fruit (I used dried cranberries, most recipes call for currants or sultanas which are a white turkish or persian raisin)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk / 60 mL
1/8 cup / 25g granulated sugar (for sprinkling)



This is the full version!

Makes 12 Large or 16 Medium Rock Cakes


4 cups / 480g self-raising flour (or plain flour, plus 4 tsp / 20 mL baking powder)
1 cup(2 sticks) / 240g butter
1/2 tsp / 2.5 mL kosher salt
2 tsp / 10 mL mixed spice (if you know what trader joe's is, I highly encourage you to go to that store and buy the pumpkin spice they sell, it works very well for this and it's a mixed spice blend)
1 cup / 200g granulated sugar
1 cup / 150g dried fruit (I used dried cranberries, most recipes call for currants or sultanas which are a white turkish or persian raisin)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk / 120 mL
1/4 cup / 50g granulated sugar (for sprinkling)



Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Grease a large aluminum sheet.

Sift the flour, salt and mixed spice together in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into small chunks and rub it into the flour until it has the consistency of large crumbs.

Stir in the sugar and dried fruit. Beat the egg and milk together.

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the flour/fruit mixture in the bowl. Using a large metal tablespoon, blend the mixtures together to form a rough dough. Try not to over mix, this causes the rock cakes to come out hard and tough, just mix it enough until the flour is mixed in, I even had some dry bits of flour in mine and they cook out when you bake them, just make sure most of the flour is wet.

Using the spoon, dollop portions of dough onto the aluminum sheet. They will fall off the spoon in a rather rough fashion - resist the urge to smooth them out! Make sure to leave 1 1/2 inches/4 cm between the mounds as they will spread when baked. Sprinkle each mound with plenty of granulated sugar. This gives both good crunch and shine when baked.

Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes - smaller rock cakes will take about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack immediately and let cool fully before eating. Best eaten within 2 days!

*NOTE: When I baked mine, I had my rack in the center of the oven and the bottoms got a little too brown for me, so when I baked my second batch, I put the rack a little higher, not all the way, but as high as I could go without having a hard time getting the aluminum sheet in and out of the oven. The second batch seemed to get a little less brown, but if you like yours to be darker than golden brown just follow the instructions the way it says, if you like them more on the golden brown side, put your rack up about 1 or 2 slots above the center.

I hope you all like these and will at least try them... They are easy to make and they are a great beginners recipe. Most young girls in Britain start out with this recipe when they are learning how to cook. So, if a 10 year old can make them, you can make them too! (Wink wink, that was directed towards you Matthew...)