This month the Random Recipe Challenge teams up with Tea Time Treats so we are looking for a randomly selected tea time treat. The instruction to 'select a book or collection of books that best represent what YOU think of as tea time food' was the hardest part for me.
I have a very constrained idea of what counts as a Tea Time food largely influenced by early childhood tea time memories. At home tea was the early evening meal we would eat on a Saturday and Sunday. Often a very plain salad, think limp lettuce and tinned ham, with bread and butter followed by bread and jam and a plain cake and of course pots of tea.
Then there was the charming afternoon tea served at a local bakery/cafe, Peter's where delicate cream cakes would be presented on a tiered cake plate along with fine leaf tea served in traditional cups. Visits here were a great treat. You can read some lovely recollections of Peter's Bakery here at the Baker's daughter.
So my solution to making the random choice was to get out my box of recipe clippings and select a good handful that for me were tea time treats (sausage rolls, pork pies, scones, gingerbread, sponge cake...) and then to ask my other half to give me a number and we ended up with Rock Cakes:
To make 12
- 200g self raising flour
- pinch salt
- scant half tsp mixed spice
- 75g butter
- 75g caster sugar
- 80g mixed dried fruit
- 1 standard egg
- few tbs milk
- demerara sugar to sprinkle
- Set Oven to 200C Gas 6
- Sieve flour, salt and spice into a bowl
- Rub in the butter to resemble fine crumbs
- stir in the sugar and dried fruit
- Stir in the egg a 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk to get a stiff rough textured dough
- Divide into 12 portions onto a greased or lined baking sheet
- Using a fork lightly rough the outside of each bun and sprinkle with the demerara sugar
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Absolutely delicious whilst still just warm.
This recipe is being submitted for the September 2012 Random recipe #20 Challenge. There will be a full round up at the end of the month over at Dom's website so do look back Here, or take a look at Lavender and Lovage or What Kate Baked
CANT beat a GOOD rock cake and yours look FABULOUS! Thanks so much for your entry! Karen
ReplyDeleteYes, at their best when warm, like scones.
ReplyDeleteHmm, rock cakes. I think I've only ever made them once, as a child and can't really remember what they're like! What sort of texture are they inside? Sort of a cross between a scone and a cake?
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline, the dough is sweeter and higher in fat than a typical scone and I would say the texture is more like cake/teabreads than a scone. You get a nice crisply baked outer edge and tender crumb inside. They stale quickly but can be revived by a quick burst in a hot oven. Very quick to make.
DeleteI had some terrible rock cakes when I was kid, baked by a well-meaning but distracted relative and that experience put me off for many years. I've only recently realised how good they can be and yours do look really good.
ReplyDeleteOh god I remember those dreadful limp salad teas! This rock cake more than makes up for it wouldn't you say? Thanks for entering this month and glad it worked out so well.
ReplyDeleteRock cakes were about the only cake my mother ever made and I am thus extremely fond of them. Yours look just as they should.
ReplyDeleteI've just followed the link to the Baker's Daughter and am now thinking I'd like to read the book. Thanks for alerting me to it.
ReplyDeleteRock cakes remind me of being a kid - so simple but so delicious - yum! Thanks for reminding me!
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