This is an amazingly easy Rock Cake Recipe for scrumptious treats in less than 30 minutes. A perfectly simple rock cake recipe suitable for kids (with a tasty coconut twist) makes approximately 12 amazing rock cakes and takes only 20 minutes to cook.

Our kids are always keen to try out their cooking skills and we have adapted this traditional favourite for tasty results.

Rock Cake Ingredient Shopping List

225g self-raising flour
75g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
125g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces but not melted
150g dried fruit (a mixture of mixed peel and currants – or anything you have in the cupboard)
50g desiccated coconut (the extra yummy bit)
1 large free-range egg (preferably home grown!)
1 tablespoon semi-skinned milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Rock cake making method

Step 1. Warm up your oven

Preheat your oven to 180c and line two baking trays with grease proof baking paper.

Step 2. Rock Cake Mix

Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture forms fine crumbs (or do this in the food processor), then mix in the dried fruit and coconut.Step 3. Beat it!

In a clean bowl, beat the egg and milk together with the vanilla extract.

Step 4. All together now

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until the mixture just comes together as a thick, lumpy dough.

Step 5. Lick the spoon!

Make golf ball-sized dollops of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Leave a decent amount of space between them as they will rise during baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden-brown. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a bit then pop your rock cakes onto a wire rack to cool down.

Remind your parents (and siblings) that the chef gets to lick the spoon AND eats the BIGGEST rock cake!

For traditional Aussie tucker try our chewy ANZAC Biscuits recipe ANZAC biscuits range from super-chewy to extra-crisp. They’re buttery, with golden syrup, coconut and oats – they’re totally delicious, and perfect to dunk into a cup of tea or coffee.

Each year on April 25 it’s Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand a public holiday for national remembrance. ANZAC day includes traditions such as the Last Post, the laying of wreaths, and a reading of the ‘Ode of Remembrance’. Marches are held, including veterans from all past wars, members of the Defence Force, and other uniformed service groups. The day falls on the anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landing at Gallipoli, in Turkey which caused a great loss of life. The day was originally observed to honour the soldiers who died in that conflict, but now commemorates and honours all Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women, past and present, who have served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping efforts.

Contrary to popular belief there were no ANZAC biscuits at Gallipoli. The standard Army biscuit at this time was a rock hard jaw breaker. The majority of rolled oats based biscuits were in fact sold and consumed at fetes, parades and other public events at home, to raise funds for the war effort.

The simple nature of these cookies makes them perfect for kids or for beginner bakers. All you really need is a mixing bowl, a spoon and baking paper and you’re less than 30 minutes away from ANZAC ‘biccie‘ heaven.Ingredients for ANZAC Biscuits

ANZAC Biscuits Ingredients

1 cup rolled (porridge) oats
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, chopped
2 tablespoons golden syrup (treacle)
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)Traditional ANZAC biscuit recipe

ANZAC Biscuits Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line oven trays with baking paper as the mixture is quite sticky.

Step 2

Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl.

Step 3

Place butter, syrup and the water in a small saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. mind the butter does not get too hot or it will bubble up considerably. Stir in the baking soda once the butter has melted.

Step 4

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter and golden syrup mixture. Stir gently to incorporate the dry ingredients.

The dough will be very crumbly, scoop level tablespoons of mixture into balls, for best results use your hands; place 5cm apart on trays, flatten slightly.

Step 5

Bake until golden brown and firm but not hard, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.ANZAC Biscuit Baking Tips

Anzac biscuits must feel soft to touch, even when they’re done; they will become firm and as they cool they become chewy. The less you bake them, the softer they turn out.

There are plenty of modern takes on the Anzac biscuit, you could experiment with adding dark chocolate, mixed peel, macadamias, apricots or even cranberry and white chocolate Anzac biscuits – yummy!

Gorgeous ginger biscuits made with ground ginger and golden syrup. Ginger biscuits are one of the nations favourite biscuits – we have been eating them for centuries! This traditional British recipe makes the perfect partner to a nice hot cup of tea as once cooled after cooking, they become super-hard, so the perfect tea-dunking biscuit.

To add additional ‘ginger zing’ try adding another 1/2 teaspoonful of fresh ground ginger.

This is also a suitable recipe to swap the wheat flour for almond flour to make it gluten-free.

Time : 15 to 20 minutes

½ lb. flour
a pinch of salt
2 oz. butter
½ teaspoonful ground ginger
2 tablespoonful’s of golden syrup.

Ginger Biscuits Recipe – Rub the butter well into the sifted flour, salt, and ground ginger, adding sufficient golden syrup to form a stiff paste. Roll the mixture to about a quarter of an inch thick on the floured board, cut into rounds, and cook on a greased baking sheet in a moderate oven until well browned.

Time to put the kettle on!

Try this basic recipe for fail-safe chocolate biscuits every time.

Make a batch of chocolate chip cookies for an emotional pick up, get the kids to help for added success, adapt it to include fruit or almost any other goodies in the pantry.

Ground almonds are the most popular flour used in gluten-free baking but swap to wheat flour for ‘nut free’ bake sales for selling at school fetes.

Time : About half an hour.

Chocolate Biscuits Ingredients

½ lb. icing sugar
2 oz. powdered chocolate
vanilla essence
2 oz. ground almonds
whites of 2 eggsHow to make chocolate biscuits:

Pound the almonds and chocolate and mix them well with one white of egg. Add the sugar, vanilla essence to taste, and enough of the second white of egg to form a smooth paste. Put the paste into a lined saucepan, and, stirring all the time, heat until the mixture is lukewarm. Now, using a piping bag, force out small fancy-shaped biscuits on a tray which has been previously greased and floured.

Let the biscuits dry for three or four hours, and then bake them in a cool oven until crisp.

Everyone loves banana bread and it’s probably a thing at the moment because the global lockdown banana-bread craze makes perfect sense when you consider that bananas are now the world’s number-one fruit.

Bananas are inexpensive, kids like them, banana bread is easy to make and keeps for days. Making banana bread as a means of avoiding food waste isn’t a new idea, it’s the go-to recipe for using up overripe brown bananas. Although banana bread tends to be high in carbs, it can be a source of protein with the right ingredients. Protein is an essential nutrient needed for the growth, repair and recovery of muscle. It also helps to stabilize blood sugar levels.

There’s plenty of mashing and mixing so get the kids involved – you know the results are going to be delicious.

Easy Banana Bread Recipe

Time 90 minutes.

Banana Bread Ingredients

5 medium over ripe bananas
1 ⅔ cup self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
⅓ cup caster sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Banana Bread Baking Method
Preheat your oven to 160C and line a loaf tin with baking paper, this is healthier than greasing the tin with butter.
Mash 3 of the bananas really well and set aside until needed. Chop the remaining two bananas into bite-sized chunks.
Place the self-raising flour, cinnamon, caster sugar, and brown sugar into a kitchen mixing bowl and combine using an electric mixer – adding in the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and mashed banana to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir in the chunks of the two remaining bananas, these will make for surprising flavouisom bites.

Scoop the banana bread mixture into the prepared lined tin and bake for an hour or until the banana bread is cooked through (a metal skewer inserted into the center should come out clean).

Allow the banana bread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning onto a wire rack to cool down completely.

Banana cake and banana bread have similar tastes, but has a few slight changes in recipe, banana cake is a bit sweeter. Keeping with the usual rules and reputation of cakes, banana cake is meant to be more of a dessert, hence the sweeter taste.Banana bread tips & tricks

Useful Cooking Tips for Banana Bread

• Use overripe bananas, the best bananas for banana bread are overripe bananas that are speckled and half black or dark brown
• If you don’t have ripe bananas for flavour, roast them in the over for a bit to toast the bananas until they are brown
• Inject further flavour the darker the sugar you use the more ‘malty’ your banana bread will taste.
• Banana is the ultimate flexible recipe – add walnuts, chocolate chips – use your imagination!

Macarons are not to be confused with macaroons! Macaroons are small and slapdash coconut or almond stacks, sometimes dipped in chocolate. Macarons are cute dainty little sandwiches that are made with meringue, almond flour, and buttercream filling.

Macaron is the French word for macaroon, but are never the coconut-based biscuit – confused yet? Macarons are one of the most amazing pastries, with hundreds of flavours and fillings. Macarons are made from almond flour and meringue the macaron as we know it now, made up of two meringue cookies brought together by a smooth flavored filling, was created in Paris during the 1830s. They also have a reputation for being tricky to make.

Traditional Recipe for Macaroons:

Time 30 to 40 minutes.

1/4 lb. ground almonds or coconut
1/2 lb. castor sugar
whites of 3 or 4 eggs
a few drops lemon juice
wafer paper
a few blanched almonds.

Mix the almonds and sugar in a bowl, and, beating well all the time with a wooden spoon, add the lemon juice and whites of eggs very gradually until the mixture is sufficiently thin to drop from a spoon. Using a forcing bag with a plain pipe, force small portions on to rounds of the wafer paper, and dredge a little icing sugar on top : this will make the mixture crack. Place half a blanched almond split lengthwise on top of each, and bake in a moderate oven until the macaroons are well risen and lightly browned. Place on a grid or sieve to cool and trim the edges of the paper.

Modern French Macaroon (or Macaron!)

4 extra large egg whites
1 ⅔ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ⅓ cups almond flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ cup superfine (castor) sugar

Place egg whites into a metal mixing bowl and refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring egg whites to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 280 degrees F (138 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk sugar and almond flour in a bowl. Beat the egg whites with salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy (for about 1 minute); on high gradually beat in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the egg whites hold stiff peaks.

Gently fold almond flour mixture into whipped egg whites. Pipe 1-inch disks of meringue onto the baking paper, leaving 2 inches of space between each one. Leave them to stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Place the tray oven and bake with the oven door open slightly until the macarons’ surfaces are completely dry, about 15 minutes. leave to cool completely on a baking sheet before gently removing them.

Spread with any special filling, top with a second to make the sandwich then leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours to overnight to let them soften before serving.

Bon appetit!

This traditional almond biscuit recipe couldn’t be any easier to make it requires minimal clean up, leaving plenty of time for eating!

Almond Biscuits Ingredients
1/4 lb. flour;
2 oz. butter;
yolk of 1 egg;
l 1/2 oz. sugar;
1 or 2 tablespoonfuls cream ;
3 or 4 drops essence of almonds ;
a few sweet almonds.

Super quick recipe takes only 10 – 12 minuites

How to make yummy Almond Biscuits: Well sift and mix the flour and sugar, then rub in the butter and see that there are no lumps. Mix one tablespoonful of cream with the yolk of egg and almond essence, pour this into the centre, and work by hand into a fairly stiff paste, adding more cream if required.

Roll fairly thin on a floured board, cut into shapes, and bake to a golden brown on a greased and floured tin. Remove from the tin and allow the biscuits to cool, then brush them with a mixture of egg white and sugar and sprinkle with chopped browned almonds, replacing them in the oven for a short time to dry.

Our Chunky Apple Cake Recipe is made over and over again, especially in Autumn. This homemade chunky apple cake recipe took three attempts to get right. It’s a ‘Goldilocks cake’ where my first apple cake attempt was too sweet, the second apple cake was too crumbly BUT the third apple cake was JUST RIGHT!

This Apple Cake Recipe is brilliant because I’ve used half the sugar and half the butter of the usual cake recipes and it’s crammed with delicious apples – the taste is amazing.
Makes a large cake – perfect for using up all those windfall apples or perhaps even sharing!
Prep: 30 mins
Baking: 1hr 10m

Ingredients
· 3 cups of Self-raising flour
· 4 large Eggs
· 4 tsp Baking powder
· 150g Butter
· ½ cup Caster sugar
· ½ cup brown Muscavado sugar
· Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed Lemon
· 2 tbls ground almonds
· 8 Medium apples diced – 4 red & 4 Bramley

Apples first….
Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees
Cut and dice the apples into a large bowl
Zest then squeeze the lemon
Pour then mix the lemon juice in with the apples, putting the zest to one side

Then the dry stuff…
Mix the dry ingredients flour, sugar, baking powder, almonds in a large bowl
Add softened butter (saving a little to grease the cake tin), lemon zest and eggs
Cream the ingredients together using an electric hand mixer. It will initially go quite crumbly, then just when you’re thinking it will never cream – bang!

Mix it up!
Once creamed, fold in the diced apples and lemon juice. Mix very well before putting into a large greased cake tin.
Cover the top of the cake tin with grease proof paper then bake in the oven on a low heat for 1hr.
After 1 hour, remove the grease proof paper then cook for a further 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees.

Once baked, leave the cake to rest for 10 minutes before turning out. Decorate as you please when cool.

Useful Apple Cake Cooking Tips
*Refined sugar is substituted with the natural sweetness of extra Bramley apples which turn to mush and absorb into the cake mixture under a slow heat. The red apples provide mouthfuls of sweet apple bites as they much firmer than the Bramleys and more able to withstand the temperature.
*Leaving the apples unpeeled gives extra texture and fibre plus it saves you the job of peeling!
*The baking paper over the cake helps to retain moisture and prevents burning.
*Leave out the almonds if you’re taking it to a party, work or school. So many people seem to have nut allergies these days.
*Try decorating with Icing sugar, cream and seasonal raspberries (yum), or present just as it is. I lay off on using cinnamon this time of year – its autumn, not Christmas (yet)!