If you visit Hagrid, you will likely get offered rock cakes. While his may break your teeth, these soft biscuits are much more enjoyable.
Jump to RecipeRock Cakes are a specialty of Hagrid’s that he always has available when Harry visits his hut. They are described as similar to a fruitcake. But they are rock hard and can crack your teeth if you aren’t careful. Of course, I didn’t make mine rock hard. Dental insurance costs enough, I didn’t need any broken teeth to deal with!
The rock cakes were shapless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons.
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, had obliged with a sack full of his own homamde rock cakes. (Harry hadn’t touched these; he had had too much experience of Hagrid’s cooking.)
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Finally he slammed down three bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tea in front of them and a plate of his rock cakes. Harry was hungry enough even for Hagrid’s cooking, and took one at one.
…
…he had abandoned the rock cake after an ominous cracking noise from one of his back teeth.-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I looked at a few recipes for fruitcake since I knew they were similar. I found a recipe here on a popular fansite called Mugglenet but tweaked it just a bit. There was too much flour making these a bit too crumbly and I could taste the flour at times. So we lowered that just a little.

I want to try again and put some strawberries or blueberries in with the raisins, but I haven’t had a chance yet. I guess that would also make it a fruitcake rather than the rock cakes I set out to make.
Once you have the dough made, these are formed like a drop biscuit, which gives them their distinct “shapeless lumps” look. Also, don’t forget the cinnamon-sugar. I did on one batch, and it wasn’t quite the same.


Rock Cakes Step by Step
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 sticks butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup raisins
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Preparation
To make Hagrid’s rock cakes, preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a large cookie sheet or preheat a baking stone.
In a medium-sized bowl, sift the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice together.

Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or two butter knives.

Stir in the sugar and raisins.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.

Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and use a large wooden spoon to stir it into a dough. It won’t be smooth, but make sure there are no lumps of flour. Just don’t overmix or the cakes may become rock hard when they bake.

Use a spoon or your hands to grab small portions of the dough out and drop it onto the prepared cookie sheet or stone. They don’t have to be perfect and don’t smooth them out. Just try to get them all about the same size so they cook evenly. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle that over the rock cakes and bake for about 12-15 minutes, until they start to turn golden brown.

Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool.

They can be saved in an airtight container for up to two days, and make a great breakfast.


Recipe
Originally Published On: July 11, 2018
Last Updated On: July 31, 2023

Hagrid’s Rock Cakes
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 sticks butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup raisins
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and grease a cookie sheet or preheat a baking stone
- In a medium bowl, sift the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice together
- Cut the butter into the flour mixture
- Stir in the sugar and raisins
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together
- Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture
- Use a wooden spoon to stir just until there are no more lumps of flour
- Use a spoon to scoop small amounts of the dough onto the prepared pan as you would a drop biscuit
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together
- Sprinkle each rock cake with the cinnamon-sugar
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
More Harry Potter-Inspired Recipes to try
- Butterbeer: A Harry Potter Party Essential
- Harry Potter’s Birthday Cake
- Crystallized Pineapple: A Sweet Treat with Only 3 Ingredients
- Harry Potter’s Treacle Tarts Recipe: Sweet and Vegan
- Canary Creams from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes
- Sorting Hat Cupcakes
- Sweet and Creamy Butterbeer Ice Cream
- Soft and Sweet Treacle Fudge
- Rock Cakes that Won’t Break your Teeth
- Paczki: Polish Doughnuts
- Pumpkin Juice
- The Welcoming Feast Roast Beef
- One-Pot Goulash
- Kreacher’s French Onion Soup
- Nearly-Headless Nick’s Deathday Cake
- Chocolate and Caramel Cockroach Clusters
- Dumbledore’s Apple and Sage Pork Chops
- Pumpkin Pasties from the Hogwarts Express
They look so good – I like the sound of adding either blueberries or strawberries too… I may have to give this recipe a go over the summer holidays!
I still haven’t tried it with those, so I would love to know how it worked for you! We like making these to have on hand for an easy breakfast on those lazy summer/weekend mornings.
I love finding new recipes that I know the grandkids will like. I’ve never heard of this recipe before and can’t wait to be the first one to make it for them.
I don’t know your grandkids ages, but my boys are 4 and 6 and they really enjoy both making and eating these ones! Especially since they’ve really enjoyed Harry Potter lately.
I’m loving all of these harry potter inspired recipes! I will say, rock cakes were never one of the things I wished I could try from the books, lol. I’m sure yours are much tastier than Hagrid’s!!
My boys have been really enjoying everything Harry potter lately, so we’ve made so many recipes inspired by the series. I wouldn’t have wanted to either, but these ones are delicious!
What a fun thing to recreate, I love all things Harry Potter. I think they would be really good with strawberries, I am not much of a raisin fan myself.
I don’t really care for raisins much, but they work well in these. We still haven’t tried other fruit but I would like to at some point.
Rock cakes never looked so delicious. I really can’t wait to make this.
Hah, I know, I wasn’t so sure with the description but these ones are so good!
OMG these sound and look soooooo good! My girls are (finally old enough to!) reading the Harry Potter books now, and I am loving all these HP-themed recipes, Stephanie!!! <3 <3 <3
We have been reading the illustrated versions of the books with the boys. My older son, who is 6.5, is now on Prisoner of Azkaban. My younger son, who is almost 5, doesn’t sit still long enough to read a lot so he is still on Sorcerer’s Stone. But it’s so fun to hear my older on theorize about the series and make connections and enjoy the magic!
Oh I LOVE rock cakes! they remind me of being a child and having them for school dinners, although those were a little more rock like than these, haha!
Yeah, these ones aren’t hard at all. They almost fall apart in your hands, so the opposite of rocks, but it’s the idea behind it that counts 🙂
I love your obsession with HP!!! These look like a great treat that I would probably eat by myself, because my kids wouldn’t eat it due to the raisins. I love all your recipes.
Thank you! 🙂 I can say that I don’t really care for raisins much, but they are still good in these and I don’t think they would be the same if they were left out. You never know, they might surprise you!
This would be a perfect addition to any HP fan recipe book! I might make them when my friends kids come over and see!
My kids really like these, and they are great for a snack or for a breakfast food, too!
oh wow! These look incredible…almost like a snickerdoodle flavored scone. I’m drooling right now. I cannot wait to make these!!
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yeah, that sounds about like what these are!
I love Harry Potter so will have to try out these rock cakes!
We love it here, too. My whole family really enjoys the rock cakes, I hope you do too!
Love this as we are Harry Potter fans. After watching the series for the first time in January (binge-watched all movies) we started planning our trip to Universal Orlando just for Harry Potter world. Going to have to try this recipe for breakfast.
We are all fans of Harry Potter here. My husband and I have decided to wait until our boys are just a little older to take them to Universal for the Wizarding World so they can fully enjoy it! When Hogsmeade first opened, we lived in Orlando and I knew someone who worked there so went with her all the time. It’s such an awesome park.
I love this Harry Potter themed recipe! Definitely makes me want to visit Hogwarts now
We all love Harry Potter here, too. Even my boys have really started enjoying it more lately. When they are a bit older, I’d love to take them to Universal to visit the castle at the park in Orlando!
First off I love Harry Potter!!! And these look delicious – similar to my crab cakes. Haha. I will have to try these out. Thanks for sharing.
We all love HP in my house, too! The rock cakes are so yummy, we have them for a snack or for breakfast.
These look so much better than the ones hagrid made! I think i’d actually eat these :p
Hah, definitely ones that I am more willing to eat than Hagrid’s recipe!
Ooooo first time hearing of these cookies!!! They do sounds pretty tasty! Love that they are also soft! Soft cookies are my favorite
They are kind of in-between cookies and biscuits, but yes, they stay so soft and are delicious!
I love Harry Potter inspired recipes. This is such a fun recipes to make. I’m sure, both kids and adults will love this kind of recipe. Would definitely make this recipe soon.
My boys have both been reading and enjoying Harry Potter lately. This is one that we all devour as soon as they are ready!