Making rock cakes
I can make rock cakes.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Rock cakes are from Britain and traditionally eaten at teatime. They were promoted in World War II due to rationing.
- The food skills used to make rock cakes are measuring, rubbing-in, mixing, cracking an egg, and portioning.
- Some mixtures need to be divided into equal sized portions, so that they cook evenly.
- Ovens are very hot. Dishes must be placed in and taken out while wearing oven gloves.
Keywords
Rationing - a fixed amount of food per person
Dividing - to split a mixture equally
Rubbing-in - to rub butter into flour
Oven - part of a cooker, used to bake or roast foods
Common misconception
The dried fruit in rock cakes counts towards our 5 A DAY.
The dried fruit does not count towards our 5 A DAY, as it is in small amounts. Rock cakes are sweet foods, containing sugar and fat. We need to eat less of these types of foods.
To help you plan your year 3 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Making rock cakes, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Making rock cakes, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 cooking and nutrition lessons from the Cooking around the world unit, dive into the full secondary cooking and nutrition curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
For ingredients and equipment see the recipe in Additional materials.
Content guidance
- Risk assessment required - may contain allergens
- Risk assessment required - equipment
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions

measuring jug
measuring spoons
weighing scales
Exit quiz
5 Questions
bread and pies
chicken and potatoes
