Vegan Rock Cakes (Eggless Chocolate Chip Rock Buns)

August 4, 2017 (Last Updated: March 7, 2020)

A vegan version of a classic favorite, these Chocolate Chip Rock Cakes are a baked treat made with coconut, chocolate chips, no dairy or eggs and all love!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Rock Cakes - Stacked in Focus

Before I jump into this recipe, some of you might ask… “What are Rock Cakes?” I got the same question from my coworkers when I brought these treats to my office Christmas potluck. They are like a British/Jamaican cross between a cookie and a cake. Traditionally, rock cakes, which are also called rock buns, are a baked cake-cookie treat that are made with coconut and raisins/ currants. The “rock” in the name comes from the slightly crunchy texture on the outside of the cake, further enhanced by the coconut. Due to my oft-mentioned egg aversion, I searched and discovered that vegan rock cakes weren’t as popular as I would expect… so in my usual fashion, I created my own with some delicious substitutions! These vegan rock cakes are a tasty evolution of classic rock buns featuring eggless chocolate chip rock cakes that preserve everything in the original but the currants and enhances the delicious taste without using dairy or eggs!

As you may know already if you have seen any of the desserts on by blog, I do not bake with eggs. It was therefore an easy decision to make these vegan rock cakes, which I accomplished by simply swapping out the butter typically used in this classic rock bun with vegan butter. To break tradition as even more, I also swapped out the raisins/currants typically used in this recipe for chocolate chips to make them even more tempting and tasty!

How to make Vegan Rock Cakes with Chocolate Chips

Rock Bun Ingredients

  • 2 cups (about 300g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 70 g cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe that happened to be vegan, but if you do not mind the dairy, you can used milk chocolate chips)
  • 1 stick 0.5 cups vegan butter (room temperature)
  • ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon coconut milk canned coconut milk, not boxed
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Recipe

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas mark 4)
  2. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, coconut flakes, baking powder, and salt. Mix these dry ingredients, then rub in the room temperature vegan butter so the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  3. Toss in the chocolate chips in with the mixture. Form a well in the middle of the mixture, pour in the coconut milk and vanilla extract. Fold the dry mixture with the wet with a spatula until a dough is formed.
  4. Using an ice cream scoop/ spoon, portion the dough evenly onto a lined baking sheet. I used an ice cream, and it yielded exactly 10 cakes. Depending on the size of your scoop, you may get more or less servings.6-step collage showing mixing and scooping of rock bun batter
  5. Bake the cakes in the oven for 12-15 mins
  6. Cool for 5 minutes. Your rock buns are ready to serve!
    Vegan rock cakes fresh out the oven.

hand picking one vegan chocolate chip rock cake from a plate.

These chocolate chip rock cakes are a favorite quick treat I whip up to impress my family and friends, and it is always a hit, and yes just in case you were wondering, it was a favorite at my Christmas  Potluck and I am sure it will become a quick favorite of yours as well!

Vegan Rock Cakes plated with a bunch stacked in background

Please be sure to rate this recipe and leave a comment below if you enjoyed this recipe! Also while you’re here why not take a quick second and subscribe to my newsletter to get email notifications on new recipes, click the links to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST or INSTAGRAM? You can catch some behind the scenes action, my shopping hauls, personalized tips and friend-only recipes with videos on my Instagram. Also pin this recipe for later and explore some of my favorite recipes on Pinterest and if you love it as much as I know you will, SHARE with some friends! 

Vegan Chocolate Chip Rock Cakes - Stacked in Focus
Print Recipe
4 from 1 vote

Chocolate Chip Rock Cakes

A vegan version of the classic favorite, these Chocolate Chip Rock Cakes are a baked treat made with coconut, chocolate chips, no dairy or eggs and all love
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time22 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine: British, Jamaican
Servings: 10
Calories: 384.5kcal
Author: Yummy Medley

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 300 g all-purpose flour
  • 1 70 g cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 stick 0.5 cups vegan butter (room temperature)
  • ¼ cup + 1 tbsp coconut milk canned coconut milk, not boxed
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas mark 4)
  • In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, coconut flakes, baking powder, and salt. Mix these dry ingredients, then rub in the room temperature vegan butter so the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
  • Toss in the chocolate chips in with the mixture. Form a well in the middle of the mixture, pour in the coconut milk and vanilla extract. Fold the dry mixture with the wet with a spatula until a dough is formed.
  • Using an ice cream scoop/ spoon, portion the dough evenly unto a lined baking sheet. I used an ice cream, and it yielded exactly 10 cakes. Depending on the size of your scoop, you may get more or less servings.
  • Bake the cakes in the oven for 12-15 mins
  • Cool for 5 minutes then serve.

Notes

Nutrition Information

Let me know if you tried this recipe out! Oh and if you would like to check out another chocolate treat, you could just pair this with my delicious Raw Vegan Chocolate Milk recipe?

2 Comments

  • Reply
    Iva Kelly
    December 3, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    4 stars
    The coconut milk and butter was not enough to combine the dry ingredients, so I added another 1/4 cup of vanilla soya milk and 1/4 cup of Alpro ON protein yogurt. I also added grated orange rind and baked them for20 minutes. They were delicious. I used wholemeal flour, as I imagine white flour might be a little doughy. Next time I will use self raising wholemeal flour to perfect them.

    • Reply
      Lois
      December 3, 2017 at 9:12 pm

      Hi Iva! For the dryness of the dough, depending on the protein content of your flour, you may need to add a little more liquid for it to come together even with plain flour. Wholemeal flour usually requires more liquid in general because the germ and bran that are present in wholemeal flour can absorb more liquid than the just the endosperm (which is what is used for plain all purpose flour). I am sure the yogurt also helped to tenderize the dough as well you since used wholemeal flour, so good on you!

    Leave a Reply

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.