A small round of flaky pastry filled with spiced currants, butter and sugar, baked until the pastry shatters and the top is glazed and crusted with sugar. The signature teatime bake of Lancashire, from the town of Eccles.
The Eccles cake is named for the town of Eccles, now part of Greater Manchester, and is one of the most famous of all English regional bakes. Its invention is credited to James Birch, a baker who began selling them from his shop in Eccles in 1793, though spiced currant-filled pastries were made in the area earlier. The cakes became a sensation in the early 19th century, exported across industrial Lancashire and beyond, and were traditionally eaten on Eccles Wakes, the town's annual fair in late August. The defining feature is the flaky pastry, puffed and shattered by the bake, enclosing a dense, sweet, buttery filling of currants plumped in warm spice. Unlike a mince pie, the filling is fruit and sugar only, no suet, and the shape is flat and round, puffed into a domed purse. They keep for days and travel, which is why they spread so widely in the industrial north.
A flat, domed pastry, the top glazed deep brown and crackled, that shatters into buttery flakes at first bite, giving way to a dense, sweet, warmly spiced currant filling. Eaten out of hand, slightly warm, dusted with sugar.
The pastry is the whole craft. A rough puff is made by enclosing a slab of butter in a flour-and-water dough, then folding and rolling it in three, with rests, six times, building up to dozens of alternating layers of dough and butter. In the oven the water in the butter flashes to steam and forces the layers apart, producing the characteristic puff and shatter. The filling is simply currants soaked in warm water, drained and mixed with melted butter, brown sugar and mixed spice. The pastry is cut into rounds, the filling mounded in the centre, the edges gathered up and pinched closed like a purse, then turned seam-side down and pressed into a flat round. A deep slash on top lets steam escape, the cake glazed with egg and drenched in sugar before baking.
Variations
The neighbouring Chorley cake uses shortcrust instead of flaky pastry for a flatter, softer result. Banbury cakes are the Oxfordshire cousin, oval and spicier. Some Eccles recipes add a spoon of rum or grated apple to the filling.
On the Palate
Where Eccles Cake sits in the British flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
7 steps · 45 min
- 112 min
Make rough puff: enclose 250g cold butter in a dough of 500g plain flour and 250ml cold water, fold and roll in three, rest 20 minutes, repeat the fold-and-roll 5 more times with rests between.
Watch outKeep the butter cold through all six folds — if it warms and merges into the dough, the layers vanish and the pastry won't puff or shatter.
- 25 min
Soak 350g currants in warm water for 15 minutes, drain well, then mix with 100g melted butter, 150g brown sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and a pinch of salt.
- 35 min
Roll the pastry to 3mm thick and cut twelve 12cm rounds.
- 46 min
Mound a spoon of filling in the centre of each round, wet the edges, gather up and pinch closed like a purse.
- 55 min
Turn each seam-side down and press gently into a flat round about 7cm across; place on a lined baking tray.
- 64 min
Make 3 deep slashes across the top of each, brush with beaten egg, and drench generously with caster sugar.
- 75 min
Bake at 220 degrees C for 15 to 20 minutes until deep golden and puffed; cool on a wire rack.
Watch outBake at a hot two-twenty until deep golden and puffed — the water in the butter has to flash to steam fast to force the layers apart.
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