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Eccles Cakes
Flaky pastry parcels around buttery currants and brown sugar — sold in Eccles since 1793, banned by the Puritans, unstoppable ever since.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 18 min
- Total
- 48 min
- Yield
- Makes 10
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Era
- Georgian (1793)
Ingredients
- 500g all-butter puff pastry
- Filling: 150g currants, 75g soft brown sugar, 50g melted butter, 1 tsp mixed spice, zest of 1 orange
- 1 egg white; demerara sugar, to finish
Method
Oven220°C425°FFan 200°CGas 7
- Mix the currants, sugar, butter, spice and zest.
- Roll the pastry to 3mm and cut 12cm rounds.
- Pile a spoonful of filling in the centre of each; draw up the edges and seal.
- Turn seam-side down and flatten gently until the currants just show through.
- Cut three slashes, brush with egg white and dredge with demerara.
- Bake at 220°C / 425°F (fan 200°C, gas 7) for 15–18 minutes until puffed and golden. Eat warm, with Lancashire cheese if you know what’s good for you.
Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.