Eccles Cakes

Name: Eccles Cakes
Prep time: 1 h 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 9 oz butter; 12 oz all-purpose flour; Juice of ½ lemon; 1 oz butter; 7 oz currant; 1 ¾ oz mixed peel; 3 ½ oz muscovado sugar; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp ginger; 1 tsp allspice; Zest of 1 lemon; 1 egg; spinkling sugar

A weekend British dessert. Ready in about 1 hour 30 minutes. Difficulty: more effort.

1 hr 10 minPrep (about)
20 minCook (about)
1 hr 30 minTotal time
4Servings
More effortDifficulty

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Ingredients

How many people?

− 3 people +

Changed from 4 to 3 people · Back to 4

7 oz butter
9 oz all-purpose flour Shopping tip: All-purpose flour (UK: plain flour).
Juice of ½ lemon
⅔ oz butter
5 oz currant
1 ⅓ oz mixed peel
2 ⅔ oz muscovado sugar Shopping tip: Dark brown sugar works (UK: muscovado).
¾ tsp ginger
Zest of 1 lemon
1 egg
spinkling sugar

Spices & seasonings (2): cinnamon, allspice

¾ tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp allspice

How to make it

Steps in our own plain words.

To make the pastry, dice the butter.
Put it in the freezer to go hard.
Tip flour in your bowl of a food processor using half your butter plus pulse to the texture of breadcrumbs.
Pour in your lemon juice plus ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp iced water, plus pulse to a dough.
Tip in the rest of your butter and pulse some times till the dough is heavily flecked with butter.
It's important that you don’ overdo this as your flecks of butter are what makes your pastry flaky.
On a floured surface roll your pastry out to a neat rectangle around 20 x 12 inches.
Fold the two ends of the pastry in the middle.
Fold in half (pic 2).
Roll your pastry out again plus refold same way 3 more times resting your pastry for at least 15 mins every time between roll and fold.
Leave to rest in your fridge.
Keep going for at least 30 mins before using.
To make your filling, melt the butter in a large pot.
Take it off the heat.
Mix in all the other ingredients till completely mixed.
Set aside.
To make the cakes.
Roll the pastry out until it’s a little thicker than a £1 coin.
Cut out 8 rounds about 4 ½ inches across.
Re-roll the trimming if needed.
Place a good heaped tablespoon of mix in the middle of every round, brush your edges of the rounds with water.
Gather your pastry around your filling and squeeze it together (pic 3).
Flip them over so your smooth top is upwards and pat them in a smooth round.
Cut 2 little slits in every Eccles cakes, brush with egg white.
Sprinkle with the sugar (pic 4).
Turn the oven on to 425°F (400°F for a fan oven).
Cook in the oven the Eccles cakes for 15-20 mins till past golden and sticky.
Leave to cool on a rack.
If you prefer, eccles cakes also go fully served using wedge of hard, tangy cheese such as Lancashire or cheddar.