Eccles cake
Encyclopedia
Currant
Currant may refer to:Plants:* Ribes, genus of berry plants, e.g. blackcurrant, redcurrant* Zante currant, dried Black Corinth grapes; smaller than raisins* Currant tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, small tomato species...
s and made from flaky pastry
Flaky pastry
In baking, a flaky pastry is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry, similar to a puff pastry. The main difference is that, in a flaky pastry, large lumps of shortening , are mixed into the dough, as opposed to a large rectangle of shortening with a puff pastry...
with butter and can sometimes be topped with demerara sugar
Natural brown sugar
Natural brown sugar is brown sugar made by partially refining sugar cane extract, whereas most brown sugar is made by adding molasses to fully refined sugar, which may come from sugar beet....
.
Name and origin
Eccles cakes are named after the English town of EcclesEccles, Greater Manchester
Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...
. It is not known who invented the recipe, but James Birch is credited with being the first person to sell Eccles cakes on a commercial basis, which he sold from his shop at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary’s Road (now known as Church Street) in the town centre, in 1793.
Nicknames for the Eccles cake include Squashed Fly Cake, Fly Cake, Fly Pie or even a Fly's Graveyard, owing to the appearance of the currants that it contains. Eccles cakes do not currently have Protected Geographical Status
Protected Geographical Status
Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...
, so may be manufactured anywhere and still labelled as "Eccles" cakes.
Similar pastries
The Garibaldi biscuitGaribaldi biscuit
The Garibaldi biscuit consists of currants squashed between two thin, oblong biscuits - a currant sandwich. In this recipe, it has elements in common with the Eccles cake....
shares many common ingredients with the Eccles Cake but is smaller and a dry product rather than a moist cake.
The Chorley cake
Chorley cake
Chorley cakes are flattened, fruit-filled pastry cakes, traditionally associated with the town of Chorley in Lancashire, England. They are a close relative of the more widely known Eccles cake, but have some significant differences...
(from the town of Chorley in Lancashire) is flatter in appearance, is made with shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart or pie. It does not puff up during baking because it usually contains no leavening agent. It is possible to make shortcrust pastry with self-raising flour, however...
rather than flaky pastry
Flaky pastry
In baking, a flaky pastry is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry, similar to a puff pastry. The main difference is that, in a flaky pastry, large lumps of shortening , are mixed into the dough, as opposed to a large rectangle of shortening with a puff pastry...
and is devoid of sugar topping.
The Currant Square
Flies graveyard
Flies Graveyard or Flies Cemetery are nicknames used in various parts of the United Kingdom for sweet pastries filled with currants or raisins, which are the "flies" in the "graveyard" or "cemetery". In Scotland the formal name is fruit slice or fruit squares. In Northern Ireland the formal term is...
is a square shaped cake with shortcrust pastry only on the top and bottom and up to an inch of currant filling.
Banbury cakes
Banbury cakes
A Banbury cake is a spiced, currant-filled, flat pastry cake similar to an Eccles cake, although it is more oval in shape. Once made and sold exclusively in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, Banbury cakes have been made in the region to secret recipes since 1586 or earlier and there they are still...
are an oval shaped cake from the town of Banbury.
The people of the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, have produced a similar pastry called a currant roll, made with flaky pastry and currants, which is rolled, baked, then cut into diagonal slices.
The traditional Chinese sweetheart cake called Kang Shi Lau Po Pin (老婆饼) is quite similar to an Eccles Cake, although the spicy fruit filling is candied melon.
In popular fiction
In the first of Patrick O'BrianPatrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
's Aubrey-Maturin series, Master and Commander
Master and Commander
Master and Commander is a historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. First published in 1969 , it is first in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. Closely based on the historical feats of Lord Cochrane, O'Brian's novel is set in the...
, Jack Aubrey is staying at The Crown in Port Mahón
Mahon
Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...
, Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
. He observes: "... the place smelt of olive oil, sardines and wine; and there was not the least possibility of a Bakewell tart
Bakewell tart
The Bakewell Tart, not to be confused with the Bakewell Pudding, is a shortcrust pastry with a layer of jam and a sponge filling with almonds. The Bakewell Pudding on the other hand is a flaky pastry, with a layer of jam and an egg and almond filling. The tart then can be covered with a layer of...
, an Eccles cake or even a decent suet pudding
Suet pudding
A Suet pudding is a traditional food containing suet. Many variations are strongly associated with British cuisine. Recipes vary greatly and can be desserts or savoury courses...
."
In the Harold Pinter play The Dumb Waiter
The Dumb Waiter
The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter written in 1957; it premiered at the Hampstead Theatre Club, on 21 January 1960...
(1957), Gus and Ben, two hit-men, are in a cellar apartment awaiting orders. Gus has brought along various snacks but Ben remains stoic and uninterested except when Gus says that he has one Eccles cake. Though Ben had earlier criticized Gus for being too interested in food and thus a lazy sort of hit-man, he shows a rare glimmer of emotion because Gus only brought one Eccles cake for himself.