Eccles cake
An Eccles cake is a small, round cake filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, sometimes topped with demerara sugar.
 A freshly baked Eccles cake | |
| Alternative names | Squashed Fly Cake, Fly Cake, Fly Pie |
|---|---|
| Type | Cake |
| Place of origin | England |
| Region or state | Eccles, Greater Manchester |
| Main ingredients | Flaky pastry, butter, currants |
Name and origin
Eccles cakes are named after the English town of Eccles, historically part of Lancashire, but now in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester.
It is not known who invented the recipe, but James Birch is credited with being the first person to sell Eccles cakes commercially; he sold the cakes from his shop, at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary's Road, now Church Street, in the town centre, in 1793.[1]
Eccles cakes do not have Protected Geographical Status, so may be manufactured anywhere and still labelled as "Eccles" cakes.[2]
Similar pastries
The Banbury cake is an oval cake from Banbury, Oxfordshire, similarly filled with currants.[3]
The Chorley cake (from Chorley in Lancashire) is flatter, made with shortcrust pastry rather than flaky pastry and has no sugar topping.[4]
The Blackburn cake is named after the town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and is made with stewed apples in place of currants.[5]
References
- "The history behind (and recipe for) Eccles Cakes". Salford City Council. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
- Smith, Lewis (18 March 2011). "Cumberland sausage wins protection". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- Little, Brian (2003). Banbury: A History. Phillimore & Co. p. 27. ISBN 1-86077-242-0.
- "Chorley Cakes and Lancashire Cheese" (PDF). Visit Lancashire. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- Wilson, Sean (2012). The Great Northern Cookbook. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-4447-6113-9.
