 A freshly baked Eccles cake | |
| Type | Cake |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | England |
| Region or state | Eccles, Greater Manchester |
| Main ingredients | Flaky pastry,butter,currants |
AnEccles cake is a small, roundpie, similar to aturnover, filled withcurrants and made fromflaky pastry with butter, sometimes topped with brown sugar. It originated inEccles, England.
The Eccles cake is named after the English town ofEccles, which is in the historic county ofLancashire and in the ceremonial county ofGreater Manchester. Eccles cakes are a Lancashire food tradition, with similar cakes found in other parts of the County of Lancashire, and are traditionally eaten withLancashire cheese.[citation needed]
It is not known who invented the recipe,[1] but James Birch is credited as the first to sell Eccles cakes commercially, at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary's Road, now Church Street, in the town centre, in 1793.[2] John Ayto states thatElizabeth Raffald may have invented the Eccles Cake.[3]
The word cake is used in the older general sense of a "portion of bread containing additional ingredients".[4] Eccles cakes do not haveProtected Geographical Status, so may be manufactured anywhere and still labelled "Eccles" cakes.[5]
