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Now,I am particularly partial to an Eccles cake but it is almost impossible to buy one so,having carefully inspected the apologies for Eccles cakes I have been able to buy,I have made some with frozen pastry and currants.
Oh,wow,curranty orgasms!

God yes, love Eccles cakes, but you are right have not seen them for years.
Carol

As a poor unenlightened girl in the antipodeas, what is an Eccles cake?

Please tell me as I too like the idea of curranty orgasms!!

Just googled for you and found this recipe from Delia, there is a picture.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/eccles-cakes.html


My Mum used to make these from left over pastry. Yummy!

Eccles Cakes
These famous little English cakes are one of my mother's specialities, and this is her recipe.

Makes about 24Ingredients
For the Quick Flaky Pastry:
8 oz (225 g) plain flour
6 oz (175 g) margarine
a good pinch of salt
For the filling:
3 oz (75 g) butter
5 oz (150 g) soft brown sugar
5 oz (150 g) currants
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
the grated rind of 1 large orange
2 oz (50 g) finely chopped mixed peel
To finish off:
milk
caster sugar
Conversions
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Equipment
There is no list of equipment specified for this recipe.
This recipe is taken from Delia Smith's Book of Cakes.

Method
To make the pastry, weigh the margarine (hard from the refrigerator), then wrap it in a piece of foil and place it in the freezing compartment of the fridge for half an hour. Meanwhile sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then when you take the margarine out of the freezer, hold it with the foil, dip it into the flour, then grate it on a coarse grater placed in the bowl over the flour. Carry on dipping the margarine down into the flour to make it easier to grate. When you have finished you will have a lump of grated margarine sitting in the middle of the flour. Then take a palette knife and start to cut the fat into the flour (don't use your hands) until the mixture is crumbly. Now add enough water so that it forms a dough that leaves the bowl clean (you can use your hands for the dough), then place it in a polythene bag and chill it in the main part of the refrigerator for half an hour. Meanwhile prepare the filling by first melting the butter in a small saucepan. Then take it off the heat and stir in all the filling ingredients quite thoroughly and leave it to cool. Next turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick, then using a plain 3¼ inch (8 cm) cutter, cut the pastry into rounds. Put a teaspoon of the filling on to each round, then brush the edge of half the circle of pastry with water, and bring the other side up and seal it. Then bring the corners up to the centre, and pinch to seal well. Now turn your sealed pastry parcel over, so that the seam is underneath, then gently roll the whole thing to flatten it to about ¼ inch thick (½ cm), and pat it into a round shape. Place them all on a greased baking sheet and gash each cake diagonally across three times, using a sharp knife. Now brush them with milk and sprinkle with caster sugar, and bake them in the oven pre-heated to gas mark 7, 425ºF (220ºC) for about 15 minutes until golden-brown. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

I love eccles cakes. I make them with flaky pastry and use Christmas mince mix for the filling. I used to make my own filling, but never made enough, or made too much. It is easier to use the mince mix.

When I was in England I bought an eccles cake but was very disappointed. It had a lot of rather fatty pastry, not a patch on my flaky pastry.

Huia.

Just hunted out my recipe for flaky pastry.

1 cup flour and a little salt. 4 ozs butter cut up into it. (I grate it in, but dont freeze the butter first, not a bad idea though). Mix with 1 tsp vinegar and enough milk to make dough. Roll out and fold several times. This gives it extra flakiness. The rest of the making as for Liz's recipe but using the Christmas mince.

Huia.

Morning all, very wet and miserable here in Derbyshire, so it will be indoor activities today, and possibly tomorrow. My house has never looked so clean, as the garden and the allotment usually take priority for me and the OH during the summer months.
I have Bookmarked this, so please Sharron, don't take it off till I have had time to make a batch. LOL
It is that time of year that I am freezing all sorts of veggies (from the allotment), and making them into different dishes also, to get the freezers stocked up for the winter period. So a batch of Eccles Cakes will go down a treat, for pudds. during the cold winter months. That and some of the soup I made a batch of, from a recipe given by our lovely Daff. We don't always need a meat and two veg. meal in the winter, just so long as we make sure we get a hot meal.
Many Thanks
have a lovely day all
Julia in Derbyshire

You don't think I went to all that trouble do you?A sheet of frozen puff pastry,thawed out,cut into six,with a dollop of currants in each piece.Folded up,squashed down a bit,turned over,egg washed,bit of sugar on top,voila,that's foreign you know!

I think they should just be currants,I don't like anything else in them.

Aldi have Eccles cakes and they're not the hard-but-not-much-fruit sort.

They are on sale in quite a few shops round here, but homemade will be so much better.

Gwyn

Eer, and what about Chorley cakes!? Similar filling but flatter and made with shortcrust pastry. Could just go for one of 'em now with a cuppa!

Thank you every one. It seems as an Australian girl I have had deprived childhood!!

I will remedy this at once - I will cook some soon, maybe tomorrow as at 20 degrees today, (winters day in Sydney!) I will spend my day in the garden or reading outside...gorgeous. But tomorrow when it's only going to be 18, then cooking's the go.

Maybe when I'm in London again next year I will try to buy one.

Thanks again.

P xx
PS: what's a Chorley cake - I know about Chorley wood but not a cake??

From googling:

The Chorley cake (from the town of Chorley in Lancashire) is flatter in appearance, is made with shortcrust pastry rather than flaky pastry and is devoid of sugar topping.


Enjoy what ever version you make, Pam, couldn't you just put them on a flat rock and cook in the sun lol

Lizx

Thinking about these I think my Mum's version were a cross between the two lol I didn't eat a lot of them as a child as I didn't used to like currants then, but don't mind them now.

Eccles cakes are my favourites but I find the supermarket ones are very dry and I prefer them to be gooey and quite sticky. We are lucky enough to have two bakers in the small town I live in and I have recently discovered that one of them makes them just the way I like them :))

I am not a geat cake eater and I can't bake cakes to save my life so this is a double boost for me.

Libby

Oh now I am really wishing I had something gooey and nice to eat, and not a cake in the house, o.h. becoming diabetic means I am stricter about what I buy and I didn't inherit my Mum's talent for baking, sadly.

Lizx

Thanks for that idea and yes I could - but only in summer, it's winter here at the moment remember...

Why don't you come over here if its already cold there -it's summer there but our 20 degrees today in winter was gorgeous. All the washing dry, gardening in the sun and then a book - bliss!!

x

Pam, send me a ticket, I will be with you like a shot lol

Been overcast, rainy and not very warm most of the weekend, especially Sunday, but luckily the sun came out for my son's friend's wedding so they could get lovely pictures for their album.

Lizx

Not so crash hot today though - only 17 with a sneaky breeze but at least the sun's out and the sky's blue!
What more could you ask for in God's private Island? (we call it Australia)

Come aqnd join us Liz, two of my grandparents did and they loved it - the heat of summer and all.

xx

Pam, had I the money for the fare I would be off travelling like a shot, so many friends all over the world to visit and also many lovely places to see even if I don't know anyone there.

Lizx

trust me, cheap frares are out there...I'm on a part pension but I buy early-bird flights with all different carriers. My trip to Europe this year was with Air China - and they were fantastic.
Keep your eyes open and also join a few flight newsletters. In Oz I use :- www.bestflights.com and I keep an eye on Qantas.com - Emirates.com - Singaporeairlines.com - as well as - Malasianairlines.com - Virginatlantic.com - and I'm sure you can think of some others too.

I travel to Erope every year on the cheap - I couldn't do it otherwise. Just set your mind to it, even set a date for it but do it!!

Nobody knows how many tomorrows they have left: my Dad died suddenly at 32 and my daughter at 19, please don't get to the end of your days regretting what you never did!

Love Pam x

I am finally getting round to having a go at making these at the weekend.LOL
Julia in Derbyshire