Eccles Cake (A Traditional English Pastry Recipe)

Eccles cake, a traditional British pastry from a town named Eccles in England, are very easy to make using this classic recipe and store-bought, or pre-made puff pastry.

If you’ve ever tasted an Eccles cake, you’ll be happy to be reading this as I’ve included a recipe that’s so easy to make anytime you have a craving!

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You know how things happen: you get back from a trip (remember, I was gone for a whole month) and have to catch up on everything you didn’t do when you were away. It just so happened that 7 of my daughter’s early action university applications were due 10 days after I returned–yikes! After we met that deadline, we went right into the holidays and, well, you get the picture.

This year has already been a whirlwind with so much travel: five days in Seattle and Portland, and a weekend in Washington DC in January. You probably know tha I just returned from my fabulous trip to Jamaica, which I won courtesy of BevMo!  I should already have tickets to fly back to DC in May for my son’s graduation from Georgetown, but I just haven’t had time to book them. I feel as if I’m going to blink and it will be October!

Rye, England

So now that you know why I’m finally writing about Rye, The Royal Oak Foundation and Eccles Cakes so much later, we can get started.

Disclosure: The Royal Oak Foundation provided me with two Individual Memberships for my mother and me while traveling in the UK last autumn, however, I have purchased family memberships for years and as always, all opinions are my own.

You’ll remember that I wrote a little about Rye, England in my post about the wonderful Mermaid Inn.

This is a town I’ve been visiting since I was a little girl, because my Aunt Rosa lives there. It is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen, with its cobblestone streets, Tudor architecture and hilltop location overlooking the English Channel, and sometimes even sharing a peek at France.

It’s truly a place to add to your travel bucket list.

When I’m in Rye, I love to wander around the historic streets, popping into food shops, charity shops and gift shops. My friend Suzanne lives nearby and has a great list of the best things to do in Rye.

One of my favorite things is peeping at the treats in bakery windows–taking photos every step of the way!

I spied this Eccles cake, which I’d never tried before and decided they were going onto my “to bake” list. 

Another place I love to go to in Rye is Lamb House, which is part of Britain’s National Trust–similar to our US National Park system, but it includes so much more. The National Trust protects British…

• Houses & buildings
• Gardens & parks
• Nature & wildlife
• Coast & countryside
• Collections
• Sites & monuments

Lamb House, for example, is the former home of American-British writer, Henry James.

The Royal Oak Foundation

I don’t know about you, but I just never tire of learning history when I travel, especially since the US is such a relatively “young” country. However, the reason I’m telling you all about the National Trust is because I want to introduce you to The Royal Oak Foundation (Americans in Alliance with the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland), which is based here in the US and is a sister organization to the NT.

I don’t remember how I originally discovered the Royal Oak Foundation, but I have been buying a family membership for many years whenever we visit the UK. The annual membership saves us a lot of money because it provides 2 adults and their children full admittance to every National Trust property in the UK (reciprocal benefits with the National Trust for Scotland, too) and a parking pass, too!

Here are just a few photos of the many places we’ve been to with our Royal Oak Membership~

We’ve been to so many other places, too, including Stourhead, where part of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie was filmed, as well as Lacock Abbey, one of the filming locations for Harry Potter, Chamber of Secrets; my kids loved this!

Continue to Content

Rye, The Royal Oak Foundation and A Recipe for Eccles Cakes

Yield: 10

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Puff pastry filled with fruit and spice from Eccles, England.

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Ingredients

• 1 package of puff pastry (or flaky pastry)
• 1 tbsp (15g) good quality butter, like Kerrygold
• 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (75g) currants
• zest of an organic orange, which has been washed
• 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 pinches of allspice
• 1 egg white, beaten
• sugar, for sprinkling on top of cakes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C)

1. Place the butter in a small saucepan over low heat until just melted, then remove from heat and add the rest of the filling ingredients, stir to combine and set aside to cool.
2. Roll out the dough to a rectangle measuring about 6″ x 15″ (16cm x 40cm), cut lengthwise in half, then cut into 10 equal sized pieces.
3. Place a spoonful of filling onto the center of each square, using all of it evenly between the 10 pieces, then wet the edges of one of the squares, using your finger.
4. Now, hold the pastry in one hand and close the edges together to seal the filling inside, forming it into a round shape when finished.
5. Place the pastry on a lined baking sheet, with the pinched side down and press down slightly.
6. Repeat with the remaining 9 pastries, then make three slits on top with a very sharp knife or razor blade, brush with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar.
7. Pop into the preheated oven, on a lower shelf for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place the tray in the middle of the oven for a further 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from tray and place on cooling rack.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 cake
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 329Total Fat: 13gCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 4g

Did you make this recipe?

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