British Food and Travel

Britain has a huge number of regional dishes, but it can be easy to confuse some of them. For instance, you might be familiar with the Eccles cake, a small pastry case filled with spiced dried fruit. But do you know what makes it different to a Banbury cake (also a small pastry case filled with spiced fruit)? And what about the Chorley cake or the Coventry Godcake? Let’s explore the similarities and differences.

Eccles Cake

Despite its name, the Eccles cake is technically more of a pie. It is a small round package of flaky pastry. Inside, you find a sweet mix of spiced currants and peel. They originated in the town of Eccles, once part of Lancashire but now part of Greater Manchester. James Birch usually takes the credit for creating the Eccles cake; he is the first known person to have sold them, from his small bakery in 1793. However, a recipe that bears remarkable similarity to the Eccles cake appeared in Elizabeth Raffald’s 1769 cookbook, The Experienced English Housekeeper. Did Mrs Raffald create it? Or was she simply sharing something that had been handed down in many families for generations? We shall never know.

Banbury Cake

LIke the Eccles cake, a Banbury cake is made of mincemeat (i.e. spiced currants) inside a flaky pastry shell. In fact, you could easily be forgiven for confusing the two. The main difference is shape, the Banbury cake being oval. The cakes have been made in the Oxfordshire town since the 16th century and were reputedly first made by Edward Welchman. Recipes appeared in various books during the 17th century. Banbury cakes also frequently contain rosewater and/or rum, and were a favourite of Queen Victoria. The monarch would be presented with some each summer as she travelled from Osborne House on the Isle of Wight to her residence at Balmoral.

Chorley Cake

Also similar to the Eccles cake but much flatter is the Chorley cake. The latter comes from the Lancashire town for which it is named. Shortcrust pastry is used instead of the flaky variety and the filling is not as sweet as its Manchester cousin. The traditional way to enjoy a Chorley cake is with a light scraping of butter and a slice of Lancashire cheese.

Coventry Godcake

Mincemeat in puff pastry… but the similarity ends there. Coventry Godcakes are very much a local dish, with a religious significance. They are a large triangle often with three cuts in the top, the cuts and the sides of the triangle representing the Holy Trinity. Godcakes were eaten at New Year and were given by godparents to their godchildren for luck.

Eccles Cake Recipe

Below is a recipe for making Eccles cakes (and Banbury cakes if you adapt the shape before baking).

• 2 sheets ready-made flaky pastry
• 3oz / 75g unsalted butter
• 5oz/75g brown sugar
• 5oz/150 g currants
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• the juice and zest of 1 orange
• 2oz / 50g mixed peel
• small amount of milk

Melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir the currants, sugar, spices, orange zest and juice, and peel into the melted butter. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 220C / Gas Mark 7 and lightly grease a baking tray.

Roll the pastry out to about 1/3 inch thickness. Cut into rounds. Some recipes will tell you that these rounds should be only 6cm wide but that makes putting your Eccles cakes together rather difficult so feel free to make them up to about 10cm in width.

Place a spoonful of the filling in the middle of each pastry round. Use a small amount of milk to wet the edges and fold the pastry round in half, sealing carefully. Turn over, seam side down and roll out carefully to make a round (Eccles) or an oval (Banbury). Place on the baking sheet.

Make 2 or 3 small cuts across the top of each cake and sprinkle with a small amount of sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes.