Eccles cakes aren’t really cakes in the usual sense. An Eccles cake is a small, round pie, similar to a turnover, filled with currants and made from flaky pastry chock full of currants and topped with a generous sprinkle of demerara sugar.
The name comes from the town of Eccles, which is in Greater Manchester. However, you’ll find Real Lancashire Eccles Cakes, one of the largest companies still making authentic Eccles cakes, in Ardwick.
Oliver Cromwell banned them for a time in the 17th century, claiming they were a pagan creation. By and large, people ignored him and fortunately, the ban was overturned. James Birch was the first commercial baker to sell them. He opened his Eccles premises in 1793, though you’ll now find them much further afield.