Eccles Cakes- Britain #63

Eccles Cakes- Britain #63

One of Britain's favorite cakes. Eccles cakes are flaky pastry, packed with a mixture of currants, candied citrus peel and spices.

Pastry:

3-1/3 c. plus 1 T. all-purpose flour
11 oz. very cold butter, diced into cubes (put in the freezer for 5-10 mins. after cubing)
1/2 tsp. salt
125 ml ice cold water (add more if needed)

Filling:

r T. butter, unsalted
1-1/2 c. dried currants
1/3 c. candied orange peel, very finely diced
1/3 c. candied lemon peel, very finely diced
3/4 c. brown sugar, loosely packed
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. dark rum (not extract)

Topping:

1 large egg white
demerara sugar, for sprinkling ( or cane sugar)

1. Pastry: Place the flour, salt and cubed butter in a food processor, (this can also be done by hand), and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Gradually add the ice cold water and pulse just until the dough comes together (only add as much waster as needed). Do not overdo this as maintaining the flecks of butter is critical to achieving a flaky pastry.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and roll it out into a rectangle about 1/2 " thick.
4. Fold each end of the dough into the middle with one end overlapping the other.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Repeat all the steps.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 mins.  Repeat the steps again, wrap the dough and chill for at least one hour before using.  The pastry dough can be made a few days in advance or frozen.
5. Filling: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add all remaining ingredients except for the egg white and demerara sugar.
6. Turn off the heat and stir in the rum.
7. Let the filling sit for at least 3-4 hours before using or overnight. If refrigerated, let the filling sit at room temp for at least 30 mins. before filling the Eccles cakes.
8. Assemble: Flour a work surface and roll the pastry out to between 1/8 and 1/4" thickness. 
9. Cut out rounds- 3.5" in diameter.
10. Place the dough cutouts on a lined baking sheet. 
11. Place as much filling on the cutouts as you can while leaving an adequate edge all around the to properly seal the pastries.
12. Lightly brush the edges with water.
13. Gather up the edges towards the center, pressing them gently together to seal.
14. Turn the cakes over with sealed edges on the bottom.
15. With the sealed edges on the bottom and the smooth surface on the top, gently press the cakes to slightly flatten them.  Don't press so hard that the currants break through the dough.  Use a sharp knife to cut 3 parallel slits in the dough.
16. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with demerara sugar or cane sugar.
17. Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the cakes for 15-20 mins. or until golden brown.
18. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to warm. Enjoy!

Results:This is not a quick and easy dessert. However, I must say, it is well worth the effort. Chilling the pastry is time consuming as is the filling. So don't try to make this late in the day. I ended up making the pastry and dough and filling the night before. In no way were the Eccles Cakes uniform in size. No one cared. They also took much longer to bake than the 15-20 mins. It was more like 30-40 mins. The filling in the cakes did leak out from the cuts on the top. That's the brown you see on the tops in the picture. I had enough pastry dough leftover to make jam tarts.

Bottom Line: I would definitely make these again. They are quite yummy. I can see why they are a British favorite.

Please share with all your British family and friends and those who like a little rum and lots of currants in their dessert. Many thanks.