Eccles Cakes

(minimum order 1 pallet per week)

Here at Martins we have an entire factory dedicated to making traditional handmade Eccles Cakes.

Find our Lowthers Eccles Cakes in Tesco and other independent stores.

The Eccles cake has its origins in Lancashire, where it is believed that each local family would once have had its own recipe. In fact, many of the earlier recipes included the use of ingredients such as mincemeat, yeast, eggs, rum and brandy. (from ‘A Taste of Britain’ by Dawn).

The first modern Eccles Cake to be produced commercially was made in the 18th Century by James Birch, who set up a cake shop in the Lancashire town of Eccles. It is thought he took his recipe from a 1769 book, ‘The Experienced English Housekeeper’ in which the cakes were known as "sweet patties" – a book which remains in publication today.

Eccles Cakes soon became a top seller and as early as 1818 they were said to be sold "at all the markets and fairs around and are even exported to America and the West Indies".

Proposals have been put forward to prevent bakers from calling the cakes "Eccles Cakes" unless they have actually been made in Eccles; but as there are no longer any major producers based in Eccles itself, this would likely cause the disappearance of Eccles cakes from almost all national shops, forecourts and supermarket shelves.

Lowthers Eccles cakes are made to a traditional Lancashire recipe, in almost exactly the same way as those original Eccles cakes. Each one is hand filled, hand folded, and hand pressed into the traditional shape (although nowadays we use machines to roll out the pastry).