A small flaky-pastry round filled with currants, butter and brown sugar, topped with crystallised sugar. A classic British bake found at St John in Clerkenwell and bakery counters across London.
The Eccles cake is named for the town of Eccles in Greater Manchester, where James Birch began selling them commercially in 1793. London's enduring claim to the form comes from St John on St John Street (1994), where Fergus Henderson serves Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese as a counter-bakery and dessert plate. The St John recipe (flaky pastry, butter-soaked currants, demerara) is widely copied across modern British kitchens. Other London bakeries selling the orthodox form: Bea's of Bloomsbury, Lyle's, Toad Bakery.
4 editor picks for Eccles cake in London, ranked by editorial score. All London signature dishes · Eccles cake across every city.
St John ★ 4.9
clerkenwell · 26 St John Street, London EC1M 4AY
Fergus Henderson's St John in Clerkenwell has cooked the nose-to-tail British canon in London since 1994. Whitewashed dining room, no music, daily-changing menu on a single sheet.
Lyle's ★ 4.7
shoreditch · Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6JJ
James Lowe's Tea Building dining room in Shoreditch London is a Michelin-starred set-menu kitchen built on British produce, opened 2014, on the World's 50 Best list.
Quality Chop House ★ 4.6
clerkenwell · 92-94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking in original Victorian booths.
Toad Bakery ★ 4.5
peckham · 183 Camberwell Road, London SE5 0HB
Erin Wilkins's small-batch bakery on Camberwell Road in south London, opened 2021, runs serious natural-leaven sourdough, pastel de nata and a weekend-only pastry counter.