Lancashire flaky-pastry pucks filled with currants, butter and warm spices. Born in Eccles, Salford in the late 1700s and named for the town, sold commercially since 1793.
James Birch is credited as the first to sell Eccles cakes commercially, at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary's Road in Eccles town centre in 1793. The pastries became a tea-time staple across Lancashire and survived the industrial expansion of nineteenth-century Salford. St John in London still pairs the Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese; Manchester pub dessert menus serve it with cream.
2 editor picks for Eccles cake in Manchester, ranked by editorial score. All Manchester signature dishes · Eccles cake across every city.
Mr Thomas's Chop House ★ 4.4
deansgate · 52 Cross Street, Manchester M2 7AR
1867 Victorian Manchester chop house and pub on Cross Street. Cask ales, steak and kidney pudding, original tilework and the city's oldest dining room.
Eccles Market ★ 4.0
salford · Town Hall Square, Eccles, Salford M30 0NS
Lancashire's Eccles market square in Salford, four miles west of Manchester. Pie and Eccles-cake stalls keep the bake tradition alive on weekdays.