Chorley Cakes
Chorley cakes are flattened, fruit filled pastry cakes, traditionally associated with the town of Chorley in Lancashire, England. They are a close relative of the more widely known Eccles cake, but have some significant differences. The Chorley cake is significantly less sweet than its Eccles cousin, and is commonly eaten with a light spread of butter on top, and sometimes a slice of Lancashire cheese on the side.
A Chorley cake is made using currants, sandwiched between two layers of sweetened shortcrust pastry,[1] whereas an Eccles cake uses flaky pastry, which after baking is normally a deeper brown in colour.
The other difference is that the currants in the Eccles cake are often concentrated together in the middle while in the Chorley cake the fruit is usually evenly distributed. It is not uncommon to see some sugar added to the fruit, or sweeter raisins or sultanas used. Locals often refer to Chorley cake as Fly Pie
A Banbury cake is a spiced, currant-filled, flat pastry cake similar to an Eccles cake, although it is more oval in shape. Once made and sold exclusively in Banbury, England, Banbury cakes have been made in the region to secret recipes since 1586 and are still made there today, although not in such quantity.
Besides currants, the filling typically includes mixed peel, brown sugar, rose water, rum, and nutmeg. Banbury cakes were traditionally enjoyed with afternoon tea.
Watch my Video making both Eccles Cakes and Chorley Cakes
See also my recipe for Eccles Cakes HERE
Chorley Cakes
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PLEASE NOTE: You can now adjust the number of servings on the recipe below. or on the Print Menu option.
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 170 g butter
- 256 g plain flour
- 21 g sugar caster
- Pinch salt
- 2 g. baking powder
- 42 g milk
For the Filling
- 40 g butter
- 50 g. sugar
- A good pinch grated nutmeg Optional
- 200 g currants sultanas or raisins
DISCLAIMER
I recommend using the Metric measurements (instead of cups & spoons) for more accuracy and better results.
Instructions
- In a bowl sieve in flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Rub in the butter until you have a bread crumb consistency then add the milk and work until you have a nice dough. Press dough into a disk, cover in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest..
- Melt the butter then stir in the sugar, nutmeg and currants and allow to stand a short while to allow the butter to set a little..
- Roll the dough out until 5mm thick. Cut out a disk approximately 8cm in diameter.
- Place 1 tbsp of the mixture in the middle of the disk and fold in the edges so the mixture is covered. Flip over so the seal is underneath then flatten with the palm of your hand (see video) until the currants are beginning to show through the pastry. Place on a lined baking tray.
- Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes at 190ºC do not let them brown.
- Serve with a little butter and/or a crumbly cheese (preferably Lancashire).
© Copyright Mr Paul 2021
Category: Baking, British, Cakes, Pastries & Biscuits, Cuisine, Recipes, Teatime Treats, Snacks, Party Food, Vegetarian,, Vegan & Free From
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Hello Michael, My apologies, it goes in with the flour, salt, baking powder. Thank you for bringing this to my notice, I have now fixed the recipe page,
Am I missing something, but what do you do with the sugar in the pastry ingredients? Assume add at the breadcrumb stage …? Thanks – good recipe
Hello David, Many thanks for your feedback and also for the 5 star rating too.
Growing up in what used to be West Lancs my great aunt, a demon baker, used to supply us with a plate sized delicacy she called Flat Adam – a currant mix wrapped in shortcrust. I’ve tried several times over the years to recreate it without great success until I found your recipe – and it wasn’t only me who relished the results! Now if only I had her touch with pastry…
Thanks!
Hi Paul.
My mother who was originally from Bolton used to make what she called Flat Cake.
It was delicious with a softish buttery pastry and a filling of sultanas.
We used to eat it straight out of the oven and coat it in Lurpak butter.
We were lucky if there was any left to eat cold.
Talk about moreish.
We have used your recipe thank you,it’s very similar to mothers.
I used to say we must write down your recipes mother but we never did.
I wish we had.
Thanks for the info, I’m sure many people will appreciate that Andy.
Hi I have brought some new scales. They make everything a lot easier. I have made chorley cakes about ten times now and they are great for a treat. I have used brown sugar when mixing the sultanas and butter filling. It works a treat. I have also used vegan butter and soya milk for my daughter who is vegan and they come out very well.
In the bakery trade we always called anything that did nit rise properly ‘SAD’ and we called chorley cakes sad because they looked like they hadn’t risen,
In the 50s in Lancashire a sad cake was a plain round of shortcrust pastry. My elderly aunt said it was called sad as it had no filling.
Hello Melissa,
I’m almost 80 years old and have used the metric system since the 1960’s as do most of the world. I don’t have enough time left to start converting my recipes to the most inaccurate US system. May I suggest to invest $10 in a digital scale as grams are the same the world over.
I wish you could translate this to USA measurements.
[…] You may like to try the other Lancashire Classic ‘The Chorley Cake’ see recipe HERE […]
Hi Steven, if you’re serious about baking treat yourself to a metric kitchen scale, they will weigh from 1 gramm up to 3 kilos and are quite cheap. Bakers weigh everything even water. Check this out https://mr-pauls-pantry.com/grams-vs-cups/
how do you weigh 2grammes (what is it in old money) or do you use measuring spoons
Hi Selina,
My apologies, it should read Sweetened shortcrust pastry, NOT unsweetened.
Hello MR Paul. You mention that they have unsweetened pastry but there is sugar in the pastry, Should i leave it out?
Hi Felicia,
WE used to make something like you describe in the bakery, but called those Garibaldi Squares.
I am really happy to find this. when I was a child, the company Sunshine used to make these delicious raisin filled squares. There was a perforation between each one like a cracker, but filled with spiced raisin. They were quite a bit thinner but the flavor was so good. I am probably going to make these a lot
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your comment, it’s nice to know you enjoyed them. Even though I’m A yorkshire man, Both Chorley cakes and Eccles cakes were two of my best sellers in my shops both in Leeds and here in Spain too. x
I am not buying from a shop anymore. These are better than shop bought. The trouble is they are very moorish. I made a batch for my husband as a treat and I had to stop myself at eating just two. Thank you for sparing the time and sharing this recipe. Susan a Lancashire lass. Any more recipes please keep me posted thanks.
Hello Julie, That’s a real compliment coming from a Lancastrian to a Yorkshireman, thank You very much. I’m sorry I can’t think what it was your dear Grandma used to make, but there were so many regional variations of recipes, especially in the days when many things were in short supply, people improvised with whatever they could get. Thanks agian for your comment. xx
Thank you so much for this recipe and from a Lancastrian can I just say how authentic these Chorley cakes are in their taste. I was looking for something similar to what my Grandma used to make when I was younger, it wasn’t a Chorley or Eccles cake but it was currants in pastry and we always had butter on it. This recipe brought back memories and I thank you for that.
Hi Cindy, Thank you for your comment, it’s always nice to hear from viewers. It was very interesting about the dates, I’ve not heard of that before but sounds good. I’m pleased you enjoyed my pastry recipe, it’s unusual for a Yorkshireman to get something right from Lancashire. x
Hi Cindy, Thank you for your comment and I’m pleased you found my recipe useful. Just to let you know I have just published a video making both Chorley Cakes and Eccles Cakes at this link
I just searched for a Chorley cake recipe and found yours. I have lived in Canada since the early 70’s. I did my secretarial training in Chorley when I was a young whippersnapper and Chorley cakes were a favourite of mine when the tea trolley came round. I seem to remember them having dates in so I added some to your recipe, chopped fine, to replace some of the currants. Dates may have been a local thing. Anyway, rambling on…………….. I wanted to let you know that they turned out absolutely gorgeous and delicious, the pastry is unique and it was like walking down memory lane as I sampled!
Well done, this is a recipe I will put in my “keep box”.
Cindy, Vancouver Island, Canada.
Hello Joyce,
Thanks for your interesting comment. In my bakery in Yorkshire we made Charley cakes which unlike Eccles cakes which use puff pastry chorley cakes use palin shoty crust pastry. However, Sad Cakes are exactly the same as Chorley cakes but made in one large cake unlike chorley cakes which are small individual cakes. I hope this helps. Anything more don’t hesitate to get back to me.
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Hi Paul,
Reading this recipe I recognise what we called “Sad Cake” in my youth. Because it doesn’t rise, I suppose. It’s true that this was/is the difference with Eccles Cakes, which I loooooove!
My grandma used to make sad cake with the pastry left over from her Tuesday pie bake. It often lasted a whole week’s teatimes, spread with butter and a little slice of Lancashire (or Wensleydale if we were a bit more well-off!)
Over to you Paul,
Wishing you a safe weekend,
Joyce