James Martin's Blackburn and Eccles cakes

Name: james martins blackburn and eccles cakes
Yield: 12 servings

The apple filling from Blackburn cakes is combined with the currant filling of an Eccles cake to create this delicious pastry.

James Martin's Blackburn and Eccles cake on a plate with a knife and a slice of Stilton

By James Martin | Published - 12 Mar 2026

A combination of Blackburn cakes, which contain cooked apple, and the classic Eccles cakes, which are filled with currants, these delicious pastry cakes are a must on a cheese board.

Other similar cakes from around the country are Chorley cakes, which are less sweet with a shortcrust pastry, and Banbury cakes, which are a larger oval version of a classic Eccles.

Serves

Ingredients

450g strong, white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
250g cold butter, grated
A pinch of salt
200ml iced water
1 egg white
25g caster sugar

For the filling

1 large Bramley apple (around 360g), diced
35g salted butter
100g currants
25g caster sugar
25g light, soft brown sugar

To serve

Stilton and cheddar cheese

Method

First make the filling. Put the diced apple into a small pan with ½ tbsp water, cover with a lid and cook gently over a low heat until the pieces start to break down. Spoon into a shallow bowl, spread out thinly (so that it cools quicker) and chill.
Melt the butter in a separate pan, and add the currants and both types of sugar. Stir together and cook over a low heat for 2 minutes.
Spoon into a bowl and chill. Now make the pastry. Tip the flour into a bowl, and stir in the butter and salt. Drizzle the water over the top and mix with a round-bladed table knife to bring the mixture together into a rough dough. Use your hands to gently and quickly knead the mixture until smooth. Form the pastry into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C(180°C fan)/400°F/gas 6.
Dust a clean work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 4 even pieces. Roll out one piece until it’s around 3-4mm thick. Use a 10cm round cutter to stamp out 3 rounds. Divide the apple mixture roughly into 12, and put a spoonful into the middle of each round of pastry.
Do the same with the currant mixture. Fold the pastry over the filling and seal together tightly. Flip over, shape into a round and pop onto a large baking sheet. Do the same with the rest of the pastry and filling until you’ve shaped 12 cakes.
Brush each pastry cake with egg white, sprinkle with a little caster sugar, then cut 2 or 3 slits in the top of each with a knife. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and the pastry is crisp. Cool on a wire rack until warm, and serve with the cheese.

Extracted from James Martin’s Great British Adventure by James Martin (Quadrille, RRP £25). Photography © Peter Cassidy.

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(Hero image credit: Peter Cassidy)

Written by: James Martin

James Martin is a chef, TV presenter and host of James Martin’s Saturday Morning certainly knows his dairy. His latest book Cheese has 100 recipes which make the most of the UK’s favourite ingredient.

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