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Cookies

The people of Raunds are the best fed village I have ever seen, Virtually every shop offers tempting food. Cookies the baker is a delightful Baker/Cake Shop/Cafe where folk drop in to buy delicious products and gossip with the staff and neighbors in the cafe.

Location                        Raunds

Largest dimension     140mm   A RECORD!

Thickness                      24mm

Weight of cake             120gm   Generous

Colour of crust             Lovely gold with big white sugar crystals

Texture of crust           Melt in the mouth

Interest in crust           Holes and leakage

Colour of base              Pale yellow

Texture of base            Thick and chewy

Thickness of base        up to 8mm

Caramelisation of base   None

Weight of filling            105gm

Nature of filling           Only raisins

Texture of filling          Not bound. Fruit spread due to large size

 

 

Hindley’s

Location     Litchfield

Largest Dimension   92mm

Thickness    31mm

Weight of cake   102gm

Colour of upper crust     Gloriously golden

Interest in upper crust    Huge Interest with large brown sugar crystals

Thickness  of base     4mm May be short crust pastry

Base colour         Mid Brown

Weight of fruit     25gm

Filling           Miserly quantity of currants and raisins huge globs of stewed apple

Caramelisation    None

Talerddig

 

Sidling back from a spot of twitching at Ynys Hir called into delightful market town of Machynlleth on a picturesque market day. Located cake shop, served by a winsome wench and then…

Location Machynlleth

Largest dimension                     111mm
Thickness                                      23mm
Weight of cake                            105gm
Colour of upper crust               Dark
Interest in crust                          Lots! Broken holes. Irregular outline
Thickness of base                      25mm in places!


Base colour                                  Pale Brown
Texture of base                           Very Thick Laminated but with dense layer


Weight of fruit                             28gm – some embedded in base!
Texture of filling                         Raisins and currant loose – not bound
Caramelisationn                        None

Huge disappointment. Looks good but challenging to eat.

Eccles Cake Awards 2017

The Awards this year will be announced in 2 phases.

The Regional Champions in Wales and England will be announced at the end of July

The National Champions and Victor Ludorum will be announced in mid August

There will be three categories

Craft Baker

Packaged Cake

Large Store

For details of categories and tests please see web site. www.TheFriendsoftheEcclesCake.co.uk

 

 

 

M&S Packaged (revisited)

Some months ago we tasted a package from M&S.  It was ghastly.

M&S are one of the best and most consistent suppliers of in-store baked Eccles Cakes.

We thought our earlier sample was untypical. We were wrong. The latest offering was barely edible.

The packaging in French and German implies export. God help our reputation.

 

Location                           Traford Park

Largest dimension        85mm

Thickness                         25mm

Weight of cake               81gm

Crust colour                    Pale and uninteresting

Interest in crust             None unless you find sugar crystals interesting

Thickness of base          15mm

Colour of base                Mid brown

Texture of base              Like 18th Century Naval hard-tack

Weight of fruit                42gm

Texture of filling            Well bound soft currants

Caramelising                   None

Over view

How can a firm with so much expertise get this so wrong?  Twice?

Shauls – pack of 3

Recovering from an unseasonal  dip in The Channel, seeking sustenance, staggered into baker.  A pack of 3 Eccles Cakes was irresistible.

Theses are the first Eccles Cake we have seen with “pointy ends”

Location                             Sidmouth

Largest dimension          120mm

Thickness                           28mm

Weight of cake                 105gm

Colour of upper crust    Mellow Yellow

Interest in crust               Slits with different patterns on different cakes

Thickness of base            8mm A bit under baked. Better to bake on try than on rack?

Colour of base                    Yellow

Texture of base                  Not crisp – stodgy

Weight of fruit                  21gm

Nature of filling                A mixture of fruit

Texture of filling               Currants not engorged. Enveloped in extender. A bit like mashed dates but not unpleasant

Caramelisation                 None

We aim to be realistic in our criticism. These cakes tasted very well in spite of our detailed critique.

Curtis and son

To Oakham in the lovely County of Rutland. Battled my way into shop filled with elderly ladies buying multiple Eccles Cakes fresh from the oven with steely determination and an almost unseemly lust.

Location                             Oakham

Largest dimension          85mm

Thickness                           32mm

Weight of cake                 98gm

Colour of upper crust    Beautifully golden

Interest in crust               Plenty

Thickness of base            12 to 10mm

Colour of base                     Golden

Texture of base                 Mainly bisuity but slightly under cooked

The image above doe not do justice to the product.

Weight of fruit                  38gm

Nature of filling                A mixture of fruit

Texture of filling               Bound

Caramelisation                 No sadly

These Eccles Cakes, (I bought more than 1) are a tour de force. Crisp and filled with a delicious mix. The wise older women know a good thing when they find it

Hambleton

 

Delighted to escape from A1 your Taster sought out this lauded bakery but ……

Location                                 Stamford

Largest Dimension             105mm

Thickness                              40mm

Weight of cake                     118gm

Colour of upper crust       Dark Brown with pleasantly glazed areas

Interest in crust                  Lots of piercing and leakage plus good colour. This is a                                                        nice cake.

Texture of crust                   Crisp. A brilliant ” bite”.

Colour of base                     Mid brown.

Thickness of base              2 to11mm.

Texture of base                   Complex. Outer layer crisp and biscuity. Intermediate                                                         layer perfectly laminated. Inner layer under baked. It is                                                     hard to achieve such excellent crisp crusts without                                                               burning and also ensuring complete bake-through

Weight of fruit                     40gm.

Texture of filling                 Tiny shriveled currants. Fruit, embarrassed by its size,                                                       avoided contact with the other berries and was utterly                                                        unbound

Base caramelisation        None.

Overview

An attractive bakery with excellent products. The Eccles Cake promised much and delivered on the pastry but disappointed with the contents. Can do better.

Gerrards

Location                                 Bala

Largest Dimension             82mm

Thickness                              29mm

Weight of cake                     99gm

Colour of upper crust       Uniform gold with nice crystals

Interest in crust                  Spectacular slits with evidence of fruit escape

Texture of crust                   Perfect. Crisp, crumbly and melts in mouth

Colour of base                     Caught very slightly with slightly glazed edge

Thickness of base              5mm.

Texture of base                   Short crust?

Weight of fruit                     42gm.

Texture of filling                Stickily bonded.

Base caramelisation        Slight on margin of base. Enough to excite!!

Overview

A charming service in gleamingly clean store.

Chatwins

This  voluptuous little cake was even better than it looked!

Location                                 Llangollen

Largest Dimension             70mm

Thickness                              37m

Weight of cake                     110gm

Colour of upper crust       Pale but interesting with very glittery sugar crystals

Interest in crust                  Small holes and sugar crystals

Texture of crust                   Delightful. Melt in the mouth. Attractive tasting pastry.

Colour of base                     Mid brown.

Thickness of base              6mm.

Texture of base                   Short crust

Weight of fruit                     50gm.  Bursting

Texture of filling                 Succulant fruit bound to perfection.

Base caramelisation        None.

Overview

As the smaller bakery chains with in-store ovens grow more confident and expand into other towns they encounter other similar firms. Llangollen sees Chatwins in the same street as Gerrards. This may not end well.