Why it works: Butter and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,856 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Eccles Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the currants, peel, sugar and spice and mix thoroughly together.
Shape the cakes
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry very thinly and cut out eight 12.5 cm circles using a saucer as a guide.
Divide the fruit mixture between the circles, damp the edges of the pastry and draw them to the centre, sealing well together.
Turn the cakes over and roll gently into circles with a rolling pin.
Brush with egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Make 3 diagonal cuts across the top of each.
Bake
Place on dampened baking sheets and bake at 220°C (425°F) mark 7 for about 15 minutes, until light golden brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Pastry | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Puff pastry
- Thin layers of butter-laced dough that puff and turn flaky in the hot oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the filling bind together with the fruit and sugar.
- Currants
- Provide sweetness and chewy, moist fruit in the filling.
- Demerara sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it caramelise slightly during baking.
- Egg white
- Brushed on top to help the sugar stick and give a glossy, browned finish.
The step that matters
Sealing the pastry around the filling. If the edges are not damped and sealed well, the filling can leak out during baking and the cakes may open up unevenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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