Eccles cake and ginger custard

I like Eccles cakes and have most of my life. My father-in-law picked up on this fact years ago and so every time I go to his house, even at his age of 88, he makes me a cup of tea and gives me an Eccles cake. And sometimes two. Lovely.

But not quite as lovely as making your own which I’d never done until recently. The following recipe is for what I think is the best dessert on our menu at the moment. And to think I thought they’d be difficult to make.

And the ginger custard is a lovely twist and, again, so easy.

Serves four

One sheet of frozen puff pastry – defrosted
500g raisins
100g sugar
150ml water
A pinch of cinnamon
One orange
One egg for egg wash
100ml double cream
100ml milk
Three egg yokes
Sugar to taste for the custard – around a tablespoonful
A thumb-sized piece of stem ginger – finely-chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (gas mark 4)

Remove the zest from the orange and chop finely. Then squeeze the juice from the orange.

Place the water, chopped zest, orange juice, cinnamon and the 100g of sugar in a pan and bring to a simmer until the sugar’s dissolved. Remove from the heat, add the raisins and allow them to soak in the liquid for an hour to allow them plump up.

When they’re ready, roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle that’s about 5mm (¼”) thick. Drain the liquid off the raisins (it doesn’t need keeping) and spread the raisins evenly over the pastry before rolling it all together in the style of a Swiss roll.

Beat the single egg and then brush it over the pastry. Place the roll on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes or until crisp and golden. Remove and allow to cool (or you could serve it immediately hot if you’ve already made the custard).

To make the custard, put the milk and cream in a pan and bring to the boil. While it’s heating, place the eggs and sugar into a bowl and whisk until pale, adding the ginger towards the end. When the milk and cream is boiling, pour onto the egg mixture whisking all the time. Pour the custard back into the pan and put it over a very low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon for five minutes or so until the custard thickens a little. Make sure that you stir everywhere, including into the corners so that the eggs don’t cook and scramble. While stirring, taste the custard and add a little more sugar if necessary but remember that the Eccles cake is already quite sweet.

To serve, either serve the Eccles cake cold or reheat in the oven if necessary, chop into serving sizes and pour the custard around.