Chorley or Eccles? I'll go Chorley with Eccles being a very close second.
The glazed flaky pastry on an Eccles can be overpowering as they err toward the sweeter side, whereas the unsweetened shortcrust on a Chorley provides just the right balance of goodness with a mouth full of currants.
The problem lies in the fact that they come in a packets of 4 and are so moorish that cake one is just never enough.
These are nice and well priced at £2.10 for four.
As are these priced at £2.40 for four.
Eccles and Chorleys are closely related, but theres another cake closely related to the Chorley called a Sad cake.
Found in Darwen, Blackpool, Accrington, Burnley, and throughout the Rossendale area.
Sad cake is often up to 12 inches in diameter, as opposed to the Chorley cake being 3 to 5 inches. Made by rolling out the pastry and dropping raisins and/or currants evenly over it, then folding it in on several sides and rolling it out again to the required size.
It was then cut into sections similar to a sponge cake and a regular addition in a working man's lunch box (the whole meal was known as bagging, snap or packing). Lots of recipes abound for the affiecendos on the Foodie thread.
The sad cake was a filler for eating after one's sandwiches, or as a tea break snack during the working day in the cotton mills and mines of Lancashire. A spread of margarine, butter or even jam was placed on top. Just saying like: