St John's Eccles Cakes

Almost everyone in the meat eating world that is interested in that kind of thing already knows that St John's Bread and Wine is the dog's offal.  So I'm not going to do a review of it, I'm just going to talk about what is one of the best bits of baking in the whole wide world, the St John's eccles cake, served with a big slab of Lancashire cheese.  Everything about it is perfect.  The pastry is flaky and crispy and incredibly buttery with a big slug of nutmeg all over the top of it.  The filling is a lovely gooey mess of raisins that is like jam that has been overcooked until its nearly toffee, but retaining just enough sharpness to balance the richness of everything else.  Best of all, the sugar melts out of the bottom and crisps up and turns into a brittle caramel on the bottom.  It's big and it's only £2.60 (cheese not included).