Westmorland Pepper Cake

A distinctive Cumbrian fruit cake with robust spices and a fiery pepper kick. Enjoy by itself or with your favourite cheese.

Our Westmorland Pepper Cake is something of a triumph, reviving a historic spiced fruitcake from the ancient county of Westmorland.

Westmorland Pepper Cake, like many of Cumbria’s historic foods contains an array of spices and has done for several centuries. Their inclusion and use in the recipe is directly linked to the significant international shipping trade with British overseas colonies in the Caribbean, Americas and Far East, through the ports of Whitehaven and Maryport.

In 2014 our version of Westmorland Pepper Cake was granted Forgotten Food status by the Slow Food Movement as part of their Ark of Taste project. The Ark was created to point out the existence of products like Westmorland Pepper Cake and draw attention to the risk that they might disappear within a few generations.

The cake recipe is based on a forgotten classic, with dried currants, raisins and of course the compulsory freshly cracked black pepper. We’ve also included some extra special ingredients like ground cloves, ginger and rich black treacle, which gives this cake it’s unique flavour.

It is perfect served with a crumbly Cumbrian cheese, or a creamy Yorkshire Wensleydale. It also pairs perfectly with a good local salted butter.