Eccles Cake (Flaky British Currant Pastry) vs Streuselkuchen (German Crumb Cake)

Eccles cakes are all about contrast: crisp, flaky puff pastry wrapped around a dense, buttery filling of currants, demerara sugar, mixed spice and lemon zest, finished with an egg wash and a crunchy sugar topping. Streuselkuchen is softer and more bready: a kneaded, risen yeast dough enriched with milk, egg and butter, crowned with a thick layer of buttery crumbs. The shared ingredients play different roles. In the Eccles cake, butter and zest flavour the fruity filling and egg glazes the crust, while in Streuselkuchen egg and butter enrich the dough, cold butter is rubbed into flour and sugar for the topping, and lemon zest is merely optional.