Deep-fried Eccles cake a health risk

London: The deep-fried Mars bar has been making health campaigners feel queasy for years.

And this week's launch of the lasagne sandwich won't have gone down very well either.

But now there's a new contender for Britain's most calorie-laden snack — and it's not in Scotland.

Enter the deep-fried Eccles cake.

They are already proving as popular as, well, hot cakes in the town that gave its name to the pastry-and-currant delicacy.

The Eccles cake is dipped in sweet cinnamon-flavoured pancake batter before being fried in hot oil and served with a drizzle of raspberry sauce.

The enterprising takeaway which devised them for a local festival plans to put them on the menu.

However anyone tempted by the idea of the sugar-packed cakes was putting their health at risk, experts warned yesterday.

They were likely to contain at least 800 calories each, even more than the notorious Scottish deep-fried Mars bar.

Eccles fritters were devised by Linda Whittaker, owner of Whittakers Fish and Grill in Eccles.

"We wanted to do something quirky that celebrated the local area," she said.

They sell for around 70p each.