Gur cake.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Anyone remember 'Gur Cake'?.

If you do, is it being sold anywhere these days?.

Raven_k42

I loved Gur Cake !. I think I've bought some in Clarke's Bakery on the Cabra Road...and I've seen it in other places. Not quite as moist as I remember. Then again nothing is. What about Tipsy Cake ??..there was one where it really seemed to be swimming in alcohol. In fairness I was 11/12 at the time...but I miss the taste !.

K.

PS. Why did broken Cadbury's Snacks always seem chocolatier than the wrapped ones ????

ambman

superquinn sell it. do you know how its made???

arybvtcw0eolkf

ambman wrote:

superquinn sell it. do you know how its made???

I might checkout SuperQuinns then. How its made?, its the left over's from other cakes.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Raven_k42 wrote:

I loved Gur Cake !. I think I've bought some in Clarke's Bakery on the Cabra Road...and I've seen it in other places. Not quite as moist as I remember. Then again nothing is. What about Tipsy Cake ??..there was one where it really seemed to be swimming in alcohol. In fairness I was 11/12 at the time...but I miss the taste !.

K.

PS. Why did broken Cadbury's Snacks always seem chocolatier than the wrapped ones ????

Yea I used to love the Cadbury's broken snacks, and yes indeed they did have huge chunky chocy bits, yum!.

I was thinking about Clarke's too, I'll check it out.

The Gur cake.. Whenever we went swimming as kids we'd get out of the "baths" absolutely starving and devour some Gur Cake at 5p a slice!.

Tree

is gur cake like russian log or chester cake? They're damned fine cork cakes made out of scraps. Absolutely savage (though i must admit a preference for russian log, mmmmmmmm)

stovelid

Are they like fruit slices?

arybvtcw0eolkf

stovelid wrote:

Are they like fruit slices?

Yes, the posh kids would call them Fruit Slices. But 'Gur Cake' worked fine after getting out of the 'baths' in Ballymun for me.

stovelid

Mairt wrote:

Yes, the posh kids would call them Fruit Slices. But 'Gur Cake' worked fine after getting out of the 'baths' in Ballymun for me.

I'll have you know they were a lunch staple for half of West Tallaght in the 80s....



Fella at the horrible shop at Bray Dart station still sells them BTW!

Schlemm

mmmmmmmmm Gur.

While we're on the subject of odd cakes, does anyone still eat Dan Cake? Now that's a good cake.

Tree

stovelid wrote:

Are they like fruit slices?

not like russian log or chester cake then if it's like fruit slices. oh well, you ppl are missing out

Archeron

Tree wrote:

not like russian log or chester cake then if it's like fruit slices. oh well, you ppl are missing out

I really miss Chesters too, used to get them in a bakery in North Earl Street in Dublin. Even if you were too poor to get a proper one, they;d sell you a big bag of chester pieces (crusts from the tray) for 10p.
Superquinn do actually call it Gur cake too, I thought that was only a nick name, and laughed when I seen it on the package. Methings me shall visit that store today to purchase a few kilo's of gur.

arybvtcw0eolkf

'Gur Cake', its meaning comes from the fact that 'Gurriers' on the mitch from school, or legging it from the gaff bought it as a cheap alternative to proper food.

stovelid

Mairt wrote:

'Gur Cake', its meaning comes from the fact that 'Gurriers' on the mitch from school, or legging it from the gaff bought it as a cheap alternative to proper food.

Remember they used to say you were going "on gur"?

sudzs

Schlemm wrote:

mmmmmmmmm Gur.

While we're on the subject of odd cakes, does anyone still eat Dan Cake? Now that's a good cake.

Do you mean the cake that was sold as half a huge round cake??? Usually a marbled sort of a thing??

If so then YES (!) I do remember it!!! lovely stuff!

And what about Tipsy Cake??? Remember that?

Schlemm

sudzs wrote:

Do you mean the cake that was sold as half a huge round cake??? Usually a marbled sort of a thing??

If so then YES (!) I do remember it!!! lovely stuff!

And what about Tipsy Cake??? Remember that?

It lives!
http://www.dancake.dk/engelsk/index.htm

mickjoe

To a young Dublin "jackeen", going on the gur' meant mitching from, skiving off, or taking an unathorizied day off, school.
A wise (gurrier) would have acquired the price of a piece of gur cake to sustain him.
Gur cake is, of course, an invention of commercial bakeries to use up unsold cakes and breads-by it's very nature the taste and texture changed from day to day. Lefovers are mixed up, with a little extra dried fruit and enough water to bind the lot into a moist gunge (indeed, the Cork version was often called "donkey's gunge"), sandwiched between 2 layers of robust pastry, baked and then cut into good sized chunks. This concoction, always the cheaped item on sale in the bakery shop, was much beloved of Dublin gurriers, especially when hot and steaming from the oven.

Gur cake is still on sale in the city of Dublin, especially in the Liberties. Elsewhere, much the same cake goes by the grand titile of "fruit slice". If you are thrifty and into recycling you might like to try this domestic version. It's good made with tired Christmas cake or pudding, with boiled fruit cake, brack, sponge cake and bread. Obviously, the more bread in the mixture the more dried fruit you need to add.

Now to the Ingredients for Gur Cake

280g (10 oz.) shortcrust or puffed pastry
About 350g (12 oz.) leftover cake or bread
60g (2 oz./1/2 cup) unsifted self-rising white flour
90g (3 oz./scant 1/2 cup) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg, beaten (or the equivalent amount of milk or water) to mix with 1-2 teaspoons mixed spice
60-175g (2-6 oz./1/4-3/4 cup) mixed dried fruit, or to taste
A little milk, for brushing top of pastry


Instructions:
Place the leftover cake/and or bread, in a food processor and whiz until you have fairly fine crumbs. Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients using as much fruit as you feel you need to achieve a rich "fruity" mixture. Add the beaten egg/mixed spice (or milk or water) mixture using as much liquid as will make a stiff paste like texture.

Grease a retangular 28cm x 20cm (11x7 inch) cake tin. Roll out the pastry thinly into 2 pieces the size of the tin. Line the bottom of the tin with one layer of pastry. Spread the filling on top. Cover with the second layer of pastry. Prick the top all over (lighly) with a fork, then brush with a little milk.

Bake at 190 degrees C (375 F) Gas Mark 5, for 45-55 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Cool in cake tin.

Traditionally, Gur cake is cut into rectangular chunks about 9cm long by 5cm wide (3 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide) .

aidan_dunne

I recently came across "Gur" cake being sold in Dunnes Stores and, like Archeron, I had to laugh at the name. I'd never heard it called "Gur" cake before, we always called them Chester cakes around these parts. I guess "gur" cake was a Dublin name for them, based on their "Dublin gurrier" origins as others have already mentioned.

ambman wrote:

do you know how its made???

Yeah, and this is what led to our nickname for them down here in "de country". Because of the fact they were made from leftover bits of cake and stuff we used to refer to them as "the sweepings off the floor"!

You can still get them fairly easily down these parts. My father loves them and I'm quite partial to the odd Chester myself with a nice big mug of tae!

delta_bravo

mickjoe wrote:

To a young Dublin "jackeen", going on the gur' meant mitching from, skiving off, or taking an unathorizied day off, school.
A wise (gurrier) would have acquired the price of a piece of gur cake to sustain him.
Gur cake is, of course, an invention of commercial bakeries to use up unsold cakes and breads-by it's very nature the taste and texture changed from day to day. Lefovers are mixed up, with a little extra dried fruit and enough water to bind the lot into a moist gunge (indeed, the Cork version was often called "donkey's gunge"), sandwiched between 2 layers of robust pastry, baked and then cut into good sized chunks. This concoction, always the cheaped item on sale in the bakery shop, was much beloved of Dublin gurriers, especially when hot and steaming from the oven.

Gur cake is still on sale in the city of Dublin, especially in the Liberties. Elsewhere, much the same cake goes by the grand titile of "fruit slice". If you are thrifty and into recycling you might like to try this domestic version. It's good made with tired Christmas cake or pudding, with boiled fruit cake, brack, sponge cake and bread. Obviously, the more bread in the mixture the more dried fruit you need to add.

Now to the Ingredients for Gur Cake

280g (10 oz.) shortcrust or puffed pastry
About 350g (12 oz.) leftover cake or bread
60g (2 oz./1/2 cup) unsifted self-rising white flour
90g (3 oz./scant 1/2 cup) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg, beaten (or the equivalent amount of milk or water) to mix with 1-2 teaspoons mixed spice
60-175g (2-6 oz./1/4-3/4 cup) mixed dried fruit, or to taste
A little milk, for brushing top of pastry


Instructions:
Place the leftover cake/and or bread, in a food processor and whiz until you have fairly fine crumbs. Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients using as much fruit as you feel you need to achieve a rich "fruity" mixture. Add the beaten egg/mixed spice (or milk or water) mixture using as much liquid as will make a stiff paste like texture.

Grease a retangular 28cm x 20cm (11x7 inch) cake tin. Roll out the pastry thinly into 2 pieces the size of the tin. Line the bottom of the tin with one layer of pastry. Spread the filling on top. Cover with the second layer of pastry. Prick the top all over (lighly) with a fork, then brush with a little milk.

Bake at 190 degrees C (375 F) Gas Mark 5, for 45-55 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Cool in cake tin.

Traditionally, Gur cake is cut into rectangular chunks about 9cm long by 5cm wide (3 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide) .

Not sure about the ingredients, my mother worked in a bakery for over 25 years and all they did was use all the old stale ends and leftovers and sell it on for a nice profit