Vegan Gur Cake – a traditional Dublin dessert

If you’re wondering what on earth is Gur cake….well, you’re probably not alone. I adore this sweet, moist raisin, bread, and shortbread concoction with cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, and I’m sure you will too.

Gur cake is a bit of a traditional Dublin (my home town) specialty, back in Ireland.

From experience, I can tell you that even some Irish people from outside Dublin don’t know what it is! I

Can you believe the filling is made of BREAD? No, don’t run away, after all you probably enjoy bread and butter pudding!

Combining it with spices, tea and brown sugar, and sandwiching all that moist rich goodness between two thin layers of shortbread makes for a delicious and cheap dessert.

Bonus points, it’s a great way to use up stale bread plus you probably already have all the ingredients in your cupboard!

I used to BEG my Nan to make it for me because of course, hers was the best. I’ve veganized it so that my son, who is allergic to dairy and eggs, can enjoy a bit of Dublin tradition (and boy does he enjoy it, choosing Gur cake over brownies any day).

For another taste of Ireland, I’d recommend trying my delicious vegan soda bread or a bit of vegan boxty. In the colder months, I make mountains of vegan Irish stew and barmbrack.

Alternatively, have a look at some traditional Irish recipes (that we actually eat), which are veganized and ended up in my St. Patrick’s day recipe roundup.

What is Gur Cake?

Gur cake, also known as Chester cake, is made of two thin layers of pastry with a thick dark filling.

The filling is made with bread, raisins, and spices, soaked in tea until everything is soft and plump, and then baked. It is one of those recipes where the whole is greater than the sum of its boring-sounding parts, trust me.

An alternative to making the filling with bread is, apparently, to make it with leftover cake, but I’ve never made it that way.

Traditionally, it was one of the cheapest desserts sold in bakeries, as it was basically made up of leftover pastry and stale bread.

Legend has it that it’s called Gur cake because kids who skipped school (and so were said to be “on the gur”) used to buy it as a snack in bakeries because it was so cheap.

If the expression “on the gur” was used, it had to have been quite some time ago as I’ve never heard it. I am, however, familiar with the word “gurrier”, which means an ill-mannered person, a bit of a trouble-maker.

How to make it

There are a few steps to this recipe unless you have any leftover shortcrust pastry lurking in your fridge. However, it’s still a very easy (and cheap!) recipe to make.

You simply need to make up the filling (takes just a few minutes, no chopping involved!), make up the pastry, leave both to soak/chill, then assemble and bake.

Making the filling

Ah, the tasty filling…If you look up pictures of Gur bread, you’ll see that the filling ranges in colour from a light brown to a dark near-black.

Personally, for me, the darker the better, as it means more spices, more dried fruit, and brown sugar (which helps keep the filling moist because of the molasses).

For the bread, I use regular shop-bought crust-less bread, because I’m too lazy to remove the crusts.

Traditionally Gur cake is made with stale bread, but that’s only because it was leftover in the bakery and a cheap option. You won’t notice any difference whether you use stale or fresh, as it’s all going to be soaked anyway.

Whether you use stale or fresh bread, do make sure to remove all the crusts. Tear it into large pieces and chuck in a big mixing bowl. Add the tea and mash well with a fork (this should be really easy to do).

Then add in the sugar, raisins, and spices. If you don’t have all the spices on hand you can substitute with two teaspoons of mixed spice.

If you’re short a spice or two, you should still be reasonably okay, but the cinnamon and clove are absolute MUST-HAVE ingredients in this recipe.

Put the bowl in the fridge and leave to soak for an hour while you prepare the pastry.

Making the vegan pastry

This is a very easy vegan pastry, as really the filling needs to be the star of the show. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and pinch of salt.

Next, cut in the cold margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

If you’re having trouble getting the “breadcrumbs” small enough, get your hands in and rub to make them smaller, but the less you handle the dough ingredients the better.

The colder everything is the flakier your pastry will be…

Next, mix two tablespoons of cold water with one tablespoon of flavourless oil, and mix into the dry ingredients.

If once mixed, you can grab a handful and squeeze and it stays together, then you don’t need any more water. I usually need a tablespoon more.

Work the dough with your hands, as quickly as possible, into a smooth-ish ball of dough. Wrap with cling-film and retire to the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

Assembling your Gur cake

Once the two components are ready, get your pastry and cut in half with a blunt knife.

Place one half back in the fridge or freezer, until you’re ready to use it. Dust the countertop with flour, and roll out the pastry to fit the base of whichever (pre-greased) pan you are using.

Roll it out thinly. I usually trace a line on the baking paper using the tray as a guide to show how much I need to roll it out, and then turn it over (so the pencil doesn’t transfer onto the pastry).

I totally forgot I had broken my medium rectangular pan so I ended up using a glass dish which wasn’t ideal as it was a little bit too large and had rounded edges, you want to be able to slice the Gur cake into squares.

A rectangular pan of about 8 inches by 11 would be ideal, or even slightly smaller as you can make the shortcrust pastry thicker.

Use the rolling pin to transfer the pastry to the greased tin or dish (you can use oil or vegan butter to grease), and prick all over with the tines of a fork.

I always screw this part up and miscalculate, but don’t worry too much about getting the pastry even, you can fill in gaps with leftover pieces, wet your finger with water and use it to smooth the cracks and join the pieces together.

Give the filling a good stir and smooth it on top, as evenly as possible. Remove the other half of the pastry and repeat the rolling out process, pricking all over with a fork again.

Bake for 1 hour at 360F or 320F fan (180C or 160C fan). Remove, and let cool in the tin (it will firm up even more as it cools).

Loosen the edges from the sides of the pan, slice in the pan into squares, and remove. I wouldn’t try removing in one piece from the tin, as the thin layers of shortcrust pastry will not be enough to hold it together.

Enjoy! Gur cake will keep in the fridge for up to five days, personally, for me, it tastes even better the day after it’s been made, as the flavours of the spices develop even more.

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