Taste of My Childhood

“Ah, Gur cake,” she said as her face lit up.

We were doing a fund-raiser for a local cancer charity. I had made Gur cake and was standing at a table in the local community centre selling what was one of my favourite childhood treats.

The lady who was so thrilled to see the Gur cake was a fellow Dub (a person who was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland). We were both now living a 2-hour drive from our native city.

Never enjoyed this famous Dublin recipe? You don’t know what you’re missing.

It began as a way for bakers in Dublin during the 1930s to use up stale bread so they could re-sell it.

“Waste not, want not,” was the mantra I heard consistently as a child, long before the phrase “recycling” was invented. It’s a practice I endeavour to keep today too.

Though we still make Gur cake in our house, my mother made the best I ever tasted. It had a pastry base, filled with a mixture of stale white bread, sugar, cold strong tea (to add colour), dried fruit, and spices. Then it was topped off with another layer of pastry and a sprinkling of sugar on top.

I agree it doesn’t sound like the healthiest or most appealing of snacks. But most cakes don’t make the list of the top 10 healthiest foods.

As with a lot of the old traditions it had a revival in recent years. And as is often the case, the shop-bought variety is never as good as homemade.