Porter Cake

‘The next time, therefore, that you see a woman baking a porter cake give your blessing to the good work for it is not fully within the power of man to comprehend the full, beneficial and long-term effects of such an undertaking.’

John B. Keane, Dublin Evening Herald, 27 Jan 1986

Porter cake is a popular traditional cake made with dried fruit and a dark beer called porter (now ‘single’ stout – Guinness, Murphys or Beamish). It’s considered a “plainer” cake but is great for holiday baking – it can keep up to six weeks! Porter had a subtle taste due to charred or burnt that also led color and richness to baked goods. Porter was taken off the market and Guinness is usually substituted.

Like Humpty Dumpty who could not be put together by all the king’s horses and all the king’s men so it is with sunken porter cakes and not all the cooks and all the chefs who have ever reigned over pots and pans can set them to rights.

Dublin Evening Herald, 14 Nov 1988

Porter was called such because of its popularity with porters – it was a weak ale that could be drunk on the job. Porter was “plain porter,” and stout used to be an extra strong porter, which was called a stout porter, and eventually just stout. For example, Guinness Extra Stout was Guinness Extra Superior Porter!

Porter was first brewed in Ireland in 1776. To emphasize what kind of drink this was, an 1873 article in Belfast Weekly describes an Orange Institution event in Ballyronan at which “no stronger drink” than “lemonade or porter” was sold. Arthur Guinness exclusively brewed porter in 1799 due to lower taxes on unmalted and roasted barley, as well as Beamish and Crawford and Murphy’s Brewery. After 1817, Irish brewers only used patent and pale malt while English brewers used brown, leading to a divergence between the two. Porter was phased out in 1974, with the exception of a short-lived revival in 2014 using a 1796 recipe by Guinness.

Porter cake is a standard holiday cake:

DEAR SANTA,—How are you? I hope you have everything ready for Christmas. Well I am writing this letter to tell you what I want. A pair of roller skates, a pair of jeans and I would like some sweets. I will have some beer and porter cake out for you and carrots for the reindeers. Don’t crack the chimney. Lots of love, Una Buckley

Kerryman, 27 Nov 1987

Porter Cake Recipe

From Irish Traditional Cooking.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups plain white flour

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup superfine sugar (whiz regular in food processor) or brown sugar

½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (¼ teaspoon dried)

½ teaspoon mixed spice

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter

3 cups sultanas/golden raisins

⅓ cup chopped candied peel

⅓ cup glacé/crystalized cherries

1 ¼ cups porter or stout

2 eggs

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Line the bottom and sides 8-inch tin with parchment paper.

3. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder into bowl. Stir in sugar, mixed spice and nutmeg.

4. Rub in butter.

5. Add fruit, then mix porter with beaten eggs. Pour into dry ingredients and mix well.

6. Pour into pan and bake for about 2 ½ hours.