Gur cake is one of those truly Irish classic desserts that showcases Yankee ingenuity and frugality. Gurriers were the “hooky” players of Ireland. Children, often of the poorer class, that skipped school, “foraged” food from the towns bakeries and simply raised innocent mischief.
During the course of the day. bakers would allow these children the scraps and cuttings from the kitchen to eat, scraps of bread, side and top cuttings of cakes and muffins that didn’t make the cut were given to these children out the back door. The first decade of the 20th century saw home kitchens making recipes using these scraps and, subsequently, calling them Gur Cakes.
In County Cork, they were referred to as Chester Cakes, Donkey’s Gudge Cake in Munster Province and Flies Graveyard in the U.K., not to be confused with Squashed Fly Cake elsewhere in England. I used leftover muffins, but go ahead and prepare this delicious dessert using fresh muffins, and a flavor of your choice.
After all, this was originally made with whatever was leftover in the home.