09/13/2026
There's a cake that shows up in kitchens across Munster every autumn, dark, dense, and full of dried fruit that's been soaking in stout since the night before. 🍺 Porter cake gets its name from the porter style beer once brewed in Dublin, though most home bakers today reach for a bottle of Guinness instead. It's a cake built for keeping, not for eating in a hurry, the kind that actually tastes better a few days after baking once the spices and stout have settled into the crumb.
What makes it feel like a real family recipe is how forgiving it is. There's no delicate frosting to fuss over, no last minute assembly, just a good long soak, a simple batter, and a slow bake that fills the whole house with the smell of treacle and orange peel. 🍊 It's the sort of cake an Irish grandmother would have kept wrapped in greaseproof paper in a tin, cutting a slice for anyone who came through the door.
Serves 12 | Total time: about 2 hours 15 minutes, plus overnight soaking
INGREDIENTS
250g (1 3/4 cups) raisins
250g (1 3/4 cups) sultanas
100g (2/3 cup) mixed candied peel, chopped
250ml (1 cup) stout, such as Guinness
225g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
225g (1 cup, packed) dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
300g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon black treacle
Zest of 1 orange
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The night before baking, combine the raisins, sultanas, and candied peel in a bowl with the stout. Cover and let soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mark 2). Grease a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin and line the base and sides with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour with each egg to keep the batter from splitting.
5. Sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, nutmeg, mixed spice, and salt. Fold into the batter in two batches, alternating with the soaked fruit including any stout left in the bowl, the treacle, and the orange zest.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Loosely cover with foil after the first hour if the top is browning too quickly.
7. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
If porter cake or something like it turned up in your family's kitchen, what occasion usually brought it out?
