Porter Cake

Ideal for any servants’ hall, this cake was not only cheap to make but kept for weeks. Servants at houses like Downton Abbey who did not accompany the family on trips received an allowance called “beer money,” which was to cover their food when it wasn’t being provided by the kitchen (cooks nearly always traveled with their employers). The term dates from a time when the staple drink in Britain was beer, with a low-alcohol type known as small beer the drink of servants and manual laborers e