I have been participating in a VERY exciting experiment over the last 10 days. My friend Pat received a pet cake from a friend of his, and when it was ready he passed it onto me!
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| Pat's delicious baked Herman |
We fed him, and stirred him, and loved him over the last 10 days, and he bubbled and frothed and grew (blossomed?!) under our tender loving care...
...then today was baking day!
We added extra pineapple chunks to the recipe, and used tinned apple instead of fresh. It made for a lovely moist but light cake :)
Perfect with a cup of tea!
We may have eaten most of one cake already...
The remaining starter has been divided and boxed up, ready to be passed on for Herman to have new and exciting adventures with new owner Helen and pre-owner Pat. We are also keeping a bit for ourselves to feed and keep for another 10 days - I'm thinking chocolate and raspberry loaf for next time!
If you're vaguely in my area and would love to try keeping a pet cake (I'm told it's great for kids!), let me know and I'll hook you up. If you're further afield, try and find someone with a starter, or make your own! Instructions are on the website I linked at the top of the post.
I'm a very lucky blogger this fortnight - I get to do next Tuesday's post as well! Check back then to find out all about my birthday dinner on Saturday night - food, fun and of course a lot of laughter (I hope)!
Take care,
Michelle
Hehehe, I ran for cover the last time I was in danger to get one. ;) Yours sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteI can totally understand that! When I get sick of it I'm just going to bake the whole thing ;)
DeleteHi Michelle! Funnily enough I never heard of Herman before... sounds like you made a lovely cake!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteAll the best wishes for your upcoming Birthday!!!
Hugs!
Ingrid xx
http://myfunkycrochet.blogspot.be
Thanks Ingrid!
DeleteI had a Herman cake back in the 80's when I was a kid. But after months of feeding and dividing everyone in my class had their own Herman-cake and my parents and sisters where sick of the taste, so my mother backed the whole thing and that was the end of our Herman ^_^.
ReplyDeleteI can totally understand that :P But, I'm enjoying while its new and fun and interesting!
DeleteOh, I had never heard of Herman, how cute! : )
ReplyDeleteSuch an adorable idea :)
Deletehello michelle,
ReplyDeletefor many years was herman very populär in germany. everyone from my friend had their own herman. maybe i start a herman.
wünsche dir einen schönen ersten advent,
hugs regina
Thank you Regina, a beautiful first advent to you too!
DeleteMy family received its first Herman cake earlier this year. I had never heard of it before and I loved the concept but didn't quite understand the instructions and we ended up cooking 'our Herman' when we were supposed to let it grow like the other half which was for sharing. Still tasted okay but I am not a fan of yeast products. Still it was a novel and fun family activity.
ReplyDeleteI think I like the idea better than the reality - I have been hopeless at remembering to stir and feed the thing on the right days, but it seems pretty forgiving. It's been a good introduction to how difficult I will find it to look after a sourdough starter, which was on my wishlist for the Christmas holidays... Maybe when we have kids old enough to keep it as a "pet" it'll be more fun ;)
DeleteI have a small home and I was forever worried that I was going to knock it and spill it all over the place as it took up room in my busy kitchen. I must admit it was a relief when it was gone. Still tasted good though! It would be hard to totally wreck that combination of ingredients. Good luck with the sour dough. I hope your Herman training helps!
DeleteWhat a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gillian! It was lots of fun, I'm already planning what recipes to use for this batch :)
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