To be a bit dubious of Herman The German!

[lucyellensmumnamechange]

The other night my DP came home from his saxophone lesson clutching a margarine tub and A4 peice of paper. I said, whats that. He said "this is Herman the German" its a cake. Errr no its not, it looks like some sort of strange dough. The note describes it as "herman the German friendship cake"

Has anyone else heard of this? Its a quaint idea that you half make the cake then separate it and hand the bits on to three friends for them to continue making other cakes. But it takes 10 days!!!! 10 days of milk, flour, sugar, bicarb and yeast festering on my work top.

After 10 days my DP expects me to eat this!

Serious question - surely it would have gone off? The milk FGS, the millk!!!!!

Now I want some herman!!

We love Herman here! I use a bit more apple than the recipe says and I buy a dried fruit mix that includes cranberies. I also use demerera sugar for the top. YUM YUM! Going to have to do one this week now!

Ha Ha - there was something on rasio 4 'woman's hour' - apparently in some places where a mum is seen with a tupperware dish mothers run away shouting 'No, I WILL NOT have another Herrman'

We've just got a Herman, no yeasty smell pervading the house yet. I was wondering about how to keep it going without feeding it quite so much, ie keeping one going for me without growing it 4 times. Also, can it be baked on any day, since I'm going to be away the day it's supposed to be baked.

Ooh, Herman is scrummy! Herman and I had two encounters several years ago, before he skipped off to pastures new. I still think about him.

That's the problem with Herman, he never knows when enough is enough!

First Herman - confusion, lots of googling to see what he actually is, nervously making him, still a little unsure if Herman is hygienic, eat him, yum actually he tastes okay.

Second Herman - okay, first one turned out quite nice, let's give it another go, maybe try a different spin on the finished Herman.

Third, fourth, fifth etc. - Herman gets tipped down the sink!

www.amazon.com/Friendship-Bread-Novel-Darien-Gee/dp/0307914429

"An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated.

One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others.

Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She?d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread. "
Think I'll look for this book at the library. Too lazy to make the bread/cake though. I do make my own Kefir and feed those granules.

If you don't want to do the whole 10 day and pass it on thing you can kill it off and get a cake out of it by just baking it the day after he arrives.

Thats what we do, fed up with finding people to accept Herman on day 9 all the time.

We average one a month so think he reproduces enough round here without us adding to his population.

Great for BLW and hungry DCs.

I did this and the cake was gorgeous. Go with it!

Herman made his way round here a couple of months ago, was fun as a one off but wouldnt want one every week.

We're on our fifth cake, as I always keep one portion of the starter back. The cakes are lovely. As others have said you can add lots of different ingredients but the one thing we've done is reduce the sugar added to the final cake as it is v sweet.

Going to try cinnamon buns when he's due to be baked tomorrow. Mmmm!

We're on day five of our first Herman. Any tips on non-fruity recipes for when he's ready to bake?

Ha ha we've been passing a Herman back and forth between friends for a month or so now - makes a fab cake! You can split the mixture into 2 tins and then pop one in the freezer for later but its SO scrummy especially when warm that you probably won't have to! Will be interested to hear the outcome of the ingredient variations. Enjoy!

LittleMiss don't add the apples etc and try using some cocoa powder, chocolate chips or pieces and broken honeycomb.

Ooooh DD loved doing the herman cake!! I love it!

It's strange hoe Herman has suddenly become popular again. I remember him doing the rounds when I was a teenager, over 20 years ago.

How not hoe

Kids, I remember him doing the rounds 30 years ago

The Hermans doing the rounds nowadays could well be the ancestors of your Hermans of 20/30 years ago :)

I [heart] herman!

I had a piece of a gorgeous Herman today it had chocolate and fudge in it, was really very nice. I declined taking one home as the last one i took died on day 3. They're going round work at the moment and we have had loads of different variations.

Cooked mine earlier and ended up making him with dates and coconut. Best yet, he's yummy!