Herman the German Friendship Cake

[senua]

I've heard about the friendship cake but never had one until someone gave me the starter culture about a fortnight ago.
So I did all the feeding and mixing as instructed (it grew beautifully) and, on day ten, added the ingredients for a spiced apple cake. Guess what it tastes like .... yes, a spiced apple cake (and a bit of a heavy one, at that). I was hoping that all that fermentation would give the cake some yeasty taste, but no.
So, is there any point to the starter or am I better off skipping days 1-9 and going straight to the end-point cake? Am I missing something?

Is it really just a fiendish dietary trick to make sure that we can only eat cake once every ten days.

The whole point is to pass it on isn't it? I would assume the fermentation process is to ensure it doesn't go off (ever) as it is passed from grubby hand to grubby hand for decades

Do you want some Magneto? I have oceans of the stuff to pass on like a culinary chain letter. I'm trying to decide which of my friends I like the least to inflict it on.

I've never had any, just heard a lot about it from work and here. I'm now in the position of really wanting to try it and really not wanting to try it at the same time

Sodding things....we had 3 in one week, made one, tried to give another away and chucked the third - don't tell my kids though!

We did one an it was very nice tasted of alcohol and spiced apple

I have made a few and they have all turned out a bit shit. They take ages to cook too, longer than the instructions say.

They are such a bloody anti climax. After looking at the stupid thing thing taking up room in my tiny kitchen for over week, and stinking the place out, I expected the cake to end all cakes. Mine tasted absolutely nothing special.

I wish I had just chucked it in the bin and gone to M&S for a nice coffee and walnut cake with the time I saved.