Herman zee German Friendship Cake

It may go by the sweet, innocuous name of 'German Friendship Cake', but anyone who receives a containerful of pale brown, fermented slop is likely to question their commitment to carrying on that friendship. Trust me, I was one of those who received said containerful of slop last weekend, and was this-close to breaking off a nearly two decade old friendship.

Wait, what the hell am I on about? Let's start from the beginning, shall we? At the Bake Club meeting last weekend, we were told by Haryo, that week's host, that he had a little something for us to take home. That turned out to be Herman, the sourdough starter essential for baking the Friendship Cake. We were given instructions to stir Herman daily, feed him at a specified time, divide him into four and pass him on to 3 other unfortunate souls, and then finally, to bake him up according to the instructions.

It's the cakey equivalent of those email chain letters from the 90s. Haryo had received it from his friend, who had probably received it from his friend...Needless to say, we were none too please to be burdened with caring for what was, essentially, a living thing. I mean, it had a name and everything! And there it was, bubbling and frothing away beside us...

A quick search on the interwebs will tell you that Herman seems to be pretty trendy these days (well, trendy for bakers, that is). My mum-in-law remembers it being a big fad back in 1980s Poland - she made and passed around a few Hermans herself back then. Maybe us Baker Clubbers are just a bunch of unfriendly anti-social grumps? Anyway, we decided not to risk our friendships, and duly brought Herman back, cared for him and then baked him. 

The full set of instructions are available here. There are also instructions for creating your own monster Herman in that link, if you're so inclined. I must confess to deviating slightly from the recipe - mainly using less sugar, but also a number of other ingredients. Here it is, in case you wish to bake something similar.

Herman The Friendship Cake (adapted from here)

Ingredients

225gm plain flour

120gm caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

2 heaped tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

160ml vegetable/sunflower oil

2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and cubed

50gm walnuts

50gm almonds

50gm prunes, cut into cubes

For topping

50gm brown sugar

50gm butter

Directions

- Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Mix everything together and place into a large lined baking tin (mine was 9 inches by 11.5 inches)

- Sprinkle with 50 g brown sugar and 50 g melted butter.

- Put into the oven and check cake after 25mins, using a skewer. If the skewer is clean when removed from cake, then Herman is ready!  It may take 45 mins to an hour to bake through, although mine only took 25 mins due to the larger size of my tin. 

- Allow him to cool and then enjoy!

Flourless Orange Cake

After tasting Yusuf's version of this flourless orange cake at the Rag Factory Jumble Sale last July, I proceeded to hassle him for the recipe until he finally emailed it to me. It then sat in my inbox, cold and lonely, until about a week ago. The four pathetic oranges sitting in the kitchen were begging me to put them out of their juicy but tasteless misery, and it was then I remembered the recipe.

It may seem like quite a bit of work at first, but once you've spent an hour and a half boiling the oranges, the cake actually comes together very quickly and easily. There's also some good news for those watching their waistlines - the cake's moist, crumbly texture is achieved without the use of any butter at all. The only change I made to the original recipe was to add 50gm of crystallised ginger to it all, for a little hint of spice (and because the ginger's best-before date was rapidly approaching). 

Flourless Orange Cake (adapted from Yusuf's recipe)

Ingredients 

3 medium oranges (I used 4 small ones here)

6 eggs, separated

200gm caster sugar

50gm crystallised ginger (optional)

200gm ground almonds

1 tbsp baking powder

Directions

- Place whole, unpeeled oranges (clean them if need be) in water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 1/2 hours or more until soft.

- Drain oranges, cut into quarters, discard seeds and leave to cool. When cool, whiz oranges and ginger (if using) into food processor.

- Preheat oven to 180 C and lightly grease/line a 9 inch springform tin. 

- Beat egg yolks and sugar together until pale, then beat in oranges, almonds and baking powder.

- Beat egg whites until soft peaks, then fold gently into mixture. Pour batter into baking tin, and bake for an hour until firm to the touch. 

- Cool the cake in the tin, then remove it and dust icing sugar over it before serving. Enjoy!