Accepting My Herman

Here is Herman the on the day he arrived. All he appeared to be was a bubbling mess in a bowl. This was my German friendship cake mix. An A4 sheet of paper had some typed instructions for me and they were very specific. In particular ‘You cannot put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead.’ Was I ready for such a task? What if I killed him

Download the instructions for Herman here.

Actually, as I read the instructions I soon realised that I didn’t have to do much with Herman other than give him a stir. What a relief!
Surely even I could manage this – after a few days add some milk, flour and sugar, then after ten days mix in some more ingredients and bake a cake. I was up for the challenge.
I hadn’t realised just how popular Herman is. Its quite simple really and the whole process is based on letting him sit for four days, on the fifth day adding equal quantities of flour, milk and sugar. Following this Herman sits for four more days and gets baked on the tenth day. Before baking the mix is shared into four equal amounts for the cycle to start again or for cakes to be baked.

Short recipe:

Day

1. You get Herman and put him in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel.
2. Stir well
3. Stir well
4. Herman is hungry. Add 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar and milk. Stir well.
5. Stir well
6. Stir well
7. Stir well
8. Stir well
9. Hungry again. Add the same as day 4 and stir well. Divide into 4 equal portions and give away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Keep the 4th one.
10. Herman is very hungry. Stir well and add the following:

• 1 cup sugar (or 2 cups caster sugar)
• half tsp (teaspoon) salt
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2/3 (two thirds) cup of cooking oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cooking apples cut into chunks
• 1 cup raisins or sultanas
• 2 heaped tsp cinnamon
• 2 heaped tsp baking powder
• 100g walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts

Mix everything together and put into a large greased baking tin. Sprinkle with a quarter of a cup of brown sugar and a quarter of a cup of melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes at 170-180C. When cold cut into finger pieces. Cake freezes well and is also delicious warm with cream or ice-cream.