German Friendship Cake: Baking from a starter

When Fiona over at Made By Fi told me she was getting her hands on a portion of a sweet starter I couldn't wait to hear all about it (especially as it came all the way from London).  Fiona's starter, called Herman, is part of a friendship cake recipe...like those chain letters you did as a kid...and has been passed on and on and on for who knows how long.  

I was chuffed to bits when she offered me a portion of her starter and have been nurturing it for the last 10 days.  I have never baked with a starter before, especially a sweet one, so I was really really excited to give Herman the German Friendship Cake a shot.  

For 9 days Herman sat on my counter top in his bowl, being stirred and fed and frothing more and more each day.  On the 9th day I divided him up into 4 portions (3 to pass on and 1 to bake with) and on Thursday night after my night class I stirred good ol' Herman up...fed him some flour, sugar, eggs, oil, baking powder, raisins and apples...tipped him into a cake tin and baked!

Dies ist gut! (apologies for my attempt at the German language) This cake is moist and has a really subtle taste of yeast.  In fact, I liked it so much, I kept one of the 3 sharing portions back for myself to make again in 10 days! oops!

If you want to start your own Herman he's got his very own website! If, like Fiona, you fancy making something other than the suggested apple cake, check out her post for a sweet bread recipe!

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