Cakes!

In case anyone was wondering what has happened to Herman, I thought I'd do an update. We were away Easter weekend so we took Herman with us (he had to be stirred everyday) and I was meant to split it on the Monday then cook something with it on the Tuesday.

I tried my best to give the 4 extra portions to my family but none of them would take it. They seem to think spending 10 days looking after cake mixture is madness (well, ok, maybe they have a point there...I did take it on holiday with me after all).

With being away and not getting back until late I also wasn't able to give any away to anyone we know down here. So, thinks I, never mind....more cake for us. I had the best of intentions on Tuesday but discovered I had a teeny amount of self-raising flour left so couldn't make anything.Never mind, I've been baking this morning after stirring the mixture for a few extra days.

The second recipe I followed was for the Double Chocolate cake. I didn't have any chocolate chips or chopped nuts so I used chocolate buttons instead. I'm slightly worried that the cake is actually totally stuck to the tin despite much greasing beforehand.

The first recipe I made, which took longer to cook and so ended up being photographed second, is a Fruit Cake. I have to say, it certainly smells lovely.

Again I didn't have all the ingredients it suggested so I did my best with what I had. It has currants and dried cranberries in.

We'll see what they taste like this evening when my husband gets in from work, unless I get too tempted by the chocolate cake.

 

Friendship & Herman

There was a knock on the door earlier. I jumped up, expecting it to be the postman with a couple of parcels I'm expecting and wanting to get to the door before he's raced off up the path and left a red card through the door. As it happened it wasn't the postman, it was one of my friends bringing a portion of this round (picture is after putting it in my own bowl):

It is Herman the Friendship Cake.

I remember my mum doing one of these years ago and Joanne at RiversMEET was (maybe still is!) doing one recently. If you're not familiar with it, the basics are that a friend gives you some of the mixture. You then look after it for 10 days, during which time you mostly stir it occasionally and on certain days you add some specified ingredients to the mixture. On the 9th day, you split your mixture into 5 portions - one for yourself and 4 for friends. On Day 10 you cook your portion after mixing in extra ingredients, depending on what type of cake you want it to be. Each of your friends repeats the 10 day process...thus spreading the friendship cake to more and more people.

The mixture keeps at room temperature, you simply cover the bowl with a tea towel or loose fitting lid.

Hopefully I'll have some cake pictures for you in 10 days time!