#6 Herman the German Day 10

Today was the Herman the German Friendship cake finale. I’d spent ten days carefully caring for him, following the instructions, researching the perfect flavouring for him and it came down to this afternoon when I added the final ingredients and baked him… he survived and he tasted delicious! But first, a recap of the past five days…

As you can see, he continued to bubble and you can see the rim around the glass dish where he grew over night and then shrunk away when it came to stirring. My mum wasn’t best pleased at how many tea towels I used over the past week! 

On day nine, Herman needed fed again. I had to add the same ingredients that I did on day four. It seemed like so much and I didn’t think it would all fit in the dish. However after a few stirs it all fitted in. Then I had to divide it into four, keeping one bit for myself and giving three to friends. My sister took one piece, my cousin Laura another and my Aunty Karen the final bit. 

On day ten it was finally time to bake! My sister was very eager to help (despite her lack of culinary prowess). The two of use set to work at lunch time. I measured out the needed ingredients and stirred while she took a life time to peel the apples (I honestly wish I was lying, but she spent a good half an hour picking out a core with the edge of the peeler).

The mixture was insanely thick! My mum joked I’d get muscles simply stirring it. I spent quite a while stirring it to ensure that all the flavouring was evenly distributed between the mix. When I was stirring it I did start to worry it was going to turn out as pure stodge but I plodded on! 

After a lot of stirring, I put the mixture in a lined tin. The instructions said a loaf tin but we don’t have one so I used the cake tin. It smelt delicious and was a beautiful colour because of the cinnamon. I had high hopes as I put it into the oven. The instructions stated 45 minutes but after 45 minutes it still wasn’t cooked! I covered it in tin foil and put it back in for a further 45 minutes.. It was almost done after the second 45 minutes, so I put it in for another 15 minutes, checking it at 5 minute intervals until it was perfect. And perfect it was!

After it an hour and forty five minutes, Herman was done. I took him out the tin and put him on a cooling rack before transferring him to a plate and coating him in icing sugar (excuse the finger print, my daughter got a bit too close!) Finally after dinner, my mum and I had a slice. It was delicious. Surpassed my expectations completely. Crunchy and sweet on the outside and wonderfully moist on the inside (this could of been to do with using apples). I’d been so worried it was going to be dry!

I urge anyone to give this cake a go should they be given the yeast smelling goo and a set of instructions. It wasn’t half as hard as I thought it was going to be and the results are delicious! I’d be up for giving it a go again adding different final ingredients. Please share any you’ve tried!