Hello, my name is Herman and I’m a sourdough cake. I need to be looked after and not put into the fridge or I will freeze to death. However, I make a very tasty cake, so I am well worth the effort and you can share me with your friends to spread the joy! I’m not as bonkers as I sound, these people have also written about me.
Herman on day 1
To look after me properly, you need to follow these simple instructions:
Day 1 – you get a dollop of Herman, take my lid off, put me in a large bowl and leave me at room temperature, covered with a tea towel
Day 2 – stir me twice a day
Day 3 – Same as day 2
Day 4 – I am hungry! Feed me 200ml milk, 200g plain flour and 250g of sugar
Days 5, 6, 7 and 8 – Stir me twice a day
Day 9 – I am hungry! Feed me the same as day 4, then divide me into 5 equal amounts. Give some sons of Herman to your friends with a copy of how to look after me and keep the rest for tomorrow
Day 10 – It’s cake time!
Ingredients
Makes one large cake or 12 big muffins
Ready to bake!
Cake
1 portion of Herman
150ml vegetable oil
3 eggs
250g sugar
350g self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
and then any flavour combinations you like that add another 200g of solid to the mixture
I added 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and 200g of grated baking apple, but you could also use things like nuts, chopped chocolate, rum-soaked raisins, raspberry and white chocolate, maple syrup and pecan nuts, black cherries and dark chocolate, or make lots of muffins and use all of the above!
Filling
75g very soft, room temperature butter
200g icing sugar
quarter of a teaspoon of vanilla paste, or the flavouring of your choice
Icing
100g icing sugar
3 tablespoons water
Half a teaspoon ground ginger
Method
Stir everything all together in a large bowl and decant into your cake tin or muffin trays.
A very firm mixture
This will make a very stiff mixture, but don’t worry about it not rising, it’s got both baking powder AND yeast in it, so it will comfortably double in volume when in the oven.
Baked to a golden finish
Bake at 180C for 40 minutes for muffin sized cakes or 75 minutes for a big cake. Everybody’s oven is different so always check whether the centre is cooked through with a skewer.
Leave it to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool fully.
I then sliced mine in half with a breadknife and filled with buttercream filling (beat the butter with an electric whisk and gradually add in the icing sugar until it’s combined, light and fluffy, then stir in your colouring and / or flavouring).
The icing was a simple water icing with a hint of ginger, very very slowly add water to some icing sugar until it comes together into a pipable consistency, then squiggle over the top of the cake.
Share, and enjoy!
Frosted and iced up
Or baked as a loaf
These Hermans seem to be doing the rounds at the moment – sound like a hell of a lot of responsibility to me! And that’s me talking as a parent too!
Hehehe, yes, they’re definately swarming the country like an edible pyramid scam. Is it the new Kevin Bacon test? I’ve had more than a couple of conversations where I nearly wound up swapping a dollop of my soughdourcake for a dollop of theirs!
I’ve avoided taking a Herman home with me so far – might be running out of excuses though!