Tea Time: Herman The German Friendship Cake

Have you ever met Herman? Herman has been living on my kitchen bench for the last couple of weeks. He smells a bit like a brewery, and he has to be fed every few days. But it's been fun having his company.

Herman the German Friendship Cake was a gift from a friend. He is a sourdough cake batter that you prove for 10 days before dividing and baking. It makes a lovely rich, buttery cake, and also a very unusual gift to give to your friends and family.

Here are some happy snaps with Herman:

The Original Herman recipe - with green apple and sultanas

Herman with Banana and Blueberries

I even made some pancakes with Herman. The first batch were a little dense, because in my half-awake state I forgot to add any raising agents. They still tasted delicious, and today's batch with self-raising flour were perfect. Soft, fluffy and with a lovely sourdough taste.

How do I stop at just 4?

Herman is now having a little holiday in the fridge. I need my benchspace back, and there have been complaints about how the kitchen always smells!

If you don't have a friend with Herman, don't worry - the website gives you the instructions for starting your own Herman. And then you can share some sourdough love with your friends too.

Buttermilk Pancakes

On Saturday it was cold, but bright and sunny when I woke up, so I went down to the beach to practice my running. I'm not very good at it, but I'm definitely improving! My ever-inspiring mother-in-law was out on her brand new stand-up paddle board!

Sunday morning, though, was cold, grey and cloudy. So I made some nice warm pancakes. My favourite type of pancakes are the thick and fluffy - much more like American hotcakes than French crepes.

I learned to make pancakes when I was quite young. I've tried lots of recipes with varying levels of success. Lately I think I've struck a very simple recipe that is very adaptable, is very easy for when you're hungry and half-asleep, and works well if you want to pop some fruit in there too. I added apple rings and frozen blueberries while the pancakes were cooking, and served with a drizzle of maple syrup and plain yoghurt.

The batter had a very gooey texture because of the buckwheat flour I used - regular wheat makes a batter that is much easier to ladle into the frying pan.

Buttermilk Pancakes (serves 4)

1½ cups self-raising flour (or 2 cups plain flour and 4 tsp baking powder)

⅓ cup sugar

2 eggs

approx. 1 cup of buttermilk

Put the flour and sugar into a large bowl and mix well. Add 1 egg into the middle of the flour and mix with a whisk, slowly incorporating some of the flour. Add the second egg and mix a little more. Then add buttermilk gradually, whisking in between, until the batter is smooth and easy to ladle. The amount of buttermilk you add will depend on the sort of flour you are using.

Heat a non-stick frying pan to a medium-high heat. You can add a little butter or oil to give a crisp outside, but it isn't necessary. 

While the pancakes are cooking on one side, you can add some small pieces of soft fresh fruit - they will cook when the pancake gets flipped.


Serve hot with some yoghurt, maple syrup, or honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Apple, Fig and Pecan Tea Bread

So it's been quiet here on the blog because I've had a bunch of cooking failures lately - mini muffins that turned out rubbery and burnt on the bottom; raisin, chocolate and oat biscuits that didn't taste that great (and were a bit burnt on the bottom) - FAIL!


See a pattern here? I really don't like my oven. It's about as cheap an oven as you can get. It has an element on the bottom that seems to heat up to about 1000 degrees until the top of the oven reaches the desired temperature. This means that anything in the bottom half of the oven gets burnt to charcoal. Oh what I would give for a fan-forced oven!


But enough whinging for today - there's cooking to do. In my box this week I ordered a kilo of juicing apples. These are apples that are considered "seconds" (but still so tasty!) so I'm cooking them up. Some will become home made puree for baby, some will become dessert, and the rest are going into a sweet loaf to have with tea.


This recipe was inspired by one on the side of a pack of flour - but I've changed it a little bit. It's quite a thick mixture.


300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g raw sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
100g pecan nut pieces (roughly chopped)
1 grated apple (skin on)
150g dried figs
1 tsp earl grey tea (or 1 tea bag)
2 eggs
60ml light oil
60ml honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Tea-soaked figs

Remove the stems from the dried figs and chop into pieces. Add 500ml of boiling water to the tea and add the figs. Soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Drain (you can leave some of the tea leaves behind).


Grease and line a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180℃.


Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and add apple, oil, honey and vanilla. Mix the wet mixture and dry mixture together until just combined. Pour into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked.