Notes on running a cake plant (aka Hermann or Amish Friendship Cake)

Cake plant recipes did the rounds in the 70s / 80s, and we were given starters to feed by friends several times over that period. Inevitably, we would maintain them for a couple of months, handing out starters to any friends who weren't sick of it yet, before it just became too much of the same cake over and over, or the mixture managed to overflow the storage bowl and cause a mess. The mixture would be discarded, and the instructions filed away until the next time we were given a starter to try again.

Over the years, on rediscovering the archived instructions, I have restarted the culture from scratch a few times. These restarts have eventually suffered the same fates as the originals.

Over time - and especially over this last strange year - I have evolved how I manage the cake plant starter away from the original instructions. I have also added to my stock of recipes using the starter. So I am recording the details here, so I don't forget them once working from home stops being the norm.

Persian-style Gluten Free Shortbread

So there's a bag of besan lurking in the cupboard that was bought for some long-forgotten experiment ages ago, and now needs using up.
Coincidentally, I had just rediscovered my copy of The Legendary Cuisine Of Persia, that had gotten buried in a pile of stuff.
So I was glad to spot the recipe for Nan-e Nokhodchi whilst leafing through - a simple shortbread made with besan, and flavoured with ground green cardamom.
I scaled the recipe up a bit from the rather small batch size in the book.

Overnight No-Knead Bread

A lovely round crusty loaf, with very little work.
Just a good helping of time to let it slowly rise.

You will need a large (2.5-3 litres capacity) pyrex or glazed iron lidded casserole to bake the bread in.

• 500g Strong Plain (Bread) Flour - either all white or a 50-50 mix of white and wholemeal.
• 350g Water - this is 70% of the weight of the flour, a ratio that you will need to maintain if you scale up or down the recipe.
• 10g Salt.
• 2 tsp granulated Yeast.
• Optional: nuts, seeds, dried fruit - whatever you want to flavour your bread.

Measure all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together until all the flour is incorporated into the dough.
It may need a little extra water added,  especially if you are using wholemeal flour or optional extras that will absorb moisture - add this a tablespoon or so at a time until all the flour mixes in. Better to be slightly too damp than too dry.
Loosely cover the bowl with a plastic bag and just leave it on the side in the kitchen to slowly ferment for at least 12 hours.

When the rising time is up:

Wet your hands and gently slide your fingers down the side of the dough in the bowl and lift and fold it towards the centre of the bowl. Repeat another 3 or 4 folds, working round the side of the bowl. This will knock back the dough slightly, and gather it into a soggy dome. Let it stand for a few minutes whilst you get the oven ready.

Put your casserole dish and lid into the cold oven and set it to heat up to 240C.
Once the oven is to temperature, take the hot casserole dish out and stand it on a trivet.

Sprinkle a little flour over the surface of the dough in the mixing bowl.
Carefully half-roll-half-pour the dough out of the bowl into the hot casserole dish as a single 'ball' of dough. Use a spatula to help push and shape the dough as it rolls and unsticks from the sides of the bowl and finally drops into the hot cassserole dish.
If you want the loaf to spread in a controlled fashion you should slash the top, but I generally find that it rises fine unslashed as the casserole lid traps steam to keep the surface of the bread moist and flexible as it expands in the oven.
Put the lid on the casserole and pop it back into the oven. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, open the oven and remove the lid from the casserole.
Bake the unlidded bread for a further 25 minutes to crisp and brown the upper crust.
Now turn it out of the casserole onto the oven shelf and tap the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If not, bake for a few minutes more and test again.

Once the bread is fully baked, let it cool down completely on a rack before slicing.
If you slice it too early, the bread inside will still be a bit too moist and stick to the knife.

Store cold uneaten bread in a plastic bag to delay staling.


Categories: Bread

Marzipan Cake

This is a rich almondy cake made with marzipan.

It is moist enough to not need any further icing or filling, and makes a good alternative to a traditional Christmas Cake if you are not into dried fruit.

I originally came across the recipe years ago on Amateur Gourmet.

Easy Cheesy Sunflower Crackers

Its time for the annual Xmas baking rush. These simple cheesy crackers made from sunflower seeds and grated cheese can be pimped up with all sorts of different herb and spice flavours and seed toppings to make a good selection for holiday snacking.

The original recipe comes from "500 Low-Carb Recipes" by Dana Carpender.