Herman - A Guy Worth Waiting For

No lady, however happy, could not honestly admit that they have never made any attempt to change/upgrade the men in their lives, just to try and turn them into something a little more perfect.

Generally, I don't have much patience for men. They are just too much hard work.

Then, along came Herman.

Hallo, Hungry Jenny, I'm what you've been looking for...

Needless to say, I was a little wary of being approached by a small pot of bubbling off-yellow goo. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Beside him, there was a note:

"I am a sourdough cake. I’m supposed to sit on your worktop for 10 days without a lid on. You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead."

Well, I thought, this is one prima-donna dude. Can I really be bothered? Ten whole days nurturing some guy called Herman?

Of course, it was the prospect of having a delicious cake at the end of it all that pulled me in, so I just had to give it a go.

Even though 10 days seems like a lot of effort to look after a bowl of goo, you don't physically need to do that much really. You just need to transfer him to a large mixing bowl and give him a stir every day. You have to cover Herman loosely with a tea towel, so even if you do get sick of looking at him, he will be covered up.

On the 4th and 9th day, you add equal volumes of milk, flour and sugar. I've got to admit that by the 9th day, I was getting a little tired of Herman's constant need for attention, and I was glad to divide him up into 4 pieces.

(No, I was not being violent or untowards Herman, this is the point where you pass him onto 3 other Herman-takers.)

With the remaining piece of goo, your Herman is finally ready to bake. There are quite alot of ingredients to add, and so you'll need quite a big tin to put him in.

This is one thing that's not noted in the instructions. Ellie, my workmate who originally passed Herman to me, had baked hers in a 7" tin, and, as you can imagine, resulted in a rather tall cake!

So, to be on the safe side, I put my Herman in the largest tin I had, which is a 9" round one. As you can see, Herman still came out pretty collosal...

Now, I have to warn you that Herman is The Stuff of Stodge. He really is quite heavy - both physically as well as in taste - so this should be served in small slices.

Clearly, this is not an example of a 'bite-sized' piece.

On reflection, Herman would be better off baked in a large square tin, as he would be far easier to cut into bite-sized pieces that way, rather than in tall triangle slithers - he is just a bit more manageable that way.

But, the important question is, is Herman really worth the wait? Well, for the tasty cake you get at the end, definitely - but you won't see me going through all this effort another time around just to sample Herman again...I'll just wait to eat someone else's, thanks!

You can find out more about Herman here.

More Hungry Jenny cake adventures.