Way back in my teenage years a neighbour passed me a strange bubbling bowl of goo.
I was to stir it daily and ‘don’t forget to feed it.’
I did what I was told and after 10 days I had to split the goo, to pass on its spare siblings and make the rest of it into a cake.
And Lo! I did like the cake. But having passed it on to people who I now don’t remember it was never to be made again.
Then last year a Twitter friend we know as @DomesticJules from Butcher, Baker said that she had a friendship cake called Herman to pass on. I jumped at the chance and made my very own Herman cake. Again I neglected to keep back a pot of the yeast based mix.
Then a couple of weeks ago a small pot was left at our door with a note to ‘Please look after Archie’. Our next door neighbours had left us a new friendship cake baby!
I did the stirring, and a’feeding and ended up with a whole bowl of baby Archies ready to pass on. He was ready to divide on the same day as Deb’s Baby Shower so I packed some pots to take with me and share out.
I added grated apple, cinnamon, sultanas and cherries to my mix and sprinkled the top with brown sugar. It’s a very sturdy farmhouse style cake, vaguely reminiscent of a Mr Kipling Manor House Cake. It is only improved with a good slick of butter spread on each slice.
I won’t tell you the full details of how to make it because you can only find that bit out when someone passes you the gift of goo.
hopeeternal
August 21, 2011
I remember these well. A bit like the sourdough starter idea. If you saved a portion you ended up making cake very frequently and had more than you could ever eat. If you gave some away then you soon ran out of friends to pass it on to. Haven’t seen one for years but I remember the cake was lovely.
hopeeternal
‘Meanderings through my Cookbook’
http://www.hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com
thefooddoctor
August 24, 2011
I have never heard of the gift of goo..but it sounds really sweet
I just love how baking can bring people together
deb
October 5, 2011
I froze a couple of portions of starter, then took it out when the hankering for more hit. Works well.
thingswemake.co.uk
October 5, 2011
Really? I assumed that would kill the yeast. Interesting!