Friendship Cake

Yes I can remember the friendship cake. Bit of a faff but we initially enjoyed the cake but eventually got tired of it. Yes some people I knew did thr ginger beer but as my husband won't drink it I didn't bother, wouldn't mind some now.

I ve never heard of this passing round of stuff obviously never hit my area
My Nan used to make delicious ginger beer when I was a youngster but nothing to do with passing it on

I used to make yoghurt in the airing cupboard, using a starter. Husband made wine from a kit. One time he was out and we had visitors coming to stay and I braised pork chops in wine to make a special meal. Only I used the bottle that contained the bottle steriliser instead of one with wine in.

I was given the recipe for Friendship cake by an American lady. Tried it out and got several quite nice cakes using cinnamon and apples. I think if you Google "Amish friendship cake"you may see a recipe. Dont know if I can be bothered now!

I used to love the Herman cake & kept my culture going for a long time.. I’d love to start one now, does anybody know the recipe?

Sorry never heard of it

I'm in the South West (if relevant) and never heard of the friendship cake. I vaguely remember something about ginger beer plants though, but never used one. In the 70's there was a brief craze for sharing yoghurt culture. I tried that but threw the result away because it didn't look very appetising.

It was called Herman around here...

It made good cake though!

We had a version here in Canada, I believe it was called Amish Friendship cake. Basically it was a sourdough starter that was fed for 10 days, and I believe a cinnamon loaf cake made at the end. I found it a bit of a nuisance after a while and gave up. I probably have the recipe still in my book.

I think there was a version that used some fruit cocktail in as well. I've never heard of the ginger beer one; I'm off to look it up.

I dropped some of the friendship cake mix on my staircase ( no idea why I was on the stairs…was it meant to start off in the airing cupboard) and it made a right mess.

My ginger beer anecdote is about my parents friend who was our local TSB bank manager. They had all made ginger beer from the “plant” and he stored his bottles, demi johns and flagons in the banks strongroom - cool, dark and in the basement.
Until one night when two policemen arrived on his doorstep to inform him that an explosion had been heard at the bank and they suspected a break-in!

tanith

Several years ago a family member made the cake but it was called a Herman cake. I made it several times from the yeast mix she gave me it was very nice.

My daughter gave me the Herman cake around 2011. You fed him for 9 days, then split into 5 and gave 4 smaller Hermans away. On the 10th day you fed him with flour, sugar, eggs, oil, nuts/fruit (optional), grated apple. Then you baked him and ate him. Lovely.

It's even on Wiki but says it started in the 1970s.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_cake

I used to make ginger beer. We kept the bottles of ginger beer in the small cupboard under the bottom of the stairstairs.

As with most people, sooner or later, a bottle exploded, soaking all the spare wrapping paper, odd wellies and other such things as live in these small cupboards and it was an absolute b*gger to clean it all out properly.

I'd love a ginger beer starter 😉

I remember the ginger beer plant. You fed it with sugar and ginger. Then split it and gave half away. Made very good ginger beer, though I can’t remember how.

Yes, my Mum made the friendship cakes. We liked them.

When we were first married my husband made ginger beer and stored it in a cupboard under the stairs. We lived in a tiny one bed cottage and some friends stayed overnight downstairs sleeping on a big lilo in the same room as the cupboard. The ginger beer exploded and they nearly had heart attacks!

In later years I remember there was a craze for growing this kind of culture called (I think Kombucha) it was like white slime and was supposed to have health benefits. You gave some to friends and kept the rest.

Completely off thread but trying to get hold of Eddiecat78.
If you’re there Eddiecat could you let me know how you got on with Sleepstation? Would you recommend it?

I remember the ginger beer plant one. My Mum would have nothing to do with it. Although she did make wonderful ginger beer!

I can never remember the friendship cakes but I would welcome a friendship letter or two now.

Several years ago a family member made the cake but it was called a Herman cake. I made it several times from the yeast mix she gave me it was very nice.

My Dad used to make ginger beer.

I remember the Friendship Cake too, in the 1980s, and having just moved to a new area, that's how I got to know other Mums at school because they wanted to pass on the starter and recipe.

I certainly remember my mother trying to make ginger beer - and one of the bottles exploding in the larder! This was probably in the late 50s.

I remember them both.
Also my Mym used to make ginger beer when Iwas a child. Better than anything you could buy.

I remember thinking we had mice in the cupboard under the stairs. On investigation it was the caps on ginger beer bottles squeaking. It was made from the above mentioned ginger beer plant.

I vaguely remember the ginger beer cake starter thing. I suppose it's similar to a sourdough starter which is often passed on/shared nowadays.