Posted on 08/20/2015 4:32:15 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
About 25 years ago, a neighbor gave me a jar of ruby-red syrup-y stuff, and a recipe. She called the cakes I could make from these "Amish Friendship Cakes".
My friend and I baked many of these wonderful cakes, rolling the starter over again and again, until finally we stopped. Years later I wanted to make the cake again, but didn't know how to 'start the starter'.
Fortunately, by then we had the Internet and 'Altavista', which came through.
I found two ways of doing it: one using brandy to get it going, and one using yeast. So far, I have only used the brandy method, but if you've used a yeast method, please let me know your recipe. (This is not the kind of Amish Friendship bread or cake that uses flour and sometimes dairy in the starter.)
Here is a website that has the entire recipe, which I'm directing you to because it contains tips I hadn't known, and this way I don't have to type it out ;-). The only difference between this and my original recipe is that I always add a cup of golden raisins and a cup of coconut flakes to the batter, and sometimes use lemon pudding mix instead of vanilla. (I have a vague memory of adding chopped, dried apricots to the batter, as well; but I'm not sure if that was part of the original recipe.) I've always used Duncan Hines butter cake mixes for this:
http://www.armchair.com/recipe/bake003.html
Notes: Remember, it takes a MONTH to make the starter; then another month to prepare the fruit for your first cake! but once you've got starter to roll over, you can bake a cake each month. And:
*Don't let metal utensils touch your starter; cut the fruit with a plastic knife, stir with a wooden spoon, strain through plastic.
*This cake freezes very well, and makes a wonderful replacement for the heavy Holiday Fruitcakes that a lot of folks don't seem to like anymore. I've never made it for anyone who didn't like it.
*A jar of the initial starter, along with the recipe, is also a great gift for someone you know who likes to bake and would be interested.
*The cake doesn't need icing, but you might like a light drizzled glaze on it. I usually make it in a heavy, decorative bundt pan.
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We tried making our own fermented pickles this week. We weren't terribly happy with the result; I think it may have been the seasonings - the combination/amount of them that we used; but the pickles were tasty enough, and it was a useful first try and we will try again. If you have experience with this, please post! We have been interested in adding more lacto-ferment to our diet.
BEFORE YOU TRY THIS: remember that this is a fermented pickle, so you need to open the jar a couple of times a day to 'burp' the gases. Otherwise, depending on the rate of fermentation, your glass jar could explode. An antidote for this is an airlock top, which is available inexpensively: you can look for the FARMcurious Mason Jar Fermenting Kit, or the Perfect Pickler one.
For three big English cucumbers, cut into spears, we used:
2 quarts of non-chlorinated, filtered water, boiled, with 5 T. non-iodized salt dissolved in it.
About 4 small to medium smashed cloves of garlic
About 1/2 tsp. mustard seed
A small pinch of crushed red pepper :-)
And since we didn't have fresh dill, we used 2 T. dill seed.
For tannin, which keeps the pickles crisp, we used dried bay leaves, about 3.
All of this went into a two quart canning jar, which had been sterilized in a 200-degree F. oven for about 10 minutes, with the lids boiled for about the same time.
Garlic , pepper, and mustard and dill seed went on the bottom, the spears then wedged in, and the bay leaves stuffed down through and around the spears.
Then the salt water is poured in to cover, some kale leaves stuffed on top to hold everything down, and the lid placed on loosely.
Next time, I want to do the seasonings differently - we're thinking we should have started with just dill, and not so much garlic. Will let you know how it goes.
-JT
This week, Fermented Foods.
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping list, please send a private message.)
-JT
I’m looking at bread made from spelt ... grains of leftovers from making beer.
I have never heard of the “Amish Friendship” cake, but it sounds appealing.
I think it’s the best ‘fruity’ cake recipe I’ve used, and everyone has liked it.
I forgot to mention that this works best if you use the fruit canned in ‘heavy syrup’.
-JT
It sounds lovely.
“Amish Friendship Cake”
Got to be a Ferguson or Baltimore joke in there somewhere.
;^)
LOL!
I think this is a REAL ‘Amish’ thing :-)
They seem to do a lot of breads that are along this line, with a fermented ‘starter’; but this is the only one that I’ve tried.
-JT
:)
I have been experimenting with pickles lately too. If you want more dill flavor you need WAY more dill, both fresh and seed. Inpack in as much as I can and still have room for cucumbers and I still think it’s not enough for my taste.
You can use coffee filters or several layered cheese cloth placed over the jar opening and them screw down only the band. This keeps ‘stuff’ out but keeps you from having to burp the jars all the time.
The last batch I made was probably my best. The straight lactofermented pickle is considered a sour pickle. After it’s done fermenting I add a few tablespoons of white vinegar for the flavor.
Also, the longer you can ferment, which means keeping temp as close to 60 but not below, as you can, the crisper your pickles will stay.
Thanks for your tips! We love good pickles, and will try again.
We don’t have space to grow dill, and we can’t find the fresh stuff in the stores; but that’s one of the things I want an ‘Aerogarden’ for, and would like go grow chives and cilantro the year around, as well.
I think what we didn’t like about our first pickles may have been the mustard seed, and the hot pepper. They were crunchy enough, and nicely sour; but something about the flavor was wrong.
Will try again, and thanks so much!
-JT
If you have a Fresh Market around, they have fresh dill. Haha, you could also get the Costco size container of dried dill and try that, maybe it would be enough. :) Check out www.culturesforhealth.com for some pickling recipes.
I use fresh dill always, you can’t beat the flavor. Also use garlic cloves, mustard seed, tumeric and pickling spices. I keep them in the fridge it takes about a week. Than I take out the dill otherwise it get’s too strong a flavor.
Fermented foods are a must around here. I make my own sauerkraut every year and am always brewing kombucha. When we had fresh goats milk (sigh) there was always kefir in the fridge.
Sauerkraut is my husband’s next ‘to-do’; he grew up on it, and loves it. And he buys the Kombucha drink every week at the grocery - hasn’t tried making it yet.
Thanks for the Turmeric suggestion for the pickles; I would like that!
I used to make my own yogurt, and will get back to it after this damn lo-carb diet is done :-)
-JT
Speaking of cooking threads...does anyone know what happened to Freeper/chef carlo3b? Haven’t seen any activity in a while, I know he had some health issues.
I don’t know if you would call this a fermented food, but I have been experimenting with shrubs. You can check out various recipes on the internet, but the bottom line is one part fruit, one part sugar and one part vinegar.
Mix the fruit with the sugar and let it macerate in the fridge for a couple of days. Smush it through a fine sieve or food mill and then add vinegar. Let it sit in the fridge at least a couple of weeks and then use as a base for a beverage, usually alcoholic.
You can mix and match fruits with various flavors of vinegar and add seasonings.
I am not a huge vinegar fan, so I reduce the vinegar by half. I like to add it to crushed ice and tonic water or a strong ginger ale. Endless combinations. There is a good recipe book by Michael Dietsch entitled, “Shrubs— An old-fashioned drink for modern times”
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Thank you for the cake starter recipe. I hadn’t thought about that for years, but I remember my mother have something very much like that. She got the starter from Aunt Eunice. Brings back memories. I may have to restart the starter.
PS I bought the Viili yogurt making powder from that website and I love it. It ferments at room temp overnight and I make one batch per week. You use some of the yogurt from your previous batch to make the next, so you don’t have to keep buying the powder, and ferment at room temp means no special yogurt making equipment. From there you can do tons with the yogurt. My little one gets a yogurt smoothie every morn8ng mixed with coconut milk and banana. I use the yogurt as a base for marinades, particularly for chicken. You can strain the yogurt and make something similar to a cream cheese with your own herbs and seasonings. You can then use the strained off whey to make your lactofermented pickles, but I haven’t made them that way yet.
PS I bought the Viili yogurt making powder from that website and I love it. It ferments at room temp overnight and I make one batch per week. You use some of the yogurt from your previous batch to make the next, so you don’t have to keep buying the powder, and ferment at room temp means no special yogurt making equipment. From there you can do tons with the yogurt. My little one gets a yogurt smoothie every morn8ng mixed with coconut milk and banana. I use the yogurt as a base for marinades, particularly for chicken. You can strain the yogurt and make something similar to a cream cheese with your own herbs and seasonings. You can then use the strained off whey to make your lactofermented pickles, but I haven’t made them that way yet.
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