My take on Amish Friendship 'CAKE' for Amy

This one's for CanadianAmy...cuz she asked!

First of all, "Amish Friendship Bread" should REALLY be considered CAKE! it's sweet, super nummy and totally dessert-like, quite delicious with a cup of coffee or some ice cream, PLUS, I make mine in a bundt CAKE pan. Ya can add chocolate chips to it, shredded coconut, raisins, crushed pineapple, dried apricots, mini marshmellows, diced apples, shredded carrot... I favor cranberries myself. Cooks.com has THIRTY different starter recipes alone and if one searches diligently, there are entire cookbooks dedicated to the use of "Amish Friendship Bread" starter. I dunno why they insist on calling it bread though - it's CAKE, I say! Cake! Let them eat CAKE!

I first encountered Amish Friendship CAKE in 1994 while I was at Ricks College (gag), now known as "BYU Idaho" (double-gag, hard hacking cough, followed by a heavy "'excuse me - pardon me" - gagging again). Some giggly girl (shall remain nameless) who lived in my apt. complex (Harmony House aka "Ho House," still known in Rexburg as such) gave me the 'bread' recipe on a super-cutesy, lovingly decorated 4 x 6 index card along with my first cup of Amish Friendship CAKE starter in a HUGE Cool Whip container (only Mormons keep those on hand, I swear). The card had strict instructions to be followed over the next 10 days. During which, I would gently stir/mix the starter daily, twice adding 1 cup milk and 1 cup sugar to the container on the 5th or 6th day and the final 10th day. These additions are meant to literally feed the starter... "Don't be alarmed," the instructions read, "it will bubble and expand and this is a good thing." ~ starter resembles a glue-like substance (horribly cruel stuff if spilled on carpeting - not that I, um, would know about that from any FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE!). It has a sickly sweet, yeasty smell. That's probably not a good sell, eh? For a lovely intro to starter, read "Getting Started with Starter."

After the 10 days' time, ya measure/separate out 3 individual cups of starter and give these away (I use 1/2 gallon-size Ziploc bags) along with a copy of the actual CAKE recipe and directions to 3 friends of your choosing, hence the reference to "Friendship" in the CAKE's name. The remaining leftover starter (that sounds redundant doesn't it?) is to then be used to finally make your own bread -I mean CAKE!
IMPORTANT NOTE: If one doesn't want to go through this whole 10-day-long starter dance, make the CAKE within 2 days of being given your starter...but if you're like me???

I was again given another cup of starter in 1995...I faithfully fed my starter for over 2 months, giving starter to friends, neighbors, co-workers, always keeping at least one cup for myself, repeating the 10-day deal over and over, making an Amish Friendship CAKE nearly 3 times a month. I finally gave it up before the summer's end... Early 2001, I got a major hancoring for some Amish Friendship CAKE and it'd been nearly 5 years since I'd last had any and I wasn't gettin' any starter from anyone anytime soon, living in Las Vegas. So I looked up on the web how to start your own Amish Frienship starter...I found many links, but this one was the best and remains so.

My starter from 2001 is still 'with me' to this day. I've been feeding it regularly and using it at least once a month for over4 years now. Yup, FOUR YEARS. See my jar of starter kept in my fridge here from an earlier SPD stuff post last week.