(Herman) Helga The German Friendship Cake - Part 4 - Raspberry, Blackberry And Chocolate

I decided to defrost the igloo that was my freezer the other day.  I feared an Antarctic explorer may have become lost in its depths. And there lurking in the cold, icy wilderness were 2 more baby Helgas waiting to be turned into a delicious cake (or 2). So I took one of the babies out of the freezer and left her sitting on the bench overnight to do her thang.  It was a rainy day here in usually sunny Brisbane, so it took a bit longer than I expected, but she behaved like a champ and came out frothy and bubbly and ready to go.  As people keep saying, a sourdough starter is a very forgiving creature.

Helga is delicious

ingredients:


one portion of the Helga starter (c. 340g.) that you have left out overnight

1 cup sugar

2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup flavourless oil (e.g. peanut oil or corn oil)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup frozen raspberries - unthawed

1 cup frozen blackberries - unthawed

1/2 cup chocolate - your call: dark, milk or white

1 heaped tsp of cinnamon

2 heaped tsp of baking powder

2 tbs Dutch cocoa powder


Topping:

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup melted butter

2 tsp cocoa powder


Method:


Place one portion of Helga into a large mixing bowl and stir well

Add all the above ingredients (not the topping) and mix together well

Pour the batter into a greased and lined baking tin - I used a square tin 20cm X 20cm X 5cm

Level it out with a spoon and give it a tap on the bench to settle it down

Sprinkle the sugar, the cocoa powder and the butter over the top of the batter

Bake for 45-60 minutes at 170C, depending on your oven - mine is slow so it took the whole hour to bake

If Helga is starting to look a wee bit too brown, put alfoil over the top for the last 10 minutes of baking

Let her cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes

Once she has settled down, turn her out onto a rack to cool completely

To store, swaddle her in baking paper and lots of alfoil, and tuck her gently into an airtight container where she will happily reside for a few days

ingredients gathered  

all-in to one big mixing bowl  

batter goes into the greased and lined baking tin  

brown sugar, cocoa and melted butter on top before baking  

gotta say this is a moist, fruity, chocolatey pleasure to eat  

my oily doodle 

Helga looking sour :=)