Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake is a sweet and moist cake perfect for breakfast, an afternoon pick me up, or dessert. The kids will love this one!
Just like Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake, this easy, decadent sour cream Coffee Cake Recipe is a winner for any special occasion or casual weekend brunch. For an extra decadent tender cake give my Blueberry Coffee Cake a try too!
Sabrina’s Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Recipe
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake is one of the easiest sour cream coffee cakes. It’s made with common pantry ingredients that you already have on hand. This tasty coffee cake is like a delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie for breakfast! Perfect for a weekend brunch to serve to guests! The kids are going to be asking for this again and again. And because they are kids, probably again after that.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs , room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream , room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon Topping/Filling:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- In a stand mixer on medium speed, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients on low speed until just combined.
- Pour half of the coffee cake batter into prepared baking dish.
- Combine chocolate chips, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Sprinkle half over batter.
- Top with remaining batter in spoonfuls. Cover with remaining chocolate chip cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Sabrina’s Tip
My secret hack for a lighter, fluffier cake, is you can whip the egg whites separately before adding them to the batter. This step isn’t necessary but if you have extra time, try it out for an incredibly airy cake! Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold in after you add the dry ingredients.
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
The easy, light vanilla cake batter is layered with a full cup of chocolate chips and sweet cinnamon sugar blend. The secret ingredient, sour cream, makes every bite rich and moist, even days after it’s baked. If you don’t have chocolate chips, just substitute fruit and nuts, or double the cinnamon filling for a simple cinnamon coffee cake.
Ingredients
- Butter: Butter is used to make sure that the cake is tender due to its fat content. It is best to use unsalted butter in your coffee cake.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar works nicely for the cake batter. You can substitute brown sugar if you would like, which will result in a darker colored cake and a more molasses like flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs are used to help bind everything together, creating structure to the cake. They also help prevent your cake from being dry.
- Sour Cream: Adds extra moistness to the cake and helps activate the leavening agents. Use a full fat sour cream. You can substitute Greek Yogurt, whole milk, or buttermilk but this will result in a different texture or flavor from the original recipe.
- Vanilla: Use actual vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla, if you can. You’ll be able to taste the difference.
- Flour: Your flour mixture can be any kind of flour. All-purpose flour and cake flour work great with this recipe.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These are the leavening agents used in the cake. These are what help the cake rise.
- Brown Sugar: The crumble topping needs to be brown sugar. This makes the top of the cake beautiful but also provides texture and moisture.
- Chocolate Chips: Use whatever chocolate chips you like in this recipe, like dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is a warm spice that ties all the flavors of a coffee cake together. It is what makes a coffee cake so aromatic.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, this moist cake is ready in less than an hour, and is a great recipe for the next time you need a quick, delicious breakfast for a crowd. You can keep it at room temperature for days or make it ahead and freeze for up to 3 months. Coffee cake is best served warm, so reheat it at 325 degrees after it has thawed overnight in the fridge.
Recipes Tips & Tricks
- Bring all your ingredients to room temperature before you begin making this coffee cake recipe. It takes about 30 minutes, depending on how warm or cold your kitchen is.
- If your butter isn’t softened in time, microwave in 5-second bursts until soft but not melted. Melted butter will make your cake more dense and the crumb less delicate.
Pairing Suggestions
This coffee cake is the perfect breakfast with a cup of coffee and maybe a little butter. You can serve it at brunch dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with Chocolate Ganache for extra chocolate. For dessert, serve this coffee cake warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream or Whipped Cream and a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips.
How to Store
- Serve: This cake is best at room temperature and will stay fresh for up to 3 days. Cover cake and store in a cool, dry place.
- Store: Keep your cake longer in the refrigerator. Use a paper towel to absorb moisture and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: Once the cake has cooled completely, place in a sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before warming to serve, either in the microwave or oven.
Variations
- Double Chocolate: Double chocolate cake by substituting ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder for ¼ cup flour, and increase sugar to 1 ¾ cups.
- Brown Sugar Streusel: Make a traditional streusel topping with 3 tablespoons cold butter, ½ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, and the cinnamon. Combine with a pastry cutter until crumble forms, add chocolate chips to streusel and sprinkle over batter.
- Bisquick: Use 2 ½ cup Bisquick baking mix (or this homemade Pancake Mix) instead of the flour in this recipe. Leave out the butter and all the other ingredients and instructions stay the same.
- Muffins: Make coffee cake muffins. This batter will make 12-16 muffins. Fill lined muffin cups halfway, divide half the filling among the cups, and top with batter and remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for 18-24 minutes.
- Tube or Bundt Cake: You can bake this in a tube pan or bundt pan, but the baking time will be longer. For a tube pan, or deep springform pan, the bake time is 45-50 minutes and a bundt pan bake time is 40-45 minutes.
Related Recipes
More Tasty Coffee Cake Recipes
Photos used in previous posts:
Is the butter salted or unsalted? Thx.
Salted!