Chocolate Chip Cake
Since I’ve been on such a roll with my old tried-and-true recipes, I figure I might as well just keep on truckin’. And it doesn’t get much better than this. This is recipe gold, folks. Cake. Chocolate Chips. Cinnamon Sugar. A big chunk of this with a cold glass of milk will cure whatever ails you. (Unless what ails you is sugar addiction. Sorry.)
The smell of this cake in the oven comes with a rush of childhood memories for me. It’s my best friend Kathleen’s mom’s recipe, and her house was where you wanted to be when she was making chocolate chip cake. I’m one of those people who has a terrible memory about pretty much everything, but I have a very distinct memory of sitting at the end of my driveway, and seeing Kathleen running down the street with two napkin-fulls of something, one in each hand. As she ran up, out of breath, she got a little smile on her face and revealed two still-warm chunks of chocolate chip cake. Is there anything better than being eight and sitting at the end of your driveway with your best friend, eating cake? No. Simply, definitely, no.
Lest you think it’s just pleasant memories that make this cake so special, I still make this on a fairly regular basis and everyone still raves about it. It stands the test of time, this one. There are many cakes in this world, and everyone has opinions on their favorite, or their least favorite. But this one, this is a no-fail crowd pleaser. The cake is tender, moist, and has the perfect crumb. The layering of the chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar is brilliant, because it give you a perfect chip-to-cake-to-cinnamon sugar ratio. Chocolate and cinnamon isn’t exactly a novel combination, but it’s one that I can’t get enough of. It’s so addictive it’s almost scary. You know how sometimes you make a cake or something and you keep coming back to it and cutting off a super thin piece along the edge so it isn’t that noticeable, but then you do it again and again and all of a sudden you’ve thin-sliced your way through said cake? Yeah, this cake pretty much invented that. Consider yourself warned.
*Of course, I couldn’t write this post without thanking Peg, the original sharer of this recipe, not only for all the chocolate chip cake over the years, but also for the years of laughter, some tears, lots of sleepovers, plenty of rides to the pool, and for always loving me like I was a member of the family.*
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream or whole-milk yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 bag chocolate chips
- For Topping:
- 1 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined. Add in the sour cream (or yogurt) and vanilla and continue mixing. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix only until combined- don't over mix.
- Put half of the batter into a greased 9x13 pan. (The batter is thick, so you'll have to drop it in in big spoonfuls and then spread it out with the back of the spoon.)
- In a small bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of this over the batter, followed by half of the chocolate chips. Press down lightly. Add the remaining batter over the top of the chips, spreading it out over the top again. Then top with the remaining chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar and press down gently using the palms of your hands.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.