If you’re feeling indulgent, what could possibly be better than a delicious slice of warm, moist, rich chocolate chip cake with sour cream? How about throwing coffee into the mix, literally, and making a delicious chocolate chip coffee cake? 

Chocolate chip coffee cake just hits differently. You’ve got the richness of the chocolate, the sharpness of the coffee, and the decadence and texture of the chocolate chips. This really is a great recipe for when you’re down in the dumps and are craving something naughty and indulgent.

Made with a selection of tasty ingredients including sour cream, rich chocolate chips, brown sugar, semi sweet chocolate chips, cinnamon, powdered sugar, and plenty more besides, the cake is easy to make and even easier to eat.

While sometimes it’s nice to be able to sit down with a cup of coffee and tuck into a tasty slice of chocolate chip coffee cake, sometimes you simply can’t beat homemade, which is why we’re sharing this coffee cake recipe with you today.

Tips for Enjoying this Delicious Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

We’ll soon share our recipe for the most indulgent chocolate chip coffee cake with sour cream and milk chocolate chips. Before we do so however, we’d like to share a few recipe tips with you on how to enjoy this tasty chocolate chip coffee cake.

Use full fat sour cream

If you want to be really rich and decadent, make sure you don’t scrimp with the sour cream and that you go ahead and purchase a high fat sour cream.

Using a sour cream with a higher fat content will produce a fluffier, softer, richer finish that works incredibly well with the coffee.

Switch dark chocolate chips for milk chocolate chips

If you’re concerned that your chocolate chip coffee cake might be a little too rich, go ahead and substitute dark chocolate chips for milk chocolate ones.

Dark chocolate chips with a  cocoa content of at least 70% will provide a slightly bitter finish that works very well with the sour cream and the brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, and powdered sugar in the cake.

If you’re worried your cake is too bitter, use milk choc chips instead, as these have a higher fat content and are richer and creamier.

Use brown sugar

Whereas some people believe that all sugar is the same, the truth of the matter is that different sugars are vastly different, and consequently they provide very different culinary results when used for baking.

A lot of coffee cake recipes call for caster sugar rather than brown sugar. For us, we think that brown sugar is the secret ingredient needed to elevate this dish entirely.

The sugar is not quite as sweet as caster sugar, it’s denser and stickier, and it helps to create a softer, moister, fluffier texture of cake that works extremely well with the sour cream.

Choose the right chocolate chips

When baking a chocolate chip coffee cake, choosing the correct ingredients for your cake is absolutely essential, and this includes your chocolate chips.

A chocolate chip coffee recipe needs chocolate chips of the highest quality. Don’t purchase any old chocolate chips, use good quality ones, or even mini chocolate chips.

Mini chocolate chips will work just as well as full sized, as long as they are good quality. If you buy cheap and tasteless chocolate chips, your choc chip coffee cake will taste cheap and tasteless. Buy good quality choc chips however, and this will be reflected in the overall taste and texture of your cake.

Don’t use old baking powder

Go on, admit it, how many of you have the same tub of baking powder in your pantry that you had over a decade ago because you very rarely bake? If this applies to you and you find that your bakes are flat and lifeless when you make them, this is why.

This powder is an ingredient like anything else, and the older it gets, the less potent and effective it becomes. In order for your bakes to rise and remain soft and fluffy, make sure you go ahead and use a new, good quality baking powder.

Baking soda can also be used, but again, unless a recipe specifically calls for soda, you should go ahead and stick with baking powder.

Eggs and self-raising flour are also good raising agents, but a good quality fresh baking powder is always best, unless stated otherwise.

Use suitable substitutions

The great thing about baking is the fact that you can make the necessary substitutions without having to worry too much about the finished product.

When making this coffee cake recipe for example, as long as you use the right substitutions, you still get to enjoy a delicious chocolate chip coffee cake, but enjoyed your way.

Instead of brown, you could use granulated sugar if you prefer granulated sugar for example. You could even use cinnamon sugar.

Instead of using a sour cream with a high fat content, you could go lighter, or even switch it for plain Greek yogurt instead. Plain Greek yogurt is very similar to sour cream, but is marginally lighter and is higher in protein.

For a less sweet dish you could go with semi sweet chocolate chips, or dark ones. You could even use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract, or go with white chocolate chips.

Be wary of salted butter

Whereas a lot of coffee cake recipes and chocolate chip coffee cake recipes call for a pinch or so of salt, too much sodium is not only bad for your health, it can also drastically alter the taste of your dish.

Butter is an integral part of any cake, though you must ensure that you use unsalted butter. Salted butter can make your cake too salty, which is why unsalted butter should always be used.

Before using other ingredients as well, just be sure to read the ingredients to make sure there’s no hidden salt in there. If there is, adjust the amount of salt you add accordingly.

Store in an air-tight container

As delicious as this chocolate chip coffee cake is, it is pretty rich, so you’ll be unlikely to finish it in one sitting, no matter how hungry you are.

The good news however, is that this chocolate chip coffee cake will stay fresh and moist for several days if stored correctly in an air-tight container.

Once you’re all finished with your chocolate chip coffee cake, go ahead and store it in a dry, clean, air tight container in a cupboard out of direct sunlight. Here it will stay soft and moist for days.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Recipe

Okay, now that we’ve shared a few tips with you for making the best coffee cake recipe with chocolate chips that you could imagine, it’s time for the main event.

Here is our recipe for the softest, richest, most decadent chocolate chip coffee cake in all the land. If you love moist cake, rich chocolate and coffee, and complex flavours and aromas, you aren’t going to want to miss this one.

Here’s what you need to make this amazing chocolate chip coffee cake recipe.

Ingredients:

·        2 cups of all purpose flour

·        1.5 tsp of baking powder

·        1 tsp of baking soda

·        Pinch of sea salt

·        1 cup of sour cream

·        1 tsp of extract of vanilla

·        2 large free-range eggs

·        ¾ cup of butter (unsalted)

·        ¾ tsp of cinnamon powder

·        1 cup of sugar (brown)

·        ½ cup of cold brewed coffee

·        ½ cup of choc chips

Directions

Step 1

Begin by taking a suitable sized cake pan, and rubbing generously with butter. While doing this, set your oven to pre-heat at 350 degrees F.

Step 2

To make your flour mixture, take a large mixing bowl and add in your flour, baking soda and powder, the cinnamon, half your sugar, and a pinch of salt. Give everything a gentle stir and combine chocolate chips with your dry ingredients.

Step 3

To make the cake batter from your wet ingredients, take a separate bowl and cream the remaining sugar with your softened butter using an electric whisk. Now add in your eggs, the vanilla, and your sour cream.

Step 4

Now, using a cake stand mixer, combine your flour mixture with your cake batter and give everything a mix.

Your cake batter should be thick, but slightly loose. If you see any clumps of flour in your chocolate chip coffee cake batter, give it another mix until everything is well incorporated.

Step 5

Take your greased cake pan and spoon out a thin layer of the cake batter mixture. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top and add another layer of batter mix.

Repeat the layers until you’ve used up all of the batter for your chocolate chip coffee cake mix.

Step 6

Next, place your chocolate chip coffee cake mix into your pre-heated oven and then bake for around 25 – 30 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the coffee cake mix comes out dry.

Step 7

Take your chocolate chip coffee cake out of the oven and carefully remove it from the cake tin. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Step 8

Slice your cake and enjoy with a delicious mug of coffee. Bliss!

Tweaks and improvements

Despite this coffee cake tasting absolutely delicious, that doesn’t mean that it can’t benefit from a few tweaks and alterations here and there.

Here are some tips to help you improve this recipe to your liking.

Dust with powered sugar

After taking the coffee cake out of the oven and cooling, give it a gentle dusting with powdered sugar. This will not only give it a touch more sweetness, it will also make it look nice for your Instagram photos.

Add more chocolate chips

To really give your coffee cake more of an intense flavour, go ahead and add extra chocolate chips to the remaining batter before baking.

More chips means more chocolate, right? And who wouldn’t want that?

Add coffee extract

Despite the coffee added to the cake mixture being strong enough for most people, if you really want an extra coffee hit, go ahead and add half a teaspoon of coffee extract to the wet batter mix of your coffee cake.

Top with roasted coffee beans

To help make your coffee cake look extra fancy and professional, why not top it with roasted coffee beans?

Roasted coffee beans go very well with any coffee cake and they not only add extra flavour, they also add a very welcome crunch as well.

You could even sprinkle half the beans into the cake mix with the chips, and scatter several on top as well.