Chocolate Chip Crumb Coffee Cake

This simple chocolate chip crumb coffee cake is studded with chocolate chips and topped with an addictive crumb topping–this is one delicious breakfast!

Do you love coffee cake the way I love coffee cake?  I’m not entirely sure when you’re supposed to eat coffee cake—is it supposed to go with your morning coffee or is it more of an afternoon thing?   Does it even need to go with coffee?

(Monday mornings are surely the right time for life’s burning questions, right?)

I like to pretend it’s breakfast (or brunch!!!), because if I have coffee after about 10 a.m. I get a massive headache.  And of course I can’t have coffee cake without a cup of coffee. 

And double of course, I love any excuse to have cake for breakfast.

I’ve been talking a lot about moving lately, because I’m involved in the most protracted move ever.  The last two weeks were full of bubble wrapping and packing, then I drove a car full of boxes over to PHX so I could meet the cable guy and the window guy and make sure the roof of my house had been repaired properly—not that I could tell but I tried.   Then I drove back to San Diego, hoping all the while my remaining possessions had packed themselves.

Spoiler alert: they had not.

So instead of packing the rest—the movers are scheduled, Kels!—I’ve been spending the weekend reading about ways to cope with the stress of moving.  This is despite the fact that I know the best way to cope is to throw myself into packing and just get it over with. 

Seriously, my apartment is hardly bigger than a child-size-9 shoebox; packing should take all of 20 minutes.  But no.  I have to drag it out and make it as painful as possible.

The other thing I’ve been doing instead of packing is trying to find ways to use up ingredients in my pantry.  I tell myself it’s better to use them up because it’s one less thing to pack.  And we all know how much space chocolate chips take up in boxes. . .

So this is a pantry-ingredient recipe!  You probably have everything you need for this crumb coffee cake with chocolate chips on hand already.

Oh yeah, and the crumb topping?  It’s as thick as the cake itself.  Extra-thick crumb toppings are so, sooooo necessary.

With hints of cinnamon, globs of chocolate, and just a touch of almond extract, this is a coffee cake to wake up for.  Enjoy!

(P.S., don’t worry.  At some point I’ll get the move over with and stop writing posts that are really just rants about how much I despise moving.  Promise.)

Print

Chocolate Chip Crumb Coffee Cake

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

27 mins

Total Time

42 mins

 

Chocolate chip crumb coffee cake is simple to make and studded with chocolate chips, then topped with an addictive crumb topping.

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10

Author: Kelsie

Ingredients

• Crumb:
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Cake:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips you can use semisweet or milk chocolate
• powdered sugar for dusting (if desired)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray and set pan aside.

Crumb:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, vanilla extract, and almond extract and stir until the mixture is well combined and forms crumbs that are mostly the same size. Set aside.

Cake:

1. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then beat in the vanilla, almond extract, and sour cream. Turn mixer to low speed and add the dry ingredients. Mix until flour is just incorporated. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Crumble the crumb mixture over the top of the cake to cover the batter completely. Bake for 27 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then dust with powdered sugar. Serve and enjoy.

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion