Today was my unofficial return to cubicle-land and it was great! No really! Little did I know all I had to do was fall down a flight of stairs to be overjoyed with the normalcy of showing up to work on a Monday morning. I kid, of course, they’re really very nice to me even when I don’t show up bruised, achy and slinged, regaling them with the now-familiar saga of my drunken bar scrap. But, it was an especially delightfully un-manic Monday as the sharp pain in my right rib cage has finally subsided leaving me with a shoulder that really doesn’t hurt much at all, and also, I’ve gotten this two-hand typing thing mastered so let’s celebrate! Let us eat some cake.

whip the egg whites firstadd sour creamfold egg whites into batterspread first layer of batterchocolate chips + cinnamon-sugardollop the batter over

Of course, there’s not a whole lot to say about my family’s sour cream cinnamon chocolate chip coffee cake except that a) It’s absolutely perfect in every possible way — soft, plushy bites of uber-moist goodness broken up by cinnamon-sugar crusted chocolate chips. b) Be careful biting into it as it might make you feel unintentionally wronged by every coffee cake that has crossed your palate before it. c) He hasn’t said it in so many words (except, notably, “If your mom isn’t making that coffee cake I’m not coming over for Yom Kippur.”) but I think it may be the real reason Alex married me.

the final layer of cinnamon sugar and chips
from the oven
chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake
chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake

And d) I’m not even offended.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

  • Servings: 24
  • Time: 1 hour
  • Source: A family recipe
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There’s no coffee in this cake — by “coffee cake,” we mean something you’d serve with afternoon coffee — just lots and lots of sour cream. Yes I’ve made it with plain yogurt instead. I’ve even made it with low-fat yogurt. But mostly I make it as my grandmother and her sisters did, and am glad I did. Every time I make this, I’m convinced there’s too much cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips on each layer and each time it comes out of the oven and we try it, I am so glad I didn’t touch the amounts. It’s perfect.

This recipe was updated with fresh photos in 2018. I didn’t change the recipe below accordingly because it doesn’t actually save on dishes, but these days, I whip the egg whites first and set them aside in another smaller bowl. I then use the same mixing bowl for the rest of the batter, and fold the egg whites back in at the end as written. I also sometimes get lazy and try to save on bowls to wash by beating the baking powder, baking soda, and salt right into the butter-sugar mixture in the beginning. I then add the flour near the end as written.

    Cake
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (4 ounces or 115 grams) at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
  • 3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
    • Filling and Topping
  • 2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl. Alternately mix in sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick. In a medium bowl with clean beaters, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold gently into batter.

In a small dish, combine the cinnamon and remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar for filling and topping.

Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan and spread smooth. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a rubber or offset spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan.

Do ahead: I do *not* cover this when storing it (at room temperature because) I don’t want to lose the crackly top.

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