Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I made this coffee cake for the first Friday of my first week of work.  As the newbie, I will admit that my intention was to lure people to my desk so I could meet more people.  It worked to some degree, though I soon learned that many people at work are quite disciplined about eating healthy.  I did meet a few new faces but at the end of the day I was still left with a third of a pan of coffee cake.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

I cut the sugar from the original recipe and I'm glad that I did since I still found it a little sweet for my liking, though it does pair well with a cup of coffee. The top crust had a fragile, sugary crunch where the batter had caramelized but you can still spot the sprinkling of sugar granules that I could have done without.  I might have also thought it was too sweet since this was the first time I used Kirkland Semisweet Chocolate Chips (surprisingly, I just bought this for the first time) I usually use Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Pound Plus bar since I like my chocolate dark.  After falling in love with dark chocolate for so long, it's hard to go back to semisweet and milk chocolate!  Give this dessert-for-breakfast a try - I'll admit that I wasn't that bummed that I had a third of the pan left and it sure didn't last long at home.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
1 cups (200 grams) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Filling and Topping:
2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bars
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9x13 baking pan or glass Pyrex pan. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cinnamon for filling and topping.
3. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.  
4. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. 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.  
5. In a separate bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff and then fold into batter.
6. Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Spoon remaining cake batter over the filling in the pan. Use an offset spatula to gently spread batter evenly over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture and chocolate chips.  Using your palm, gently press the chocolate chips into the batter a bit to make sure they stick. 
7. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Let cool, slice, and enjoy!