Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Thinking back to when I first started following food blogs, the two that stand out in my memory are David Lebovitz and Smitten Kitchen. They had everything I was looking for: great writing, personal stories, mouthwatering photographs and foolproof recipes. I've followed Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman for so long, I almost feel like I know her, her chocolate-loving husband, and their two utterly adorable, curly-haired children. I suppose that's the power of blogging. This chocolate chip sour cream cake is her family's recipe and a firm favourite in mine.
Kids and adults alike love this comforting, addictive cake with its mellow, homey flavour, pockets of chocolate chips and crisp cinnamon sugar lid. Under its crackly top, the cake is pillowy and dense but not too buttery or heavy - basically everything that coffee cake dreams are made of. If like me, you are/were confused by the term 'coffee cake', it refers to cake that is normally paired with coffee, rather than cake that contains coffee. Either way, yum, so I guess it doesn't matter. It’s not too chocolatey or too cinnamon-y (for other people, I mean, I would easily double the cinnamon), so everyone is always happy.
I promise I have made neater batches of this cake but of course, this is the one I've photographed haha. Richa had a uni friend over last weekend so I thought I'd do a little baking and take the leftovers to work. As it happens, I ended up having to rush this so I wouldn't be late for lunch so I just threw it all together and ran out the door, telling Richa to take it out when the oven beeped but to NOT cut it until I was back and it had cooled. I think I said, ‘I don’t care how good it smells!’ It’s clear I trust no one when it comes to cake 😂
What I love most about baking is how happy it makes other people - although maybe that’s just the sugar high haha. As I’ve started using this blog to just talk about my thoughts and vaguely link them to the recipes they feature in, today’s post is about sharing the love.
Last Sunday, I went to church with Richa. I’m Christian, though it’s not something I often talk about. My faith is strong but I sometimes struggle with religion, and with people who say they are Christian but use it to justify prejudice.
There was a church I went to in the past where a pastor made a joke about being grateful his son wasn’t gay. I never went back. Recently, I heard a woman in the congregation of a really progressive church talk about the LGBTQ and transgender communities as an ‘evil deception’. For about five full minutes after her comment, I felt a kind of white-hot anger that I have never felt before. And after that, I was just really sad. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that prejudice is deeply-rooted and homophobia is a very complex thing. But don’t call yourself a Christian if you can’t love everyone the way God does, blindly and with compassion. You don’t get to call out who you think the sinners are or throw the first stone.
I have a number of close gay friends and their relationships hold exactly the same values as those of my friends in straight ones: love and compromise. And I dare anyone to say that my God does not love these friends of mine, these good and loving people.
Life is hard enough, you know? We all have our share of joys and sorrows so let’s understand and support each other. This world would be so much happier if we could celebrate our differences (and bake more cake) instead of pitting people against each other. If people come in all different shapes, sizes and colours, why not love?
Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Makes 24 servings (when cut into squares). Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
INGREDIENTS
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
2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
METHOD
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.
Notes: You can just use two packs (100g each) of chocolate chips if two whole cups is a pain. Don't overbake this cake, start checking from 40 minutes - it will get dry and that is a shame. Deb says she doesn't cover the cake if she's making it ahead of time, as it then loses its crackly top.
