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Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake is a super moist sour cream and vanilla-infused cake with a chocolate chip and cinnamon topping.
This classic Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake reminds me of the simple, delicious desserts I grew up with.
My mom had quite the sweet tooth, but with six kids at home, she really didn’t have the time or interest in overly-fussy recipes. This easy Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake would have been right up her alley.
This Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake has sour cream in the vanilla-flavored cake batter – making the cake both moist and delicious with a soft and tender crumb texture. A smattering of mini chocolate chips are also stirred into the batter.
Additional mini chocolate chips and cinnamon are mixed with flour, brown sugar and butter, then sprinkled over the top of the batter – creating a wonderful crumbly topping for the cake.
Tips for making this Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake
- While you can bake this cake in a 9-inch round cake pan, we suggest using a 9×9-inch square pan instead. Line the pan with strips of parchment paper, leaving the strips long enough to create handles that can be used to lift the cake out of the pan once it is baked and cooled. This will allow for easy cutting and serving.
- Avoid over-mixing the cake batter once you start to add the flour to the wet ingredients. To ensure a tender crumb, only mix until the dry ingredients are just moistened.
- Bake your crumb cake on a rack placed in the upper third of your oven. This will prevent your crumb cake from browning too much on the bottom before the top of the cake is baked through.
- Serve this Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake warm if possible. The warm cake with the chocolate and cinnamon topping is absolutely fantastic served warm out of the oven with a cup of coffee!
We sprinkled a dusting of confectioner’s sugar over the top of our cake, which is optional but highly recommended.
You may enjoy these other easy cake recipes:
- New England Apple Cider Cake
- Banana Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Apple Dapple Cake
- Lemon Snack Cake
- Cream Cheese Apple Cake
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Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake
Ingredients
Butter to grease a 9×9-inch baking pan
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Optional Dusting
1–2 teaspoons powdered sugar to dust over the top of the cake.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the top third of the oven.
Butter the bottom of a 9X9 baking pan then cut a piece of parchment so that its width fits in the bottom. Butter the parchment then lay it into the buttered bottom (butter side up) with the sides folding up and over each edge. These will act as handles to remove the baked cake. Butter the two remaining exposed sides of the pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter for one minute until creamy.
Add sugar and cream for two minutes. Batter at this point will be crumbly.
With mixer running on low, add in one egg at a time, scraping the sides between additions.
Scrape again and mix until batter is combined with no lumps.
Add vanilla and mix.
Alternate adding sour cream and the flour mixing after each addition just until combined.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix once again – just enough to combine.
Remove from mixer and fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula then scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
In a medium bowl, mix all of the topping ingredients and then crumble bits of it over the top of the batter. After mixing, the topping is not the usual topping texture. It is wet and stiff and when you crumble it over the top, it will not cover all of the batter. This is by design. As the cake bakes, the batter pokes through the parts that have no topping, giving a marble affect.
Bake for 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool on a rack completely.
If using powdered sugar, dust the top of the cake with a sifter.
Loosen up the sides without parchment by running a knife along the edge, then lift the entire cake out using the parchment handles and cut 3X3 into nine squares.
Serve immediately.
Refrigerate leftovers.
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I am anxious to try this recipe, but could not find the video anywhere. Please help.
Thanks,
Babz
Hi Barbara – The video is at the bottom of the recipe card.
Hi Martha and Jack:
A very Happy New Year to you both and the family! This has always been one of my favs in the cake dept. One question? Could you use Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream? I also just took a peek at the recipe for the condensed milk pound cake… both are simple and easy to prepare. Have a happy day and keep warm!
Happy New Year to you Doris – yes, I think it would be fine to swap in Greek yogurt. Happy Baking! 🙂