Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Waking up in a cold sweat, remembering a forgotten promise to bring something to a family brunch, is exactly what led to this chocolate chip coffee cake at six on a Sunday morning. Choosing between baking and showing up with a half-eaten bag of grocery store bagels left only one real option.

Creaming butter in pajamas while questioning several life choices somehow produced a cake that looks like hours of effort went into it. This chocolate chip coffee cake recipe works as a genuine lifesaver, since the stand mixer handles almost all the heavy lifting. Here is exactly how I do it.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It is mostly hands-off. Only about 15 minutes of actual work happens before the oven takes over.
• Total crowd-pleaser. This is essentially a giant muffin loaded with chocolate, which means nobody complains.
• Incredibly tender texture. Cream cheese saves this from the dry, sad fate of most breakfast cakes.
• Highly forgiving. Even a messed-up topping still leaves this easy chocolate chip coffee cake tasting amazing.

Tools You’ll Need

Nothing fancy, I promise.

• stand mixer Creaming butter and cream cheese by hand is a workout I refuse to do.
• 9-inch springform pan. This makes getting the cake out a breeze compared to violently shaking a cake tin upside down.
• Rubber spatula. This scrapes down the bowl so none of the batter gets left behind.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter – Softened. If you forgot to take it out of the fridge, do not microwave it to a puddle. Just wait.
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese – Softened. This is the secret weapon for moisture.
• 1-1/2 cups sugar – Divided. Most goes in the cake, a little goes on top to give you that chocolate chip crumb cake texture.
• 2 large eggs – Room temperature. Cold eggs will curdle your beautiful butter mixture.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract – Measure with your heart, but officially it is one teaspoon.
• 2 cups all-purpose flour – Spoon and level it so you do not end up with a brick.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder – Check the expiration date.
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda – The other half of the lift squad.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt – To balance the sugar.
• 1/4 cup 2% milk – Whole milk works too, just do not use water.
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips – Using good quality chocolate chips makes a huge difference here.
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans – For that classic chocolate chip streusel cake crunch.
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – Because it is not breakfast cake without it.

How To Make Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Set it, walk away, and pretend you did not just outsource brunch to your oven.

1. Cream the base: Cream the butter, cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups of sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Set a timer for that 5-7 minutes of creaming; if you shortchange this step, your cake will be dense, and we are aiming for fluffy, not a doorstop.
2. Prep the pan: Pour into a greased 9-in. springform pan. Combine the pecans, cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter. Spreading this thick batter is a little annoying, so just use an offset spatula or the back of a wet spoon and aggressively coax it into the corners.
3. Bake and cool: Bake uncovered at 350° for 30 minutes; cover and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes longer. Cool for 15 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool completely before cutting. Covering it halfway is crucial unless you want a burnt top, which I learned the hard way when my smoke alarm went off at 7 AM.

Make it yours

• Sour cream swap. You substitute sour cream for the cream cheese in equal amounts for a sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake with a slightly tangier crumb.
• Walnut version. You swap the pecans for walnuts in the topping for a different nutty crunch.

Perfect Pairings

This chocolate chip crumb cake suits two specific pairings particularly well.

• Fresh berries on the side make this feel like a slightly more balanced breakfast.
• Brunch with the in-laws needs exactly this kind of distraction from their usual life questions.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

This chocolate chip coffee cake proves that a genuinely impressive brunch bake needs nothing beyond a stand mixer, cream cheese, and a little patience while it cools. This chocolate chip coffee cake recipe layers a cinnamon pecan topping over a tender, chip-studded crumb, delivering everything a proper chocolate chip crumb cake should taste like. Whether served for a lazy Sunday morning or dressed up as a sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake with a tangier swap, this recipe earns a permanent spot in the regular rotation.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings: 12 servings

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Calories: 474

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar divided
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup 2% milk
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Equipment

• stand mixer
• 9-inch springform pan
• Rubber spatula

Method

 

1. Cream the base

   Cream the butter, cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups of sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Prep the pan

   Pour into a greased 9-in. springform pan. Combine the pecans, cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter.
3. Bake and cool

   Bake uncovered at 350° for 30 minutes; cover and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes longer. Cool for 15 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool completely before cutting.

Recipe Notes

Cream cheese: I always soften mine for a full hour, since cold cream cheese leaves lumps in the batter.

Chocolate chips: I use good quality semisweet chips, since they melt more evenly throughout the cake.

Pecans: I use chopped pecans in the topping, though walnuts substitute just as well.

Butter: I keep mine softened for the batter, never microwaved to a puddle.

Milk: I use whole or 2% milk, since water leaves the batter too thin.