If you are looking for a simple coffee cake recipe that will also satisfy your chocolate cravings this one’s for you.
The recipe comes from a book I purchased from a good friend and co-worker years ago when I was working at The Chef’s Catalog store in suburban Chicago.
The book called “Specialties of the House…And More” was compiled by the North Suburban Guild of Children’s Memorial Medical Center, of which my friend was an active member, and all proceeds from the sales went to the hospital.
I have many books of this sort in my cookbook collection, all fund raising tools from worthwhile groups or organizations sharing recipes while at the same time promoting a good cause.
These books, usually soft cover, are comprised of favorite recipes from home cooks that are simple, use relatively few ingredients, and are easily followed even by the novice cook. I contributed a few of my recipes to this book as I recall.
Anyway, this coffee cake is the first cake I baked after we moved to Maryland from Chicago in 1988 while we were staying in a small apartment waiting for our new house to be completed.
My husband’s aunt and uncle who were our only family living somewhat near us (they were in Virginia), and whom we were especially close with had come over for brunch.
That apartment kitchen was extremely tiny, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from entertaining. As I recall it was a brunch of bagels and lox, fresh veggies and fruit, but hey, it isn’t brunch without some kind of coffee cake or sweet rolls, right?
So with my limited resources at the time (most of our things were in storage), I found this recipe in one of the few cookbooks I had decided to keep handy.
It turned out to be really good, and of course quick and easy.
For some reason the other day I came across this book and looked up the recipe and there it was. With a bag of chocolate chips in my freezer with only about a cup remaining that’s all the motivation I needed to bake this cake.
It is a deliciously moist cake complete with a chocolatey marbleized streak and a nutty, chocolatey crunch on top. But I actually believe it tastes even better because of the sweet memories I have attached to it.
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
(contributor, Evelyn Sugarman, The Best Specialties of the House…And More, by The North Suburban Guild of Children’s Memorial Medical Center in Chicago)
¼ pound of butter, softened (I used unsalted)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Filling
½ cup nuts (I used walnuts)
½-¾ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Sift flour with baking powder and baking soda. Add alternately with sour cream. Stir in vanilla.
Pour ½ of batter into greased 10-inch tube pan. Add half of the filling and marbleize with a knife. Cover with the rest of the batter and top with remaining filling. Marbleize slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Cool; sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar if you like.
