I think people fall into one of two categories with their feelings about birthdays. Either they want the whole world to know about it (generally reserved for kids I think) or they want to avoid them like the plague and make sure no one knows when they are or how many times they’ve happened (almost everyone else I think). Which category do you fall in? I’m solidly in the birthday avoidance and silence group. I recently had to bump that obnoxious age number again and as retaliation against the flow of time I am using that as an excuse to eat whatever I want.
If you know me even a little then you know that I love chocolate. I even love it for breakfast and have been known to sneak some chocolate chips into the plain pancakes that my husband makes for me. 😉 I’m not going to be sneaky about it today… for my birthday breakfast I’m enjoying this coffee cake, loaded with chocolate and cinnamon flavors!
Chocolate Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe
(16 servings)
Ingredients for Chocolate Cinnamon Streusel:
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons butter, cold
- 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided per the directions
Ingredients for the Coffee Cake:
- 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (equivalent to 1 and 1/2 sticks) butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups sour cream
Directions for Chocolate Cinnamon Streusel:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dark brown sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and cinnamon.
- Transfer 1 and 1/4 cups of the mixture to a smaller bowl and set it aside.
- Mix in the cold butter into the remaining mixture until its crumbly.
- Store the crumbly mixture in the freezer until you are ready to layer the coffee cake.
Directions for the Coffee Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and it set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix in the butter until it’s incorporated.
- Stir in the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix until it’s smooth.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Sprinkle half of the miniature chocolate chips on top of the cake batter.
- Sprinkle the dry chocolate cinnamon mixture (the part without the butter in it) over the top.
- Pour the remaining half of the cake batter on top.
- Sprinkle the remaining half of the miniature chocolate chips over the top.
- Sprinkle the top with the butter streusel mixture (from the freezer).
- Bake it in the preheated oven 27 to 32 minutes, or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
Store in an air tight container at room temperature or in a freezer friendly bag in the freezer.
I may not like birthdays, but I sure do love cakes. Who needs a cake with candles at dessert time when you can have cake for breakfast? This cake batter is thick so be patient as you spread it out in the baking pan.
I’m a perfectionist and that means that I weighed the cake batter to make sure the two halves were actually even. You definitely don’t have to do that because it will come out equally delicious even if the layers are a bit uneven. In fact, even with exactly divided cake batter, the magic weight of the other layers means the bottom won’t look as thick anyway. I still feel better knowing I made it even though. 🙂
Keep building the layers. It’s pretty much the most awesome lasagna ever. Okay, no it’s not, but it has chocolate. 🙂
Just look at that magnificent beauty! I love seeing all the gorgeous layers. The cocoa powder gives the center and top layers their dark color (and of course helps to make this breakfast treat chocolaty).
I’ve never understood why these kinds of cakes are called coffee cakes. There is no coffee in it. Perhaps it’s because it goes perfect with a cup of joe. As my editor (husband) was looking over the post he just explained that is exactly why. See? You learn something new every day. 🙂
In true coffee cake style, the chocolate layers also have cinnamon incorporated into them. Another new thing I learned is that I love cinnamon and chocolate together. Not often combined, but they really should be.
I don’t know about you, but I love not having to wait for dessert time to indulge in this sweet treat. Birthday girl rules apply until I say otherwise and this moist cake loaded up with adorable tiny chocolate chips is not against the rules for breakfast until it’s gone.
If I could enjoy this cake every morning then I’d celebrate my birthday every day. Wait, no, I take that back! I sure do love it. 🙂
Source: Bakingdom (Updated January 17, 2022: It has come to my attention that this source no longer exists. I don’t have another way to link the recipe so I will continue to keep the link even though it is broken. I still feel that it is the right thing to do continue to list it as the source since this is not my recipe.)
Here are some other tasty cake breakfast treats.
