Recipe: Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake & Velvet Almond Fudge Cake*

Happy Labor Day!  We are planning a family celebration for my daughter, Jessame’s, birthday. She’s coming home for the whole weekend, so the festivities start Friday night and continue through Monday. We are all excited. In our family, “fun” usually involves movies, shopping, and a fair amount of eating!  (Don’t worry, a robust round of miniature golf is scheduled, just to keep us all in shape).

Since there really should be no limit to the granting of Birthday wishes for our loved ones, I have agreed to make her favorite Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake.  Note that this is not her actual birthday cake (a decadent confection called Velvet Almond Fudge Cake, which her Grandma is bringing to the party).  Oh no, the Chocolate Chip Cake is for the birthday girl to enjoy for breakfast every morning of her birthday weekend.  Yes, you heard right.  Breakfast. As the song goes, “It’s your birthday, you can eat what you want to.”  Or something like that.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

2 ¼ cups flour

1 teas. baking powder

1 teas. baking soda

½ teas. Salt

1 cube butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 teas. vanilla

3 large or 4 medium eggs 

1 cup sour cream

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans if desired

-Cream butter and sugar well, then add eggs.  Add dry ingredients a little at a time with sour cream.  At the end, mix in 1 ¼ cup of the chocolate chips (reserve remainder for topping).

-Spread batter in greased and floured oblong cake pan.  Sprinkle with topping below.

Topping:  2 tablespoons flour, ¾ cups brown sugar, 3/4 cups choc. chips and 1 cup chopped pecans (if desired).  Mix this together and sprinkle evenly over cake.

-Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Grandma's Velvet Almond Fudge Cake

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1 pkg. Chocolate Fudge cake mix

1 small pkg. instant Chocolate Fudge pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup oil

½ cup water

½  teas. almond extract

1 ½ cup slivered (not sliced) almonds

½  teas. vanilla

Grease and flour Bundt pan VERY WELL.  Sprinkle ½ cup of the almonds evenly into the bottom of the pan (so they will be visible on top when the cake is baked).  Toast the rest of the almonds in a shallow pan in the oven at 375 until lightly toasted (you need to watch them carefully-about 5 minutes—don’t let them over brown).

Mix all ingredients together with electric mixer except toasted almonds and chocolate chips.  Stir these in at the end.  The batter will be very thick.  Pour and spread evenly into bundt pan. 

Bake 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Check with toothpick—do not underbake.  Remove from oven and let cool about ten minutes.  Place cooling rack on top of pan and invert so it slides out onto cooling rack.  Finish cooling and do not frost.  

*Originally distributed August 2013