Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake

Servings 9 " cake, 9 generous servings or 16 smaller servings

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated white sugar
8 Tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream room temperature (I used light sour cream)
1/4 cup milk room temperature (I used 1%)
1 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

Topping:

Semi sweet mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9" square pan with cooking spray, or lightly grease bottom and sides. Set aside.
Make the crumb topping. Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together until fully combined. Add the melted butter and stir until fully incorporated. This will take a minute or two with a spoon, or you can use your hands to work it in more quickly.
Once the mixture is fully combined, pat it down in the bowl with your hands or the back of a spoon so that it is tightly packed in the bowl. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while you mix up the cake batter.
Make the cake. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using a hand held electric mixer or the paddle attachment in a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes until fully combined and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition.
Whisk the milk and sour cream together in a liquid measuring cup. If they're still cool, you can microwave the mixture for 10 seconds to take any chill off. Just don't allow it to get warm at all.
Add the sour cream/milk mixture to the butter mixture and beat until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of bowl as necessary throughout the entire mixing process.
Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. Do not over mix at this stage. Fold in the mini chips.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
Remove crumb mixture from refrigerator and break up into various sized crumbs. Scatter evenly over cake batter.
Sprinkle the top of the crumbs with mini chocolate chips. I used about 2 Tablespoons.
With a flat hand, lightly press the crumbs into the batter. We're not trying to compress the batter, we're just giving them a little help to stick to the top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Take care not to over bake or you'll risk a dry cake.
Allow to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

* If you're not a moist New York crumb kind of person, and would prefer a drier, sandier crumb, don't melt your butter completely. Just soften it and then work it into your flour/sugar mixture. Hands work the best for this. Don't form large crumbs. Keep the mixture kind of sandy, but press the mixture together to form some larger bits of crumb. Then, don't let it sit. Don't refrigerate it. Go ahead and sprinkle it evenly over the batter.

*I find it takes too long to allow sour cream and milk to come completely to room temperature by themselves. For this recipe, I whisk the two together and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then, I use the microwave to take the chill off for about 10 seconds. Stir, then check. If the mixture is still cool, I'll give it another 10 seconds or just enough to bring it to room temperature. If it's cold, it will resolidify the butter in the cake batter. If it's warm it will melt the butter. You can just use the microwave to bring the mixture to temperature, but I prefer to take it out of the refrigerator for a bit to give it a head start.

*Once the cake has cooled, you can also sprinkle the top with confectioner's sugar for a little extra sweetness and a pretty presentation.