My family & friends adore anything with chocolate chips, whether it’s cookies, cakes or ice cream! These delicious, soft, fluffy Chocolate Chip Crumb cakes are perfect for chocolate chip lovers. They have plenty of crisp, buttery crumb topping and the rich brown butter icing makes them extra special. They’re delightful served with coffee, tea or milk. The personal size makes them perfect for toting. Share them with friends or take them on a picnic. I used a shallow jumbo muffin pan* to make these in a 4-inch personal size. You can also use a hamburger bun pan or six 4-inch cake pans.
Chocolate Chip Crumb Cakes with Brown Butter Icing
Soft, fluffy personal-sized chocolate chip cakes with crumb topping, drizzled with brown butter icing
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- ¾ cup (96g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (38g) packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup (57g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoons (21g) mini semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Crumb Cakes
- 1 ¼ cups (159g) all purpose flour, sifted and divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅜ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cups (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (78ml) whole milk, room temperature
- ¼ cup (57g) sour cream, room temperature
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (64g) mini semisweet chocolate chips
Brown Butter Icing
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, cubed
- ⅔ cup (80g) powdered sugar, sifted
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30ml) whole milk, room temperature
Instructions
Crumb Topping
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt together until well blended.
- Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks sandy with no large pieces of butter remaining. Stir in 1 tablespoon of mini chocolate chips. Set aside the remaining 1 tablespoon of mini chocolate chips for the tops. Press the mixture together to form small chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Crumb Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line a 6-serving shallow jumbo muffin pan* with jumbo muffin liners.** Jumbo muffin liners will fit by pressing them around the inside bottom edges.
- Set aside 1/2 teaspoon of flour for the mini chocolate chips. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, the baking powder, salt and baking soda until well blended.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the honey until combined. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract in 3 separate additions, making sure each addition is well incorporated before adding the next addition.
- In a small bowl, whisk the milk and sour cream together until well blended. With the mixer on low speed or by hand, mix the flour mixture into the batter in 2 additions alternating with half of the milk mixture after each addition. Mix just until combined.
- In a small bowl, toss the mini chocolate chips with the reserved 1/2 teaspoon of flour until the chips are evenly coated. Gently fold the mini chocolate chips into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan, evenly distributing the batter and filling the cups about half full. Top each one with the crumb topping. Sprinkle on the reserved 1 tablespoon of mini chocolate chips.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 350ºF (180ºC) and continue baking until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 8-12 more minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Brown Butter Icing
- In a small light-colored saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook until it's deep golden and fragrant. When brown specks start to appear, remove it from the heat and immediately transfer it to a medium-sized bowl. Set aside to cool to slightly. Mix the brown butter with the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of milk until well blended. Add additional milk as needed to achieve the desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cakes.
Notes
*To find the muffin pan I used, click here.
To find 4-inch cake pans, click here.
**To find jumbo muffin liners, click here.