semisweet mini chocolate chips

This moist, fudgy chocolate cake with a generous amount of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate crumb topping and powdered sugar snow is perfect for frosty mornings with a cup of hot coffee or tea. It’s also perfect for a holiday breakfast or brunch served with fresh raspberries and/or raspberry sauce.*

Fudgy Chocolate Crumb Cake

Rich, moist, fudgy chocolate cake with melt-in-your mouth crumb topping and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Print Recipe

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 9 servings

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

1 cup (128g) all purpose flour
⅓ cup (66g) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (38g) granulated suger
2 tablespoons (12g) Dutch process unsweetened dark cocoa powder
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
7 tablespoons (99g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

Cake

1 ¼ cups (160g) all purpose flour, sifted
6 tablespoons (35g) Dutch process unsweetened dark cocoa powder, sifted
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup (132g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup (150g) sour cream
⅔ cup (118ml) hot coffee or espresso
⅓ cup (85g) semisweet mini chocolate chips
Powered sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

Crumb Topping

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder and salt until well combined. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like dirt, with no large pieces of butter remaining. Press the mixture together to form chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cake

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line an 8-inch square cake pan** with parchment paper, leaving a couple of inches of overhang to serve as handles to lift the cake out of the pan. If you want to serve the cake directly from the pan, you can skip the parchment paper and simply spray the pan with nonstick spray.
In a medium-size bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil until combined. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in 3 separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next.
On low speed, beat the flour mixture into the batter in 2 additions, alternating with half of the sour cream after each addition. Beat just until combined. Gradually beat in the hot coffee just until smooth and well combined. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.
Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Top the batter evenly with the crumb topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes with a few moist crumbs attached (not wet batter), about 28-37 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and continue cooling on a cooling rack. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the cooled cake.

Notes

*To find my raspberry sauce recipe, click here.

**To find my favorite 8-inch square cake pan, click here.

Keyword cake, chocolate, crumb

Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

by Mari Vasseur

Tender orange-scented scones dotted with mini chocolate chips and glazed with tangy orange icing

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Servings 9 scones

Ingredients

Scones

1 ¾ cups (224g) all purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons (25g) granulated suger
1 tablespoon (14g) baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
7 tablespoons (99g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
Zest of 1 large orange
½ cup (85g) semisweet mini chocolate chips
½ cup (113g) cold sour cream
¼ cup (60ml) cold heavy cream plus extra for the tops*
2 tablespoons (30ml) cold orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Icing

¾ cup (90g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted
1 dash fine sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons (30-45ml) orange juice, room temperature

Instructions

Scones

Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well combined. Work the butter and the orange zest into the flour mixture with your fingertips or with a pastry blender until pea sized pieces are formed. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, heavy cream, orange juice and vanilla extract. Stir the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture just until a shaggy dough is formed. Do not over mix.
Scoop 1/4 cup-sized rounded portions of dough and place them about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheet. (If your dough has become a bit warm, refrigerate the dough portions for 15 minutes, then proceed with the recipe. This will prevent excess spreading.) Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream. Bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer the scones to a cooling rack.

Icing

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, salt, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of orange juice until well blended. Add additional orange juice as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Whisk until smooth.
Brush the icing onto the cooled scones with a small pastry brush or drizzle the icing onto the scones if you prefer.

Notes

* If you want your scones to be more golden brown, you can brush them with egg wash instead of heavy cream before baking. To make egg wash, whisk together 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water.

To find the portion scoop I used, click here.

Keyword orange chocolate chip, scones