Yummy chocolate chip cinnamon cake for father's day!

On Saturday I was perusing http://www.tastespotting.com/ looking for a recipe for my recent purchase of a bag of mini-chocolate chips (hint: never grocery shop when you are hungry) and came across a great blog: http://butteryum.blogspot.com/.  On that site I found a great recipe for a chocolate chip cinnamon swirl cake that looked delicious!  It also inspired me to cook it for my sister's family (new mom, Jenn) and my dad who would be visiting for father's day.

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Serves 9

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Pre-heat oven to 350F. In large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla; mix.

In a small bowl, combine flour, b powder, and b soda; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat well to combine.

Spread half the mixture in a greased 9x9 baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar and sprinkle over chocolate. Top with remaining batter. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve.
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I substituted plain greek yogurt for the sour cream since that was what I had in my fridge.  I also used 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup of sugar mixed with cinnamon for the middle layer of the cake and still had some left to sprinkle on top of the cake (along with a scattering of chocolate chips) before I placed it in the oven.  This topping made for a flaky crust which I absolutely loved.  Finally, I used a 9 inch circular pan instead of square.  Voila!

Another hint for this kind of cake... the dough is very thick so it is important when you are putting the top layer of cake over the chocolate chips that you use what I call the "blob" method (very scientific, I know).  This entails scooping the batter out of the bowl and placing on top of the chocolate chips as five or six "blobs" and using a spatula to spread the batter between blobs.  If you just attempt to pour the batter on top of the chocolate chips, you will find it difficult to spread to the sides of the pan without mixing the chips up in the top layer of the cake.

I thought the cake was really delicious... not too sweet, very cinnamon-y and chocolate-y and tasted great with a cup of coffee or tea. After about 24 hours sitting out (but covered), I found that the texture started to get a little hard so at that point the cake tasted better warmed up in the oven.

Did you make your dad something sweet for father's day?  Feel free to share here!

Chow for now!  :)