Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake

Who do I think I am coming up with a post like this? Smitten Kitchen? Yeah, I wish! Deb’s blog (aka Smitten Kitchen) is seriously one of the most fantastic food blogs I’ve ever come across. And I’m not entirely sure how I stumbled upon it (although I know it was by accident about 6 or 7 months ago), but Kyle sure is thankful that I did – almost as thankful that I’ve found solice in so many of Giada’s recipes. Deb’s blog is incredibly well-written and witty, and of course it features some of the most drool-worthy food porn out there in the blog-o-sphere. (Like my attention to jargon there?) You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better food blog…at least I’ve yet to find one (although, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody ranks right up there).

So, yes, I’ve been reading Smitten Kitchen, almost on a daily basis for a few months now (love Google reader!), and was so excited to read recently that Deb and her beloved blog were being featured in the Boston Globe – pretty big honors for a woman who creates some pretty big food out of her pretty tiny Brooklyn, NY apartment kitchen. It was reading the Globe article online where I found this recipe of Deb’s that had been filed away in her blog archives and probably wouldn’t have been found had it not been for the article (as much as I love Smitten Kitchen, I just don’t have the time to peruse nearly 18 months of blog posts). So after wiping the drool off my keyboard, I printed out the recipe and immediately decided to make this for my parents while I was down to visit them on good ‘ol Long Island (actually, not too far from where Smitten Kitchen makes it’s home).

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake
source: Smitten Kitchen blog

• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 12 ounces chocolate chips (which I tossed lightly in flour before adding to cake to prevent the chips from sinking to the bottom)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1½ cups sugar, then mix in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a separate bowl. Alternately add sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture. Beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter.
3. Mix last ½ cup sugar and cinnamon together in a separate, small dish.
4. In a greased 9″x13″ pan, pour in half of the cake batter. Sprinkle the top with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture and half of the chocolate chips. Pour remaining batter on top, sprinkling the top with the remaining cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips.
5. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.