Make this Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with Mocha Streusel and you are in for a decadent and delicious treat! A tender yellow cake is freckled with mini chocolate chips and then layered with a coffee-spiked cinnamon and chocolate streusel. The cake is made with sour cream and oil to help it stay moist and tender. It's tasty for breakfast, snack, or a dessert and will disappear in a flash!
Coffee cake doesn't usually contain coffee, but this one has a mocha streusel ribbon throughout the cake layer as well as crumbled and crisped over the top. A spoonful of instant coffee is all it takes to get a deep and rich coffee flavor that only enhances the chocolate and cinnamon notes.
Coffee cake is simple to prepare and always a crowd-pleaser. It's perfect if you have overnight guests and want something ready for the early risers to enjoy. Try this Cardamom Coffee Cake or this Blueberry Coffee Cake next!
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Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Ingredients
I include ingredient notes here when I think they'll be helpful, including ways to source, any preparation tips, or why I've chosen a particular ingredient. Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and their quantities!
- Vegetable Oil - Using oil instead of butter in cakes will create a more tender crumb that holds up for days. Choose a neutrally flavored oil like vegetable, canola, corn, or avocado oil.
- Sour Cream - Sour cream adds a bit of tangy flavor but also contributes to the soft and pillowy texture in the yellow cake base. Use a full fat sour cream.
- Milk - Choose skim milk, 2%, or whole milk to help create the right consistency in the cake batter. If you try a plant based milk with success, please let us know in the comments!
- Eggs - Large eggs will help bring structure to the coffee cake, creating a sturdy crumb to hold up those chocolate chips and mocha streusel.
- Sugar - Sugar adds sweetness and contributes to the texture of the coffee cake.
- Vanilla - Add vanilla extract or vanilla paste to the recipe.
- Flour - All-purpose flour has a great balance of protein to give the coffee cake structure.
- Baking Powder - Use baking powder as the leavening agent in this coffee cake. With its balance of both acid and base, it's an all-in-one solution.
- Kosher Salt - Because we use vegetable oil in this batter, a bit of salt is necessary to perk up the flavors of the other ingredients. If you only have table salt on hand, use a generous quarter teaspoon instead of the ½ teaspoon you need of kosher salt.
- Chocolate Chips - Mini semisweet chocolate chips yield the best distribution in the yellow cake batter.
Mocha Streusel Ingredients
- Salted Butter - Save the use of the butter for the streusel and you get the best of both worlds: buttery flavor and tender cake. If you only have unsalted butter on hand, add ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt to your streusel mixture.
- Brown Sugar - With the molasses notes in brown sugar you get an extra boost of flavor in the streusel compared to using simple granulated sugar.
- Flour - All-purpose flour does double duty in both the yellow cake base as well as the mocha streusel.
- Kosher Salt - Kosher salt both balances and enhances the other flavors in the streusel.
- Chocolate Chips - Mini chocolate chips are the best bet here so that the chocolate is distributed evenly throughout the topping. We use semi-sweet chips.
- Ground Cinnamon - Cinnamon compliments both coffee and chocolate flavors and adds an expected note of spice to the coffee cake.
- Instant Coffee - Coffee flavor is easy to add to the streusel with instant coffee, also known as coffee crystals, coffee powder, or powdered coffee.
- Dark Cocoa Powder - I love the flavor of a dark cocoa in this coffee cake, so choose a Dutch process dark cocoa like Hershey's Special Dark or your favorite brand
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
Add the oil, sour cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Mix the wet ingredients well with a whisk.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.
Toss the dry ingredients together well, coating the chocolate chips with the flour mixture. This helps them to stay suspended in the yellow cake base and not sink to the bottom.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the large bowl.
Stir the batter together until just mixed and no streaks of flour remain. Overmixing will create a tough texture in the coffee cake.
Using the medium bowl again, add all of the streusel ingredients and mix them well with a fork or your fingers. You want the ingredients to be uniformly distributed and the texture to be a mix of both fine and coarse crumbs.
Pour about half of the coffee cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan and smooth it out to an even layer.
Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture over the batter.
Drizzle the remaining batter over the streusel layer and use a spatula or knife to spread the batter out evenly to all of the edges. It's a thin layer, so it's ok if some of the streusel layer is disturbed or pops up through the cake batter.
Distribute the remaining streusel crumbs over the top of the coffee cake batter. Bake the coffee cake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
The baked coffee cake will pull slightly away from the edges of the pan and the streusel topping won't be shiny in the center. Cool the cake for at least 30 minutes.
Slice the cake into 12 servings. The cake slices better the longer it is allowed to cool, but we understand if you need to dive in after 30 minutes with the aroma of coffee and chocolate wafting through the kitchen!
Substitutions and Variations
The substitutions listed below have been tested in this recipe and work well. If you successfully make any other ingredient substitutions, let us know in the comments!
- Use Greek Yogurt - Full fat Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream in this recipe and the coffee cake will still be tender and delicious.
- Swap Dark Cocoa Powder for Natural Cocoa Powder - If you have only natural cocoa powder on hand you can substitute it for the dark cocoa powder in equal amounts.
Equipment
Here are some notes on my favorite kitchen tools that make this chocolate chip coffee cake come together with ease:
- Mixing Bowl - It's helpful to have mixing bowls in a variety of sizes, but you'll always reach for a sturdy glass or stainless steel mixing bowl for mixing batters, cookie doughs, snack mixes, and salads. Bigger is better, usually! It's the worst to try to mix carefully in a too-small bowl.
- Offset Spatula - Offset spatulas have an L-shaped bend near the handle that allow you to smooth frostings, fillings, and batters completely flat without running your fingers through things accidentally. Use one to help spread the coffee cake batter smoothly in thin layers.
- Heavy-Duty Square Baking Pan - A heavy-duty aluminum baking pan will last for years and heats evenly, baking your brownies, coffee cakes, and bars perfectly. Pay attention to the recommended pan sizes; this coffee cake requires a 9-inch square pan. An 8-inch square pan holds almost 20% less than a 9-inch square pan and will change the baking time significantly!
Serving Suggestions
Serve your chocolate chip coffee cake with coffee at breakfast or save it for dessert later in the day. The mocha streusel also makes this coffee cake a great pick-me-up for afternoon snacking. There's no wrong time to enjoy it!
Make This Recipe Kid Friendly
I have to hide this coffee cake from my kids or it will be gone in a day! If you think the coffee flavor will be too strong to share with the whole family, you can omit the instant coffee and add another tablespoon of cocoa powder to the streusel.
Storage
Store any leftover coffee cake in an airtight container or wrapped with foil on the countertop for up to three days. If you'd like to store it longer, move the coffee cake to the refrigerator. For best flavor, bring the slices to room temperature before you enjoy them.
FAQ
The base of any streusel is flour, butter, and sugar. Additional ingredients, like the instant coffee, chocolate chips, cinnamon, and cocoa powder in this mocha streusel, add flavor and additional texture.
This coffee cake stays moist because of the oil and the sour cream in the batter. Both ingredients yield a tender yellow cake that stays moist for longer than a butter-based cake would.
Not always, but this chocolate chip coffee cake does (thanks to the mocha streusel)! Coffee cake gets its name because it is a great accompaniment to a cup of coffee.
More Chocolate Recipes
This chocolate chip coffee cake has a rich chocolate flavor. If you're a fan of all things chocolate, check out any of the recipes below:
Pairing Ideas
Serve chocolate chip coffee cake as a dessert after a cozy dinner. Snack on buttered pecans with a sip of mulled wine, and then enjoy a main dish of pork cutlets and mashed potatoes!
Try It and Share
I hope you try this Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with Mocha Streusel and enjoy the recipe as much as we do. I want to see your results! Tag your photo with #planeatpostrepeat and mention me @planeatpostrepeat on Instagram or Facebook. I can give you a virtual high five and thank you for cooking one of my recipes! Comment below with any questions and please leave a review so others can find this recipe more easily.
Recipe
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with Mocha Streusel
Equipment
- 9-inch square baking pan
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
- ½ cup vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
- ½ cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
- 3 tablespoon 2% milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar (230g)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour (187g)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips (90g)
Mocha Streusel
- ½ cup salted butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1 cup brown sugar (225g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips (90g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon instant coffee
- 1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the oil, sour cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla with a whisk until the wet ingredients are smooth.
- In a medium bowl, toss the flour with the salt, baking powder, and chocolate chips.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix the batter together with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined and no flour streaks remain.
- In the medium bowl that you used for the dry ingredients, combine the streusel ingredients well (using your fingers is best!) until you have a mixture of fine and coarse crumbs.
- Add half of the coffee cake batter to the pan and spread it to the edges. Sprinkle it with half of the streusel mixture. Repeat these layers, finishing with an even layer of the streusel.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the coffee cake comes out clean.
- Allow the coffee cake to cool for at least 30 minutes, it will slice even better when completely cooled. Slice into 12 even pieces and serve.
Nutrition facts are sometimes provided below and are calculated using an online calculator. With specific brands of ingredients and additions, omissions, or substitutions the nutrition facts may change. We encourage you to use your own nutrition facts calculator to obtain the most accurate nutrition facts for your meal.
Cassie Waltman says
The flavors of chocolate, cinnamon, and coffee in this treat can't be beat!