Cinnamon chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake

I should start off by saying that we eat a lot of bread in our house.  In the form of waffles, pizza, toast, bagels, pasta and just plain old bread, we eat a lot of it.  So when Passover ended on Monday night for us,  I had psyched myself up quite a bit to have my beloved whole wheat english muffin.  When sundown rolled around, my breaded chicken breast on my english muffin turned out to be pretty anti-climactic.

But let me tell you what gave me the exact opposite feeling of anti-climactic,  the cinnamon chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake I made later that night.  This is one of my go to never fail desserts.  It's good every single time, and you can tweak the recipe every time too, but it's just always good.  The one thing to make it better is to add more sour cream than is called for.  When dealing with quick breads or cakes, more sour cream is never ever a bad thing.

Cinnamon chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake

Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

16 oz. sour cream (add at least 1/4 c. more if you have extra)

3 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

12 oz. chocolate chips

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (I usually go closer to 2.)

Preheat oven to 350.  

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, then mix in egg yolks and vanilla.   Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a separate bowl.  Alternately add the sour cream and then the dry ingredients into butter mixture.  

Beat egg whites in separate bowl until stiff, then fold into the batter. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. 

In a greased 9x13 inch pan, pour in half of the 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 again with the remaining cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips.  

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. 

Keeps really well for a few days if covered properly. 

Passover Banana Cake

It's the last day of Passover and I've been totally fine not eating the things I think I can't live without every other day of the year.  A bread free week to me was supposed to mean lots of grilled chicken, fish, veggies and fruit.  Well, it didn't really go as I had hoped... because I'm currently nearing the bottom of my 2nd family size box of rice krispies.  Oops.  I did eat some fruit though.  I ate really old bananas that I keep in the freezer for baking.  So I put them in a cake, and then ate the cake.  That counts.  

I only made half of this recipe.  I really wanted to use my new pan from Williams Sonoma and only half of the cake would fit.  

Banana Cake

Adapted from  The Art of Jewish Cooking

7 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas 

3/4 c. sifted potato starch

1 c chopped walnuts (optional; I used them on top instead)

7 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 2 9-inch layer pans.

Beat the egg yolks until thick using paddle attachment in electric mixer.  Add the sugar and salt and beat until fluffy and light lemon colored.  

Stir in the mashed bananas and potato starch.  Then the walnuts if using.  (I added a splash of vanilla extract at this point, it doesn't call for it, but it makes everything a little better.)

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.   Gently fold into batter. 

Bake for 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on cake rack. 

Topping:

1 c. whipping cream

4 tsp. powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whip heavy cream in bowl fit with whisk attachment until peaks form.  Add the sugar and vanilla and blend throughly.  

I sprinkled a bit of vanilla sugar and cinnamon on top of mine along with walnuts.   I think this cake would be delicious with a chocolate ganache or caramel frosting too.  Next year!  

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is my second Passover. We flew to central Florida, I helped cook a Seder with my soon to be mother in law, I read my part of the Hagadah, and vowed to give up wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt and all things that rise for 7 days.  I think I like Passover, even though it's a horrible (and much needed) reminder of just how much bread, cake, cookies and things that rise I eat on a daily basis.  Of course the first thing I did when we got home on day 2, was figure out something I could bake that didnt involve flour or the "forbiddens" mentioned above.  I ended up with Flourless Chocolate Cake. It turned out great, but only when you bake it in a spring form pan like it says, not in mini cupcake pan in hopes of turning out cute little bite size cakes. (I figured that out the hard way.)

I found this recipe in my new Hip Kosher cookbook.

Flourless Chocolate Cake 

serves 8 (or 16.  its really chocolatey)

8 oz. semisweet chocolate 

1 Tbsp. instant coffee powder

1 cup unsalted butter or margerine

5 large eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tbsp. cold coffee

* powdered sugar, whipped cream, berries, optional

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9 or 10 inch springform pan and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle.  Grease the circle. 

Put chocolate (I used 1 cup of Ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips), coffee powder and butter in the top of a double broiler set barely over simmering water and cook until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally to blend ingredients completely. Remove from heat, let cool slightly. 

Combine eggs, sugar and cocoa powder in bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl once or twice until well blended.  Add the chocolate/butter mixture and beat until completely incorporated.   Pour batter into prepared pan.  

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out with very few chocolate crumbs on it.  Transfer to a cake rack to cool.  Cut around the edges of the cake with the tip of a sharp knife.  Release the sides of  springform pan.  Invert onto plate, remove parchment paper.  

Do not flip cake back over.  The bottom looks much better than the top.  Dust with powdered sugar or serve with whatever you like.