This chocolate chip crumb cake is unbelievably tender, loaded with chocolate chips and topped with the most memorable crumb topping!

This cake has been a loooong time in the making. Many, many years ago, we posted a recipe for a buttermilk-chocolate chip crumb cake that we loved at the time. However, over the years, we've received many comments from readers who have had issues with it, specifically with the crumb topping melting into the cake. Unfortunately, the source of the original recipe no longer exists so we couldn’t easily troubleshoot; that meant time for a brand-new recipe. We think you’re going to love this one!

Our grandparents came over to visit Joseph last Friday, so we made this in the morning to have something to offer them with coffee. They raved about it, and then our husband and we proceeded to polish the whole thing off within 24 hours. An absolute keeper of a recipe!

We wanted to keep the same style of cake we had make previously – a loaf cake with a tender crumb and chocolate chips in the batter, topped with a big layer of crumb topping, then more chocolate chips and finally a dusting of powdered sugar. We turned to our favorite recipe EVER for crumb cake – the New York-style crumb cake from Cook’s Illustrated. The amount of batter was just about reliable for an 8×4-inch loaf pan, so we ran with that and added chocolate chips to the batter.

Our crumb topping browned a tad bit more than we would have liked, so we would suggest checking it about halfway through baking and if it’s already starting to brown, cover with foil for the remaining baking time so those crumbs stay nice and tender.

We finished this cake off on Saturday evening and our husband suggested making another one for Sunday dinner, we loved it so much. We didn’t end up doing that (we had already made dirt dessert to go with our picnic meal!), but this is definitely A straightforward recipe that we're going to be making again and again (and maybe doubling every time we make it!).

If you’ve made that old recipe and had problems with it, we hope you’ll give this new-and-improved version a try!

Four years ago: Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Sandwiches
Five years ago: Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
Total: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Crumb Topping:

⅓ cup ( 66.67 g ) granulated sugar
⅓ cup ( 73.33 g ) dark brown sugar
Pinch salt
½ cup ( 113.5 g ) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1¾ cups ( 218.75 g ) cake flour

For the Cake:

1¼ cups ( 156.25 g ) cake flour
½ cup ( 100 g ) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) baking soda
¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup ( 80 ml ) buttermilk
½ cup ( 90 g ) mini chocolate chips

To Finish

½ cup ( 90 g ) mini chocolate chips
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Method

Make the Crumb Topping: In a medium bowl, whisk the sugars, salt and butter to combine. Add the flour and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 8x4-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; allow excess to overhang edges of pan.
Using an electric mixer on low speed, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to combine. With the mixer continuing to ru n at low speed, add the butter one piece at a time; continue beating until the mixture resembles plush crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mini chocolate chips into the batter.
Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and spread into even layer. Break apart the crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over the batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until the crumbs are golden and a wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes (if the crumb topping appears to be browning too quickly, cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time). Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Cool on a wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Leftovers can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.