Chocolate Chip Cake is the recipe that Lucia makes every birthday and every most joyfully anticipated family celebration when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely beloved individual layer cake that is simultaneously the most elegantly impressive and the most completely universally pleasing — because every single child and adult who loves the most classic and the most individually comforting chocolate chip cookie flavor will find the most entirely familiar and the most beautifully beloved individual chocolate chip character translated into the most properly moist and the most beautifully fluffy individual two-layer vanilla sour cream cake.
That contains the most generous handful of the most perfectly suspended mini chocolate chips throughout every individual crumb, creating the most beautifully speckled and the most genuinely extraordinary individual chocolate chip celebration cake that provides the most beloved individual chocolate chip surprise in every single individual forkful. She beats the most fluffy individual batter, coats the chips in flour for the most proper suspension, and layers with the most gloriously chip-studded and the most beautifully vanilla-smooth individual buttercream.
Chocolate Chip Cake is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 1-hour moist vanilla birthday cake made by creaming butter and sugar adding eggs vanilla and sour cream alternating flour and buttermilk folding flour-coated mini chocolate chips baking at 350°F for 28 to 32 minutes and frosting with vanilla chip buttercream. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy celebration favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

This Chocolate Chip Cake recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely beloved individual birthday celebration cake that delivers the most beautifully speckled and the most properly distributed mini chocolate chips throughout the most moist and the most properly tender vanilla sour cream individual cake crumb — producing the most genuinely fun and the most completely crowd-pleasing individual celebration cake that appeals the most universally to every single age group from the youngest birthday celebrant to the most seasoned individual dessert lover.
The most essential technique for the most beautifully suspended mini chocolate chips throughout the individual cake — rather than the most undesirably sunken chips clustered at the bottom — is tossing the chips in one tablespoon of flour before folding into the batter. The most thin individual flour coating adds the most minimal weight and the most sufficient individual friction to hold the chips suspended throughout the most entire depth of each individual layer during baking. Our Homemade Vanilla Cake makes a beautifully equally moist and equally celebration-perfect companion for a complete and wonderful vanilla birthday cake collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
For the Chocolate Chip Cake Layers:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour, plus 1 tbsp for chips
- 2½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1¾ cups Granulated Sugar
- 4 large Eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Sour Cream, room temperature
- 1 cup Whole Milk, room temperature
- 1½ cups Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, divided
For the Vanilla Chocolate Chip Buttercream:
- 1½ cups Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 5 to 6 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 3 to 4 tbsp Heavy Cream
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Mini Chocolate Chips, for stirring through frosting
How to Make This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside. Toss one cup of the mini chocolate chips with the one tablespoon of flour until the most evenly coated. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar until the most light and the most beautifully fluffy — approximately 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each. Add the vanilla extract and sour cream and mix until combined, cara mia.
On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture in three additions with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour, mixing just until combined.
Gently fold in the flour-coated chocolate chips.
Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 28 to 32 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
For the buttercream, beat the room-temperature butter until the most pale and fluffy — approximately 3 minutes. Add the sifted powdered sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes until the most incredibly fluffy and spreadable. Stir in the half cup of mini chocolate chips by hand for the most beautifully chip-studded individual frosting.
Assemble the two layers with a generous individual frosting layer between, then frost the exterior.
How to Serve This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
Serve at room temperature when the most beautifully softened vanilla buttercream is at its most luxuriously creamy and the mini chocolate chips throughout the frosting are at their most properly distributed individual presence.
For the most completely extraordinary individual birthday presentation, press additional mini chocolate chips most generously into the frosted individual exterior of the assembled cake for the most beautifully and the most dramatically chip-studded individual presentation. Our Biscoff Cookie Butter Cake makes a beautifully equally celebration-worthy and equally individually extraordinary companion for a complete and wonderful celebration birthday cake collection.
How to Store This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for up to one week. Allow to come fully to room temperature before serving for the most properly soft individual buttercream and the most beautifully distributed individual chocolate chip presence throughout. Freeze individual cake layers wrapped tightly for up to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

Use mini chocolate chips rather than standard-size chocolate chips for the most evenly distributed and the most beautifully speckled individual chip presence throughout every crumb. Standard-size chips are the most heavy and the most prone to sinking to the bottom of the individual cake layer regardless of flour coating — mini chips are lighter and the most effectively individually suspended throughout the most entire cake depth.
The sour cream in the batter is the most essential individual moisture ingredient that produces the most beautifully tender and the most properly moist individual crumb that distinguishes this chocolate chip cake from the most standard individual vanilla cake. Do not substitute or omit the sour cream for the most properly extraordinary individual result.
Helpful Notes for This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
For the most dramatically chocolate-chip-studded individual exterior presentation, press an additional half cup of mini chocolate chips most generously into the freshly frosted exterior sides and top of the cake immediately after the final individual frosting layer is applied — the most fresh frosting is the most sticky and the most receptive individual surface for the most effectively adhered chips.
Reserve the remaining half cup of chocolate chips that are not flour-coated for sprinkling over the top of each individual batter pan before baking — the most unsunken surface chips create the most beautiful individual chocolate chip individual top layer reveal.
Variation of This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
Maria made a version substituting dark chocolate chips for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply bittersweet individual dark chocolate chip celebration cake. Teresa tried adding half a teaspoon of pure almond extract alongside the vanilla for the most completely extraordinary and the most delicately nutty individual almond-vanilla chocolate chip cake.
For a funfetti chocolate chip combination, fold half a cup of rainbow sprinkles through the batter alongside the flour-coated chips for the most completely extraordinary and the most joyfully colorful individual sprinkle and chocolate chip birthday cake. Our Homemade Vanilla Cake makes a beautifully equally moist vanilla and equally celebration-beautiful companion for a complete and wonderful vanilla birthday cake collection.
FAQs About This Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
Why do the chocolate chips sink to the bottom?
Chocolate chips sink to the bottom of cake batters because their individual weight is the most greater than the surrounding liquid batter — gravity pulls them down before the individual batter sets around them during baking. Tossing in flour before adding to the batter is the most effective solution — the thin flour coating adds friction that helps each individual chip grip the surrounding batter rather than sliding through it.
Can I use chocolate chunks instead of chips?
Chocolate chunks are the most significantly heavier than mini chips and the most prone to sinking even with flour coating. If using chunks, cut them the most finely and coat generously with flour before folding very gently. Mini chips are the most specifically recommended for the most beautifully even individual distribution throughout the most entire depth of every individual cake layer.
Can I make this as a single-layer sheet cake?
Yes. Pour the entire batter into a greased 9 by 13-inch baking dish and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes at 350°F until a toothpick comes out clean. Frost with the chip-studded vanilla buttercream for the most beautifully convenient and the most easily portable individual sheet cake format.
Conclusion
This Chocolate Chip Cake is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely beloved chocolate chip birthday cake that makes every celebration feel genuinely and completely special through the most moist vanilla sour cream crumb and the most beautifully suspended mini chocolate chips and the most gloriously chip-studded vanilla buttercream in every single perfectly layered and completely irresistible chocolate chip cake slice.
We hope it brings the same deeply joyful chocolate chip birthday cake excitement and the same completely delighted celebration table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
Print
Chocolate Chip Cake The Most Easy Moist Vanilla Sour Cream Two Layer Mini Chocolate Chip Vanilla Buttercream Celebration Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 12 to 14 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist Chocolate Chip Cake made by preheating oven to 350°F greasing flouring and lining two 9-inch pans whisking 3 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt setting aside tossing 1 cup mini chocolate chips with 1 tbsp flour setting aside beating 1 cup softened butter and 1 3/4 cups sugar 3 minutes light and fluffy adding 4 room temperature eggs one at a time then vanilla and 1/2 cup room temperature sour cream on low alternating flour mixture in 3 additions with 1 cup room temperature milk in 2 additions beginning and ending with flour gently folding flour-coated chips dividing evenly baking 28 to 32 minutes until toothpick clean cooling 10 minutes then on racks then beating 1 1/2 cups room temperature butter 3 minutes adding 5 to 6 cups sifted powdered sugar 3 to 4 tbsp cream vanilla and salt beating medium-high 3 minutes fluffy stirring in 1/2 cup mini chips by hand assembling with generous frosting between layers and exterior. A completely perfect mini chip vanilla sour cream birthday cake recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups All-Purpose Flour plus 1 tbsp for chips
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter softened
1 3/4 cups Granulated Sugar
4 large Eggs room temperature
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Sour Cream room temperature
1 cup Whole Milk room temperature
1 1/2 cups Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips divided
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter room temperature for buttercream
5 to 6 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
3 to 4 tbsp Heavy Cream
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for buttercream
1/4 tsp Salt for buttercream
1/2 cup Mini Chocolate Chips for stirring through frosting
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 175°C. Grease flour and line two 9-inch pans.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Toss 1 cup mini chips with 1 tbsp flour until coated. Set aside.
4. Beat softened butter and sugar 3 minutes light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs one at a time. Mix thoroughly. Add vanilla and sour cream. Mix combined.
6. On low alternate flour in 3 additions with milk in 2 additions. Mix just combined.
7. Gently fold flour-coated chips.
8. Divide evenly between pans. Bake 28 to 32 minutes until toothpick clean.
9. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer to racks. Cool completely.
10. Beat room temperature butter 3 minutes until pale and fluffy.
11. Add powdered sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat medium-high 3 minutes fluffy.
12. Stir 1/2 cup mini chips by hand through frosting.
13. Assemble with generous frosting between and over layers.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Birthday, Celebration
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 640
- Sugar: 68g
- Sodium: 260mg
- Fat: 34g
- Saturated Fat: 21g
- Unsaturated Fat: 11g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 84g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 145mg
Keywords: chocolate chip cake, easy moist chocolate chip cake recipe vanilla sour cream mini chocolate chips vanilla buttercream, best chocolate chip birthday cake celebration, moist vanilla sour cream two layer chocolate chip cake
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