Sour Cream Chocolate Bit Cake

Nathan loves this cake.



So much that when I first confronted him a couple weeks back about what kind of cake he would like for his big birthday, he replied "hmmm I don't know".  Then, the day before The Day, I asked once more and was yet again met with the same response. 

Now how does this prove that he loves this cake?  After making it my mission and pondering over and perusing through a couple of mouth-watering baker cookbooks to come up with something creative that I know he would love, I suddenly recalled this cake- a tried and true and previously requested almost weekly sweet treat that hasn't been made in far too long.  So after last years banana cake with maple cinnamon icing, and the marbled gooey butter cake I made the year before, both of which he obligingly ate the evening of his birthday and which I proceeded to polish off in the following nights single-handedly, I opted for this safe cake- a tender cinnamon cake sprinkled with chocolate chips and sugar.  Not exactly what you'd call a traditional birthday cake but once you stick some candles in it no one will ever know the difference.

Happy birthday, Nathan!

Sour Cream Chocolate Bit Cake

Makes one 8x8-inch pan

3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix butter with 1/2 cup sugar until blended, then beat in the egg.  Stir flour with baking powder, soda, and cinnamon, then blend with creamed mixture.  Mix in the sour cream.

Pour batter into a greased 8x8-inch baking pan.  Scatter the chocolate bits evenly over the batter, then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until cake just begins to pull away from sides of pan. 

Adapted from my mom's 80's Sunset cookbook.