COFFEE CAKE

CARAMEL CHOCOLATE COFFEE CAKE

About a year ago I went on this crazy ridiculous coffee cake kick where I set out to create the most perfect moist coffee cake complimented by ample amounts of crumb topping.  This stretch of experimentation proved to be a success.  I haven't baked a coffee cake since (I was all coffee-cake'd out) until last night. I was perusing cookie madness, a website offering tons and tons of recipes, and I came across this coffee cake. The difference with this cake is that caramel was added to the top. So, I began yet another venture into the world of coffee cake.

This cake was very very good. I, as always, double or even sometimes triple the streusel ingredients because I think that's what gives coffee cake greatness. Plus, I'm like Elaine from Seinfeld and am known to destroy the tops of everything; muffins, cakes, cupcakes, and what have you.  In this case, I doubled the streusel ingredients and put them both within the batter and along the top of the cake. The caramel was a nice touch and it set very nicely atop the chocolate chips and pecans. I would definitely recommend this coffee cake. It's delicious, chocolatey and super rich. Holy yummy!

Caramel Chocolate Coffee Cake

Streusel Ingredients:
1/2 cup mini or 2/3 cup regular size semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted and cooled 
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter – melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup light sour cream (I used regular Sour Cream because it was all I had at the time)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Drizzle Ingredients
14 caramels – unwrapped (I used "Caramel Bits" which you can find in your local grocery store)
2 tablespoons half & half or milk (I used whole milk)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 inch round springform pan with baking spray.

Combine all streusel ingredients in small bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs; continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Beat in vanilla extract.

Beat in all remaining ingredients.

Spoon half of the batter into the pan. Sprinkle half of streusel mixture over batter in pan. Spoon remaining batter over streusel; top with remaining streusel. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife along sides of pan to loosen edge. Remove side of pan. Cool at least 30 minutes.

Just before serving, combine caramels and half & half (or milk) in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until caramels are completely melted (5 to 8 minutes). Cool until thick enough to drizzle nicely; drizzle warm (not hot!) caramel over cake.

Note:

For the melted caramel, I melted 3/4 cup caramel bits with 2 tablespoons of milk for 2 minutes on high and stirred every 30 seconds. Make sure the cake is completely cooled before drizzling. Let cool and thicken before drizzling.