Chocolate Chip Cake

The faculty room is a place of gathering in our building.  Our staff enjoys monthly thematic potluck days; this month, we had a baked potato bar in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. I signed up for salsa.  Early morning baking doesn't really agree with me.  One of our amazing staff signed up to make this chocolate chip cake.   When I carried on about how good it was, she replied, "I whipped it up in 5 minutes; it's one of my mom's recipes."  The next day, I found the recipe on my chair (if you are trying to give something to a teacher, put it on the chair; the desk usually is covered in piles of stuff).

After reading the book Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin, I started following her suggestion of celebrating holidays with a fun breakfast.  Her suggestions included buying colorful paper plates and something simple like coloring the peanut butter.  I have enjoyed making a special occasion and breakfast for my family.  But this year, the time change hit me hard. I went to bed on 3/16 thinking, "Well, we can use the green polka dotted plates.  And there will be a few chocolate coins."  At 4:00 AM, the dog decided he needed to go out. As I stumbled around the kitchen, I figured I'd make something for breakfast since I was up.  I could find nothing.  Then I remembered Jill mentioning that there were few ingredients and the cake was fast.  So...I needed to find the recipe.  In my teacher bag. Pre-coffee, it took me more than 5 minutes; I still wouldn't say early morning baking agrees with me.  But the kids loved it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 bag chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grease 9 x 13 dish.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add sour cream, vanilla, and eggs. Mix well.
3. Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon. 
5. Pour half of batter into the dish. Sprinkle half the sugar mixture and 1/2 bag of chocolate chips.
6. Pour remaining batter on top.  Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and sugar.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.

DIFFICULTY: Easy!
TIME: 10 minutes prep; 30 minutes baking
SOURCE: Jill, my awesome coworker