Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

I wanted to wax poetic about this cake–because I truly do feel poetic about it, I’ve made it several times–but I am having trouble. Maybe it is the 5 hours of sleep and Kung Fu Panda in the background robbing me of brain cells.

Whatever, the cause, believe me when I say I am not expressing eloquently enough just how much I love this cake. It is the reason I fell in love with bundt cakes. It is also the reason I fell in love with Lisa Yockeslon’s baking cookbooks (ChocolateChocolate, Baking By Flavor). It is simple to make and fragrant with vanilla. The cake accents the chocolate perfectly.

3 cups(378 g) AP flour (she wants bleached, I used 1/3 cake flour, almost 2/3 unbleached AP flour, and while weighing it I also threw in 1 tablespoon of potato flour)
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
2 cups mini chocolate chips (I used some regular chips, but truly, from past experience, you will have less problems with chips sinking if you use mini chips)
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups superfine vanilla sugar (I made my own in food processor)
6 large eggs
2 1/4 t vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spray a nonstick bundt pan thoroughly with flour/grease mixture (she calls for lining a tube pan with parchment paper–I have never needed to, but I do make sure to coat the pan thoroughly). Also spray some bundlettes or mini loaves for the excess dough or use a 10 inch tube pan for the entire cake (I love bundt cakes, how pretty they are, so I rarely use tube pans). Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together twice. Remove 1 tablespoon and toss with the chocolate chips. Set the chips and the flour mixture aside.

Cream the butter in large bowl of mixer on moderate speed for 4 mins. Add the vanilla sugar in 4 additions, beating for 1 minute after each portion is added. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 secs after each addition and scraping down the sides of bowl. Add the vanilla and blend it in. On low speed, add sifted flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Remember to keep scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand.

Spoon batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top with rubber spatula.

How long you bake the cake will depend on the size(s). A 10 inch tube cake will take 1 hour and 15 minutes. A 9-10 inch bundt cake will take approximately 1 hour. 1 cup size bundlettes take around 25 minutes. You will just need to watch for whatever sizes you choose to make.

Bake the cake(s) for the recommended time, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (it may hit chocolate chip and be smeared with melted chocolate, which is fine). The baked cake will pull also slightly away from the sides of the pan.

Cool the cake in the pan(s) on a rack for 10-15 mins, then invert onto another cooling rack and peel away parchment paper if used and then invert again to stand upright. Cool completely. Store in airtight cake container. Sift confectioners’ sugar over the top of the cake before serving if desired.