Chocolate Chip Cake

Yield: 8 to 9 servings

Tips: An easy cake with a simple-to-make frosting, this is perfect for those occasions when you feel like "a little something chocolate" but don't want to fuss too much. The cake recipe calls for milk chocolate chips; if you can get miniature ones, use them as they are. Otherwise, you'll have to chop them, or you can semisweet miniature chips in their place. Many of the chips will sink toward the cake bottom during baking, but this gives you a nice effect when the cake is cut.

Despite the fact that it contains sour cream, the frosting has very little of sour cream's usual tangy flavor; it's tempered by the use of the milk chocolate. The cake itself freezes, but the frosting does not. The completed cake must be stored in the refrigerator. Nice with a hot cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.

Cake:

• 1-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chopped, good-quality milk chocolate chips (or use miniature semisweet chocolate chips)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3/4 cup dairy sour cream
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg, graded "large"

Frosting:

• 1 cup (6 ounces) good-quality milk chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup (2 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• Few grains salt
• 2/3 cup dairy sour cream, well-stirred

Combine about 1 tablespoon (no need to measure) of sifted flour in a small bowl with chocolate chips. Stir to coat chips well; set aside. Sift together remaining flour with baking soda and salt. In another small bowl, combine sour cream and water. With fork, beat to mix (mixture may be lumpy--OK).

In large bowl, cream softened butter, sugar, and vanilla for a minute or two until light and fluffy (I use a sturdy, hand-held mixer to make this, but you can do so by hand if you wish). Add egg and beat in well, scraping bowl bottom and sides thoroughly. Beginning and ending with sifted dry ingredients, add dry ingredients in thirds and sour cream mixture in halves, beating at low speed after each addition just until blended. Batter will be thick. Remove from mixer. Fold in chocolate chips (and any extra flour with them). Turn batter into prepared pan and spread level, then, with back of spoon, spread slightly higher in corners and along edges of pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 23 to 27 minutes, turning pan back-to-front once about halfway during baking time. Cake is done when toothpick inserted near center emerges with only a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Do not overbake. Remove to cooling rack. While cake cools, the top, which domed during baking, should flatten out. Cool completely before frosting.

For Frosting:
In small heatproof bowl, combined chocolate chips and salt. Place over hot water on low heat (water should not touch bottom of bowl); stir often until melted and smooth. Leave bowl over hot water. All at once, add sour cream. Stir in briskly (a whisk is a big help here). Mixture will clump and "seize" at first, but should smooth out as whisked. Remove frosting from heat and hot water. If necessary, allow to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (frosting will thicken slightly as it cools).

Spread cooled frosting evenly over top of cake. Chill, covering tightly when cold. Store in refrigerator for up to several days.

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