Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake

I don't make dessert very often at my house for just my family because what ends up happening is there is a ton leftover and I can't handle the temptation and eat it all myself.  We went to a party recently and I offered to bring dessert.  There were going to be 6 families there and I had found a couple of recipes I wanted to try out so I thought it was the perfect time to bake.  They were so good, but now I'm in trouble because no one could resist temptation and kept eating my desserts. :)  I've been told I'm banned from bringing desserts, but I'm not listening (plug my ears, lah, lah, lah).

I made a Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake (I found in my latest Penzey's spice catalog) that was sooo good and samoa bark that I didn't photograph, but will link to below.  IT'S TO DIE FOR, super easy AND no bake!!!!  I'm definitely using it at Christmas as part of my cookie plates.

I do not get paid anything from Penzey's to endorse them FYI, but love, love love, LOVE this spice company.  I have mentioned it here before, but my cooking is 1000% better since converting to their spices in 2006.  Almost all of my spices are exclusively from there.  They don't cost much more than spices from regular stores and are so much better.  Penzey's source all of their own spices and make their own spice blends so they are cutting out the middle man to bring you superior spices.  If you have a Penzey's near you, please GO!  If you need me to go with you and are local to me I WILL GO WITH YOU!!! :)  I promise you, you won't regret it.  If you order online through them (because you can't get to a store), they always throw in a free little spice bottle so you get to try new ones for free.  Sign up for their free catalog either in the store or online.  You get coupons for free spices and it's always chock full of recipes from real people, and you can use the coupons when you order online. (Ok, I am off my soapbox and you can resume back to the recipe).  You can find them online here and they list all of their locations on their website.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract (Penzey's is by far the BEST vanilla EVER!  Hands down THE best!!!! - and I've used a lot)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

For layering:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (Penzey's also has THE BEST cinnamon ever!!!!!)
1  12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, 1 cup of sugar and the eggs.  Beat until light and fluffy.  BTW-if you are like me and never get the butter out in time and have a stand mixer, just throw in the butter and turn the mixer on high.  It will beat it to smithereens and it will be nice and smooth in no time.  Hold onto your mixer! :)

Add the sour cream and vanilla; blend thoroughly on low. 

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.  Add gradually to the beaten mixture.  It was pretty sticky and didn't seem like enough to go around, but stick (har, har) with it!

Pour half of the batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.  In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle half of it over the batter and top with half of the chocolate chips.  Pour the remaining batter into the pan and sprinkle with the reamining cinnamon-sugar mixture and the rest of the chocolate chips.  See how flat the whole cake is?  It will seems like not enough, but look below at how much it cooks up!

I forgot to take pictures mid-way through the layering process because I got distracted by the stickiness of the batter.  Look at the yumminess of the cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 30 min.  Cool in the pan on a rack.

No close-up today of a single slice as I was off to the party and didn't get a pic, but it was sure yummy and hard to resist!  Like I said above, I'm fired from treats because mine were too irresistable, but I'm not going to listen and WILL continue to bring even yummier ones (if possible)!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake Printable Recipe
Samoa Bark Link