Chocolate chip loaf cake tastes extra moist and is loaded with chocolate chips in each bite. This easy butter cake is manageable and convenient because it’s smaller and quicker than a traditional layer or sheet cake. There’s no complicated decorating required and each slice comes with a fudge-like chocolate peanut butter garnish on top. It’s fun to serve for a small special occasion like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or whenever you want a treat alongside coffee, tea, or a tall glass of milk!
Have you ever tasted an Entenmann’s or TastyKake style treat? You know those store-bought confections like breakfast pastries, donuts, donut holes, dessert cakes, etc? Well, I created a homemade version of those mass-produced treats. Completely not on purposeโthe goal was to make a simple and scaled down chocolate chip cake, but tasting this brought us back to our childhood snacking on chocolate frosted donuts.
A very happy and delicious accident, if you will.
One reader, Cheryl, commented: “Second time I’ve made this cakeโit was so good! Was craving something with chocolate chips but didn’t want to make cookies and didn’t want to fuss with muffin tins. The loaf is one easy pan and the recipe is so quick to make. Can tell this will be a favorite of mine! Thanks! โ โ โ โ โ ”
Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake Details
- Texture: This is basically a super moist butter cake scaled down to fit a loaf pan. I loosely adapted the recipe from this raspberry swirl pound cake, but made today’s version much lighter. You’ll notice fewer eggs and butter and the addition of milk to lighten up the batter. Consider this a VERY light-crumbed pound cake. I recommend slicing it while it’s still a little warm so the chocolate chips are extra melty.
- Flavor: If you love butter and chocolate, you’ll enjoy this chocolate chip loaf cake. I recommend using mini chocolate chips so you get dozens of chips in every single bite. You can leave the loaf cake plain, but I certainly didn’t regret garnishing it with a glossy chocolate peanut butter topping. Yes, this loaf cake is nearly perfect.
- Ease: We have a basic butter-based cake on our hands and the great news is that there’s no crazy assembly or complicated decoration required. All of the equipment (mixer, loaf pan) and ingredients are pretty standard for a baking recipe. I always appreciate an easy dessert that delivers big!
- Time: Set aside a few hours to complete this recipe which includes preparing the batter, baking, and cooling.
Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake Batter
I want you to feel confident when it’s your turn to try this loaf cake recipe, so I’m explaining each ingredient. If you keep scrolling, you’ll find the full printable recipe.
- Butter & Sugar: Like many cake recipes, creamed butter & sugar make up the base of this recipe. Make sure you’re using proper room temperature butter. This does not mean very soft butterโrather, room temperature butter is cool to the touch. If it’s melted in the slightest, your cake is doomed from the very beginning. Feel free to borrow our trick to soften butter quickly. And if you need a refresher, here is our video tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar.
- Eggs: 2 eggs add structure and tenderness to this loaf cake.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream works hard in cake recipes, making each crumb moist and tender. Just like in my marble loaf cake, even a little bit (1/4 cup) makes a big difference.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds flavor. If you have homemade vanilla extract on hand, this chocolate chip loaf cake is a great place to use it!
- All-Purpose Flour: We tested the recipe using cake flour, but it proved to be much too lightโthe cake lost most structure. All-purpose flour is the ideal choice. We haven’t tested any gluten free variations.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder adds lift so this isn’t a super dense loaf cake.
- Salt: Salt offsets the sweetness.
- Milk: Most cake recipes include milk and this is to help thin out the batter so you get a cake-like crumb. For best results, use whole milk. Lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. If you want to use buttermilk, you absolutely could but we recommend replacing the milk AND sour cream with buttermilk. Use 3/4 cup buttermilk.
- Mini Chocolate Chips: You can use regular chocolate chips, but just like with my chocolate chip scones, I prefer using mini because you enjoy more in each bite. I use semi-sweet, but milk chocolate or dark chocolate work too. I’m sure white chocolate or butterscotch morsels would be tasty.
NOTE: The batter is a little thick and lumpy. During the mixing process, you’ll notice that the wet ingredients don’t emulsify together very smoothlyโthat’s ok! It’s nothing to worry about because once you add the dry ingredients, everything comes together.
You’ll Love This Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping
Feel free to serve this chocolate chip loaf cake plain, but if there’s an opportunity for chocolate and peanut butter, we should take it. This is the same topping we use on our no bake peanut butter bars. Made with just 2 ingredients, it’s thick, glossy, and eventually sets into a fudge-like consistency.
Other options are chocolate ganache (halve the recipe), salted caramel (halve the recipe or keep leftovers), or serve each slice with fresh whipped cream and berries.
PS: This topping would be excellent on my peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread, too.
Enjoy More Chocolate Desserts
- Our Favorite Frosted Brownies
- Brookie Pie
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake
- Chocolate Orange Slice & Bake Cookies
Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This super moist and buttery chocolate chip loaf cake uses basic baking ingredients and tastes unbelievable with a 2 ingredient fudge-like glaze on top.
Ingredients
- 1ย and 3/4 cups (219g)ย all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup (180g) mini chocolate chips
Optional Topping
- 1/2 cup (90g) mini chocolate chips
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) and generously grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Make the cake:ย Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย how to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the eggs and beat on high speed for 1 minute, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. The mixture will be very lumpy and appear curdledโthat’s ok. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer to low speed and as the mixer runs, slowly pour in the milk. Beat on low speed just until all of the ingredients are combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no large lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour and spread batter evenly into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for about 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. That time is a guidelineโall ovens differ, so keep a close eye on the cake after 55 minutes. If the cake is browning too quickly on top, loosely tent with aluminum foil as it bakes.
- Cool cake in the pan set on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan. Feel free to continue cooling it directly on a wire rack or slice and enjoy then. (It will still be slightly warm.) You can drizzle the topping on the cake when the cake is still slightly warm after that 1 hour of cooling or wait until the cake has cooled completely to top it.
- Optional Topping: Stir and melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together in a small saucepan over medium heat on the stove or in a heatproof bowl using the microwave. We usually use the microwave and melt in 30 second increments, stirring after each until smooth. Drizzle over cake. Topping sets into a fudge-like consistency after several hours.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store cake (with or without topping) at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions:ย Topped or plain cake freezes well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or serve cold.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream & Milk: Feel free to replace the sour cream with lowfat plain yogurt. For best results, use whole milk. Lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. If you want to use buttermilk, you absolutely could but we recommend replacing the milk AND sour cream with buttermilk. Use 3/4 cup buttermilk.
- Chocolate Chips: 1 standard 12 ounce bag is enough for this recipe. You can use regular size chocolate chips in both the cake and topping. We prefer using mini because you get more in each bite and for the topping, they melt down easier. We use semi-sweet, but milk chocolate or dark chocolate work too. We’re sure white chocolate or butterscotch morsels would be tasty as well.
- Peanut Butter: For best results, use processed creamy peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy. We do not recommend oily or natural style peanut butter because the topping will separate.
- Topping Options: See blog post for other topping options.
- Cupcakes/Muffins: We haven’t tested this recipe as cupcakes, muffins, or mini muffins, so let us know if you do. We imagine it would work just fine, but aren’t sure of the quantity. We recommend following the same baking instructions (steps 1 and 3) as our banana muffins.
- 1 layer cake: This batter will fit in a 9-inch greased square pan and take about 45 minutes to bake through at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). The batter will not fit or bake evenly in a 9-inch round cake pan.
- Bundt Cake: We haven’t tested this recipe as a Bundt cake, but we recommend doubling the batter and using a 10-12 cup Bundt cake pan. Bake at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). We’re unsure of the best bake time. The batter, without doubling, would yield a very short Bundt cake.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together properly. Read here for more information.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can I make this 2 days in advance? If so how do I store it?
Hi Ronna, you can make 2 days in advance if needed. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Mine came out extremely dense and flat. I was surprised, because I thought the point of creaming sugar and butter together is to create a light, fluffy result. Perhaps baking soda would have been better? I usually substitute apple sauce for butter, honey for sugar, but decided to make this one as written. I cooked it for the recommended time, even longer, because it seemed to have a top layer that looked cake-like but a bottom layer that looked uncooked. Strange. Smelt nice while baking, but not a keeper for me, sorry.
Delicious!! So yummy, easy to follow instructions and this will be a keeper! So glad I found your recipes! Thankyou!
Absolutely delicious!!!!
Made this today, it tastes like a chocolate chip cookie!!!
And, I even used regular sized chocolate chips, they didnโt sink at all!!
Hi Sally, we are enjoying this chocolate chip loaf cake very much. I was getting away from hauling up the mixer, but this was worth it! It’s chocked full of tiny chocolate chips and has a delicious vanilla flavor. I make a lot of your recipes and will certainly make this again. Thanks for another great one. Kathy
what can I substitute the heavy cream with if i want to make it dairy free?
Hi Sonia! There isn’t any heavy cream in this recipe. We haven’t tested dairy-free alternative here but let us know if you try anything!
Sorry I meant to write sour cream?
We havenโt tested dairy-free alternative here but let us know if you try anything!
Any suggestions for pan substitutions?
See Notes after the recipe, Michelle!
Hi. Cake was dry even though it baked for only 55 minutes. Not sure why it was dry as the ingredients should have ensured a moist cake.
It did taste very good.
Iโve enjoyed a number of your recipes.
Hi Ben, was the flour over measured by chance? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out cakes. This post on how to prevent dry and dense cakes may also be helpful to review. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Very good! Would definitely make again. I did not make the glaze but everything else was according to the recipe.
This baked up beautifully! The recipe was very easy to follow. I topped it with my own dark chocolate glaze and it came out decadent. Thanks!
Hi can I make this non-dairy using non dairy sour cream and almond milk?
Hi Jan, We haven’t tested it but let us know if you do!
Delicious cake! But all the chocolate chips sunk to the bottom of the cake, any idea why that would happen?
Hi Stephanie! Did you use mini chocolate chips? The smaller size helps keep them suspended in the batter. You can also toss the chocolate chips in a small amount of flour before adding to the batter to help prevent sinking, too. We’re so glad you enjoyed the cake!
I have yet to bake anything from Sally that has not been incredible. This cc loaf is no exception. I was out of regular AP flour and used King Arthur cake flour. Everything else was the same. I used Kerrygold butter, Daisy sour cream, this turned out so dreamy!!
You have some nice-looking recipes but as an FYI I highly recommend you put a title description on at least ONE of your pictures. I have a lot of recipes saved on Pinterest and without a title you can’t tell what anything is, and it’s just too time consuming to click on each picture to find out what it is. They become a blur of little, tiny pictures. Consequently, I will no longer save a recipe without a description. I have to believe I am not alone. Unfortunately, Pinterest itself is so unfriendly it won’t let us add a title or it wouldn’t be an issue. I hope you take this with the kind intent it was meant as a suggestion for a way to improve your page.
Hi Rhonda, thank you so much for the feedback. Are you asking about titling my photos specifically for Pinterest? This would require some particular coding, or perhaps adjusting the plug-in settings I use for auto-populating pins on my website. I may be mistaken, as I know Pinterest changes very often, but when you pin an image from my site, can you type in a title or description before saving it?
Another PERFECT Sally recipe!!! The loaf looks stunning, abd the mini chips are beautifully and uniformly suspended throughout the loaf. Made this for a bunch of carpenters yesterday working on my house reno, and each one of them literally said, “Mmmmmmm!” as they took their first bite. Thanks, Sally and staff, for your incredible service you provide to all us home-taught bakers! โค๏ธ
Hi, I am making chocolate chip loaf bread. If I wanted to add cocoa to make it all chocolate how much and do I have to add more sugar?
Hi Jade, we haven’t tried making this all chocolate, but let us know how it turns out if you try anything.
I truly love this website. Iโve tried dozens of Sallyโs recipes and love them all. This one really deserves a comment. Itโs delicious and special. I skipped the topping because I love cake with coffee in the morning.
When itโs fresh itโs sooo fluffy and not overly sweet. The next day itโs a little denser and tastes like an elevated version of those packaged mini muffins. The chocolate stands out more when itโs room temperature.
I made this just to use up some not so fresh milk and sour cream, but I could make this weekly. Iโll try baking it in a square pan and adding topping next time.
Very good. few modifications. used buttermilk, margarine instead of butter, low fat sour cream. half cup sugar and 1/4 cup of truvia.
Such a delicious cake. And that chocolate and peanut butter icing literally is the icing on the cake. I don’t think it’s possible to bake a better chocolate chip cake.
I made this recipe today.It is moist and delicious ! The recipe is sweet enough that I did not need to
add any glaze.I love dark chocolate so I used 70 percent chocolate chips. Since the were not mini,I cut them in half. Thank you for another amazing recipe .I never baked anything from your recipes that didn’t get rave reviews!
Hi Sally: This chocolate chip cake is awesome. I had enough mini chips and everything else. I made the topping which was the crowning glory. Delicious! I used my USA one pound loaf pan and baked it in my Wolf toaster oven with the convention setting. It took a little less time but I checked it carefully and used the foil. Thanks for another great recipe! Kathy
I baked it exactly as the recipe says, it came out way too oily for me. I will definitely try it with less butter. Otherwise it’s very tasty.
I tried many of your recipes and they were all super delicious, except for this one! For me the cake turned out to be very oily, and all the chocolate chips have fallen to the bottom. So when I slice the cake, no chocolate chips are seen. Not sure what caused this. Also, I wasnโt sure at what rack it should be baked and at what oven setting?
Delish and easy. Like a cookie on the outside and a cake on the inside.