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 purpose—the 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 cake—it 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! ★★★★★”
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 butter—rather, 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 light—the 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 smoothly—that’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
- 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
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (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 350°F (177°C) and generously grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Make the cake: 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. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on 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 curdled—that’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 guideline—all 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: 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 350°F (177°C). 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 350°F (177°C). 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
I made a mini loaf from 1/4 of the recipe and it was absolutely delicious – somewhat dense (which is my preference) and quite moist. I used mini chocolate chips and for the most part they stayed distributed throughout the loaf. In my mini loaf pan it took about 35 minutes.
I made this recipe into muffins and they were PERFECT (Make the scoops of baking powder heaping if you want them to have big muffin tops)!
Literally my boyfriend can’t stop eating this loaf! He’s like this is soooo good. Recipe easy and used smaller loaf pan, and broke up Trader Joe’s milk chocolate bars for the chip part. Excellent overall.
Thank you ! Love your recipes ! Very yummy cake
Gave this a try and it was shockingly delicious! I used regular sized chocolate chips instead of minis and didn’t have an issue with them sinking. Will definitely be making again in the future!
Great recipe! One batch was enough for one 6″ bundt pan and 6 larger cupcakes. Baked for 35 minutes, they’re moist and delicious!
I love this recipe. Loaf came out nice and moist and delicious. Tha n you
Lightly toss your chocolate chips in a little bit of the flour and then they won’t sink to the bottom
Hi! Might be a random question but can I put parchment paper on the bottom of the loaf pan? Will that effect baking/bake time?
Hi Ally! You can. It won’t effect the bake time. We do find that baking spray is sufficient for quick breads, usually.
I loved this recipe! I’m dairy and gluten free so I substituted some ingredients and used dairy free mini chocolate chips, full fat oat milk, dairy free sour cream and gluten free flour. It was so delicious!
I substituted stevia for the sugar and I swapped out ½ cup of the flour for almond flour in an attempt to lower carbs a bit. The loaf turned out a tad bit greasy probably due to my substitutions but still good. I would need to make again according to recipe to compare outcomes. I will definitely make this again.
Hello Sally – I love your recipes and want to try this chocolate chip loaf cake. However I’m not a peanut butter lover. So which one of your other 3 frostings woujd you suggest instead – Chocolate buttercream frosting, Milk chocolate buttercream frosting or Milk chocolate frosting?
Thank you!
Hi Judy, our chocolate buttercream or even chocolate ganache would be fantastic on this loaf. Hope you enjoy it!
Very tasty and moist. We needed cupcakes and the recipe made the perfect number of 12. Baked at 350 degrees, but check at 25 min. Done between 25-30. We frosted with vanilla icing because that’s what the birthday girl requested.
Okay so I get 95% of the way through the recipe to discover I have no regular chocolate chips… I coulda sworn I had everything but I digress. So I start looking around and I find white chocolate chips but that didn’t sound good to me on it’s own. Then I find some frozen raspberries in the back of my freezer… Now a white chocolate raspberry cake with a glaze sounded good and that was what I did. 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips, ~3/4 cup of raspberries, and sprinkle of chips on top. I let it cool for 2 hours before poking a good number of holes and then pouring a glaze on top.
The base of this recipe (the cake mix) worked perfectly. I look forward to trying it as intended soon!
This was great! I made 10 mini loaves for our preschool teacher gifts this week. One recipe made 4 mini loaves, just in case anyone else is looking for this info. Bake time was about the same. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
Wow this recipe is amazing, tastes so yummy. And the topping was lush.
I just have one question Sally, my chocolate chips sunk to the bottom for some reason, i followed your recipe to the T with the exception that I used regular chocolate chips rather than mini ones, could that be why this happened?
Any tips on what I can do to avoid this happening?
Hi Fatima, for next time, mini chocolate chips will definitely help with the sinking. The smaller size helps keep them suspended in the batter. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
It was delicious but the presentation was sad. My mini chips all sank to the bottom and when I removed the cake from the Pyrex loaf pan it shifted like an earthquake had hit it. The flavor was wonderful but I need suggestions for it to look better.
Hi Ele! This batter should be thick enough to support the weight of the mini chips without sinking – did you make any ingredient changes? Even small ones? Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Trina, I weighed all the ingredients, I did stir the sour cream and vanilla together before adding to the mixer bowl. I hand stirred the dry ingredients rather than using the mixer at that point. Usually I’m a very successful baker, I’ll definitely try this recipe again because it tasted great but my first attempt was served in a bowl, it wasn’t sliceable.
Disaster! Too much batter for the loaf pan. I know I should have removed some when the battery was near the top. Spilled all over the oven. Top of the cake got crusty. Didn’t bake evenly (the cake that went over the side — part was really done). The part that was baked tasted good.
Hi Suz! Happy to help. Did you use a full size 9×5 inch baking pan? Anything smaller will be too small, resulting in overflow and uneven baking.
I love all of your recipes! Question- would you ever use three eggs if your eggs are small? I get my eggs from a friend who has chickens and the eggs are just smaller.
Hi Mary! Yes, it would depend on their weight. Do you have a scale? 1 large egg weighs about 57g or 2 ounces. If you ensure you’re using the correct amount of ounces, you’ll be all set.
I made this cake and the flavour was amazing but my chocolate chips all sunk to the bottom instead of being scattered around the whole cake… where did I go wrong?
Hi Sunita! Did you use mini chocolate chips? The smaller size helps keep them suspended in the batter.
Does plain Greek yoghurt work or does it have to particularly be low fat yogurts?
Hi Kinjal, plain Greek yogurt will work well here.
I have made this twice already and it is so easy and so delicious! The second time I made it I used the buttermilk method and I think I liked it better than the original! It came out absolutely perfect.
Hi I made the cake today in a Bundt cake pan. Was lovely ! My whole family enjoyed it. Love the topping of peanut butter and dark chocolate. Next time for sure i am going to make double the quantity 😀
Lots of love from Mauritius
Hi Afeefah. Did you need to double the recipe for the Bundt tin or change the cooking time?
Thanks, Alison
can i leave our the chococlate chips to make a pound cake?
Hi Ila, you can leave out the chocolate chips, but this is a pretty soft cake. Here is our pound cake recipe, and you can make it in two loaf pans instead or halve the ingredients for one loaf (see recipe Notes there for details).
Wow! This cake was easy to make and so moist! I used Greek yogurt instead of Sour cream and it was delicious. Also used regular sized chocolate chips. The key is to really beat it according to directions.I did try to cut it while warm and it was crumbly so I suggest waiting until it’s cooled. My new go to loaf cake!
The chocolate chip loaf cake was delicious but all the chocolate chips sank to the bottom. Why did this happen?
Hi Elli, We use and recommend mini chocolate chips for this loaf cake. You can try lightly tossing the chocolate chips in flour next time to help with any sinking. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Had to try it when I saw it on Instagram! No regrets! The mini chips pack a punch…sooo good!
If I am making mini loaves, about how many would this recipe make? And also, how long should we cook the mini loaves? Thank you.
Hi T, it depends on the size of your mini loaves. Fill your mini loaf pans about half way, bake at the same temperature, and keep a close eye on them for bake time. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.
This was an awesome cake! However all my chocolate chips sank to the bottom. How I keep that from happening?
Hi Mark, We use and recommend mini chocolate chips for this loaf cake. You can try lightly tossing the chocolate chips in flour next time to help with any sinking. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I think I messed this up. I used buttermilk but added it on the sour cream step rather than the milk step
Let us know how it went, Michelle!
The cake is delicious:)! It is quite easy in making and rather tasty.