With its sweet crumb top, tart cranberries, and rich chocolate, this Cranberry Chocolate Chip Snack Cake is perfect with coffee or milk. Warning: there will be no leftovers.
My family loves cake. More than pie. Yeah, they’re weird. I’d much rather have pie.
But, this cake could sway me. A sweet crumb top forms a bed for fresh cranberries and chocolate chips. Delicious! It’s perfect for an afterschool snack, dessert with coffee, or a decadent addition to breakfast or brunch.
This cake has its beginnings in a basic cake recipe a friend shared with me years ago, only it was called Toffee Topped Bars. It’s basically addictive. If you sit me by a pan of this stuff, it won’t last long.
Can I use a different fruit or add nuts?
I’ve adapted the method over time in lots of different ways, with different fruits and nuts, with chocolate and without. It’s pretty much foolproof, so feel free to adjust the flavor profile to suit your fancy.
Here I combined vanilla, orange, chocolate, and cranberry – a perfect team for this snack cake.
How to make this chocolate chip snack cake
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Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
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In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, and butter. Pulse until coarse crumbs form.
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Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set it aside.
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Add the milk, egg, vanilla, orange zest, baking powder, and salt to the remaining flour mixture. Blend until smooth.
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Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the batter. Sprinkle the cranberries and chocolate chips over the crumb mixture. Bake the coffeecake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
How to make this good and cheap:
To make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. The holidays are a great time to stock up on baking ingredients. Cranberries will also be more readily available around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Watch for them to be marked down right after the holidays so don’t hesitate to stock up and fill your freezer with them.
- If you need to make some substitutions or omissions, you can skip the orange zest. It’s not critical and if you don’t have any oranges or they aren’t on sale, it’s not a huge deal. You can reduce the amount of chocolate by half if you prefer to save there as well. I’ve made it with as little as 1/4th of a cup and it’s been great.
How I make this recipe easy:
Having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:
- food processor – I have had a food processor for 23 years and use it several times a week. I currently use this Cuisinart model and am coming to appreciate the three separate bowls. Good news for this recipe, it’s a one-bowl deal.
- Pyrex 9×13 with lid – I love, Love, LOVE this pan.
- silicone spatula – I love this two-sided spatula/spoon. It’s great for stirring and scraping. I bought it originally to flip crepes, but I’ve since bought more since it’s so handy!
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Snack Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour)
- 2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, and butter. Pulse until coarse crumbs form.
- Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set it aside.
- Add the milk, egg, vanilla, orange zest, baking powder, and salt to the remaining flour mixture. Blend until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the batter. Sprinkle the cranberries and chocolate chips over the crumb mixture. Bake the coffeecake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Notes
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. The holidays are a great time to stock up on baking ingredients. Cranberries will also be more readily available around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Watch for them to be marked down right after the holidays so don’t hesitate to stock up and fill your freezer with them.
- If you need to make some substitutions or omissions, you can skip the orange zest. It's not critical and if you don't have any oranges or they aren't on sale, it's not a huge deal. You can reduce the amount of chocolate by half if you prefer to save there as well. I've made it with as little as 1/4th of a cup and it's been great.
Nutrition
Originally published February 13, 2012.
Kathy
I made this since I had cranberries in the freezer I needed to use up. It turned out great and was really easy to prepare. I think I need to figure out how to halve it it, but for now I’ll just share with the neighbors. I used half white flour and half pastry flour. I didn’t have any oranges on hand so I used a splash of orange extract. I didn’t drag out the food processor but just used a pastry cutter to blend up the crumb mixture. Thanks for a great recipe!
Rebekah
I’ve made this many times for my family and we all love it just the way that the recipe is printed. It’s easy to make substitutions / changes / omissions, though – so go ahead and make this recipe your own!
Our favorite way to make this, though, is just the way that it’s printed AND … best part …. I can get all of the ingredients ready, preheat the oven, and have this in the oven in almost exactly the time that it takes the oven to preheat. It comes together SO fast. If you have an urge to make this, you can have it in the oven in 10 minutes, dishes done, and eating it warm in less than an hour!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you enjoy it. Thanks for the feedback, Rebekah!
Nia Hanna
I made this cake again today. I stuck with the 1 tsp orange extract. Instead of one kind of chocolate chips I used a half and half mix of milk chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips. Instead of the freeze dried cranberries I used last time, craisins soaked in boiling water did the job. Still a yummy, yummy cake.
Jessica Fisher
Your adaptations sound delicious!
Carol
I made this with my grandson with only the change of gluten free flour. It was delicious. Everyone wanted seconds right away!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you enjoyed it and that it worked GF. Yay!