Chocolate Coffee Cake with Sour Cream Topping

If you are looking for an easy chocolate cake that melts in your mouth, you are in for a treat. This one is richly marbled with pudding cream and finished with a smooth layer of sour cream on top. I love baking it for birthdays or family get-togethers—and I think everyone at the table will love it, too!

➜ About this chocolate coffee cake

This recipe features a simple coffee cake made up of three layers. The base is a sponge cake-like batter, over which I pour hot cooked chocolate pudding. As it bakes, the pudding seeps through the batter, creating fancy, irregular waves. Once the cake is baked, I spread a layer of sweetened sour cream on top while it is still warm.

This cake is very popular among Czech home bakers today. We call it pudinková buchta se zakysanou smetanou, which literally means “pudding coffee cake with sour cream.”

And why is it called a coffee cake? Although the name includes the word coffee, do not be confused—it does not contain any coffee. It is called a coffee cake because it pairs beautifully with a cup of coffee and makes a perfect way to start the day.

MY TIP: Try bublanina, another famous Czech coffee cake with fruit on top!

➜ Ingredients

✅ You will find the exact ingredient amounts in the recipe card below, which you can also print out.

• Eggs – taken out of the fridge about an hour before they can come to room temperature. Alternatively, dip the eggs in warm water for five minutes. Warmed eggs will go better beaten to a foamy consistency.
• Powdered sugar
• All-purpose flour – or plain flour in the UK. I use so-called hladká mouka her in CZ. Read more about all-purpose flour in the Czech Republic.
• Baking powder
• Cocoa powder – unsweetened
• Milk – semi-skimmed (1.5%) or full-fat (3% fat content), preferably at room temperature
• Vegetable oil – sunflower or Canola oil

• Chocolate pudding powder – I used Dr. Oetker Original Pudding to make the pudding cream, which can be bought on Amazon.com or in grocery stores that offer Polish or German products. The pudding powder contains mainly cornstarch and chocolate flavor. The pudding has to be cooked in cow's milk and sweetened with granulated sugar. Instead of store-bought Dr. Oetker pudding, use cornstarch and unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Milk – semi-skimmed or full-fat milk. When making the pudding, I use a little less milk than the manufacturer's instructions on the packet to make the pudding thicker so it holds together nicely in the cake and does not melt.
• Granulated sugar – for sweetening

➜ Instructions with photos

STEP 1: Grease a 9x13-inch baking tray with a piece of butter and dust it with flour or breadcrumbs. To get rid of any excess flour, turn the baking tray onto a work surface and tap it gently.

STEP 2: Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl: flour, cocoa, and baking powder.

STEP 3: In a mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs in a bowl using an electric handheld mixer and beat them with the sugar on medium speed until a foamy mass is created. Gradually add the sugar as you increase the speed of the mixer. If the eggs are warmed to room temperature, and you are patient for 5 minutes or so, you will whip up a lovely fluffy foam. The wet mixture turns light in color while you whisk, the sugar will gradually dissolve, and the whole mass will thicken slightly.

Reduce the mixer speed to a minimum and gradually add the prepared dry flour mixture, milk, and oil to the beaten egg mass. Mix until everything is combined into a semi-liquid sponge cake batter with a light brown color.

STEP 4: Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and smooth the surface.

STEP 5: Cook the chocolate pudding according to the manufacturer's instructions. I make pudding by heating the milk gently, whisking in the pudding powder and sugar, and bringing it to a boil over medium heat. I keep stirring so that no lumps form in the pudding.

Pour the hot pudding zigzag over the batter. Try not to let the pudding cover the surface in a uniform layer but leave gaps between the zigzags through which you can see the underlying batter.

STEP 6: Preheat the oven to 170 °C (lower and upper heating). Put the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 30–40 minutes. The cake will puff up as it bakes. At the end of the baking time, test for doneness. Poke a skewer into the highest point to see if the cake is cooked. If the skewer comes out dry, you are done. If there is any batter residue on the skewer, let the cake bake for another 5 minutes and repeat the test with the skewer.

STEP 7: While the cake is baking, make the last cake layer of sour cream. Simply whisk the sour cream with sugar. When you take the cake out of the oven, immediately pour the sour cream on top and smooth the surface with a spoon or an offset spatula. It will become thinner with the heat and will spread well over the entire surface.

STEP 8: Allow to cool at room temperature. Finally, I recommend putting the cake in the fridge overnight. The sour cream will firm up and won't run when slicing the cake.

➜ Serving

Cut the cold cake into about 4x4 inch (10x10 cm) slices and serve on a dessert plate with a cup of good coffee for breakfast or at family gatherings.

For an excellent presentation and to enhance the flavor, lightly dust the cake with ground cinnamon and cocoa powder when serving.

➜ Size of a baking dish

I bake this chocolate coffee cake in a 9x13 inch baking dish. The finished cake is about 1 ½ to 2 inches high.

➜ Storage

Because the cake contains a layer of fresh sour cream, store any leftovers in the refrigerator. They will keep well for up to five days.

To store, cover the entire baking dish with plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out. Alternatively, you can cut the cake into slices and place them in an airtight container in the fridge.

➜ Useful tips

• You can easily play around with the contrast between the layers for a different look and flavor. For a lighter version, skip the cocoa powder in the batter and bake the cake in a blond style, letting the dark chocolate pudding stand out. Or try the opposite: add cocoa powder to the batter and use vanilla pudding for a striking contrast with light pudding on a dark base.
• Add more sour cream to the final layer, the chocolate cake will be fresher and even moister.

More coffee cakes:

• Cream cheese coffee cake
• Strawberry coffee cake
• Zucchini spice cake