Every Helping
Sign in

Baking recipe · from the recipe book

Chai-Spiced Sour Cream Cake with Cocoa Ribbon

A tender, moist sour cream crumb warmed with fresh ginger, cardamom and cloves, with a dark cocoa-cinnamon ribbon of melty chocolate running through the middle.

Chai-Spiced Sour Cream Cake with Cocoa Ribbon

Ingredients

  • 2 cups250 gAll-purpose flour
  • 1¾ tsp8 gBaking powder
  • ¾ tsp3 gBaking soda
  • ½ tsp3 gSalt
  • 1½ tsp3 gGround cardamom
  • ¼ tsp0.5 gGround cloves
  • ½ cup113 gUnsalted buttersoftened, plus a little for the pan
  • ¾ cup150 gGranulated sugar
  • 2 large100 gEggsroom temperature
  • 3½ tbsp grated20 gFresh gingerpeeled and finely grated
  • 1¼ tsp5 gVanilla extract
  • 1 cup240 gSour creamroom temperature
  • ¼ cup packed60 gBrown sugar
  • ¼ cup20 gUnsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1½ tsp4 gGround cinnamon
  • ⅓ cup60 gSemisweet chocolate chips

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-inch square pan with a little of the unsalted butter and line the bottom with parchment.
  2. Make the cocoa filling first: in a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground cinnamon and semisweet chocolate chips until evenly mixed. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cardamom and ground cloves.
  4. In a large bowl, beat the remaining softened unsalted butter with the granulated sugar for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy.
  5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the grated fresh ginger and vanilla extract.
  6. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, then all of the sour cream, then the remaining half of the flour mixture, mixing just until no dry streaks remain.
  7. Spread half of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle all of the cocoa filling evenly over it.
  8. Drop the remaining half of the batter over the filling in spoonfuls and gently spread to cover; drag a knife through once or twice for a light ripple.
  9. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake (not a chocolate chip) comes out clean.
  10. Cool in the pan on a rack for at least 1 hour, then lift out and cut into 12 slices.

Food safety: Don't taste raw dough or batter: raw flour and raw eggs can carry germs.

Contains: Milk, Egg, Gluten. Some brands contain soy.

Cook mode Log it in Today

Made it

Made it? Share how yours turned out.

Saved in the Every Helping recipe book on October 24, 2026.

Want one that fits your numbers?

Pick the meal, the pan and your targets, and the Every Helping recipe generator writes a recipe with every number worked out. Free on the web.

Make a recipeMore from the recipe book