Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake...

...April is my month to bring in a dessert for birthdays at the office. I always have such high hopes and they always fall short. The first year, I tried to make a chocolate carrot cake. We all had chocolate cake with carrots in it, I still get teased to this day. Last year, I took in a Chips Ahoy Pie and everyone loved it-almost didn't have enough! This year I was adventurous again and decided to try to make a Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake. Again, I failed! Here's how mine turned out (sorry I took the pic after the meeting): Here's what it was supposed to look like:

It still tasted pretty fab but the cake ate the crumble. Everyone thought it tasted great but I could tell by the look on their faces they weren't so sure when they saw it for the first time.

Here's the recipe and I hope that Blogger formatting is working or else this is going to be a jumbled mess and I apologize!

Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake

CAKE INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable shortening

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet choclate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

5 tablesppons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

2. For the topping, combine the brown sugar, oats, chocolate chips and flour in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Set aside.

3. For the cake, combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well. Place the sugar and shortening in another medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer set on medium speed until well blended, about 5 minutes. Beat in 1 cup water, the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture, blending well. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if desired.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake until golden brown 35-45 minutes.

I followed all the directions to a T and when I saw that the cake ate the crumble, I went into the bedroom and crawled into bed next to Mattie. I pouted and said, "I can't ever bake ANYTHING and I followed ALL the directions!!!" He just laughed at me and told me it was okay and it all turned out to be okay. Let me know if you make this and if your cake eats the crumble. Enjoy! It was VERY tasty.