Our Dad’s Favorite Chocolate Birthday Cake

Today is our dad’s birthday. He would have turned 59 today, and we're sure the day would have been filled with all sorts of jokes about how he was only one year away from being really old and over the hill. However, life happens, as it tends to do, and our dad passed away 13 years ago, a week shy of his 46th birthday, due to complications from leukemia. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think about him, and miss him. This past Christmas, our grandma and we were talking about recipes, and she asked if our mom ever gave us the recipe for our dad’s favorite birthday cake. We couldn’t remember it, so our mom dug it out for us, and we decided that this year we would make his favorite cake to commemorate his birthday. Our mom’s recipe card was titled simply, “Mom Norris Choc. Cake”. Let us tell you – our dad had some tremendously good taste when it came to cake, as this is not your ordinary chocolate cake. It’s a rich, plush chocolate cake with a river of cream cheese filling running through the middle, and it’s topped with a combination of chopped walnuts and sugar. It’s memorable. And we've decided that we're going to make this every year on April 12th.

We asked our grandma where she got this recipe, and she said that one of the women she worked with back in the 60’s shared it with her. She made it, and our dad, who was in his early teens at the time, loved it, and so she made it for his birthday every year after that. Once our parents got married, our mom took over making it for him each and every year. We couldn’t remember the cake, and our mom said she stopped making it when our sister and we were pretty young since our dad got a “borderline cholesterol” blood result from the doctor and he had to start watching what he ate. Incidentally, that result did not stop him from sneaking Snickers bars at work. Many times we would stop by his office to visit, and our sister and we would see the wrappers in his waste basket. We relished ratting him out to our mom, of course. What little snitches we were!

Celebrating our dad’s birthday is, of course, bittersweet. There are so many things we wish we could share with him and do with him on a daily basis that we can’t, but we are grateful for each and every day that we got to spend with him. He was a jokester – we were doused with cold water more times than we can count, he continually hid rubber snakes for our mom to find (she is absurdly afraid of snakes), and he even won a Friday joke contest on a local radio station. We think he secretly loved having a tomboy daughter – he played catch with us and hit us grounders to practice fielding when we played softball. We threw footballs back and forth. He would change clothes after work and challenge us to a game of H-O-R-S-E out back. And we're sure he loved nothing more than seeing us, his 8-year-old daughter, pour into his hockey equipment (helmet, shin guards, gloves, and all), grab our street hockey stick (pink blade and all) and declare that we would be the first girl hockey player ever. We always had tons of fun, and we never doubted how proud he was of whatever we were doing.

This cake is for him – to celebrate what an awesome dad he was and for the time we got to spend with him.

Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you and miss you.

One year ago: Classic Egg Salad
Two years ago: Honey-Vanilla Sour Cream Pound Cake

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Filling & Walnut-Sugar Topping

Yield: 8 to 10 servings Our Dad's favorite birthday cake!

For the Walnut-Sugar Topping:

• 2 cups (234 g) chopped walnuts
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar

For the Cake:

• 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (500 ml) cold water
• ¾ cup (163.5 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 16 ounces (453.59 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup (133.33 g) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan; set aside.
• 2. Make the Walnut-Sugar Topping: Combine the chopped walnuts and the sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
• 3. Make the Cake Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix together until just combined and there are no traces of dry ingredients. Set aside.
• 4. Make the Cream Cheese Filling: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue mixing until light and fluffy, another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the salt and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth.
• 4. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Slowly pour all of the cream cheese filling over top, trying to distribute it as evenly as possible (do not try to spread it after you pour it). Pour the remaining cake batter over top of the cream cheese filling. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the walnut-sugar mixture.
• 5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with plush crumbs attached. Let cool completely before serving.

• Yield: 8 to 10 servings
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 35 minutes
• Total: 50 minutes

Ingredients

For the Walnut-Sugar Topping:

• 2 cups ( 234 g ) chopped walnuts
• ½ cup ( 100 g ) granulated sugar

For the Cake:

• 3 cups ( 375 g ) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups ( 400 g ) granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups ( 500 ml ) cold water
• ¾ cup ( 163.5 ml ) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 16 ounces ( 453.59 g ) cream cheese, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup ( 133.33 g ) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) salt

Method

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. 2. Make the Walnut-Sugar Topping: Combine the chopped walnuts and the sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
3. 3. Make the Cake Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix together until just combined and there are no traces of dry ingredients. Set aside.
4. 4. Make the Cream Cheese Filling: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue mixing until light and fluffy, another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the salt and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth.
5. 4. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Slowly pour all of the cream cheese filling over top, trying to distribute it as evenly as possible (do not try to spread it after you pour it). Pour the remaining cake batter over top of the cream cheese filling. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the walnut-sugar mixture.
6. 5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with plush crumbs attached. Let cool completely before serving.