Texas Sheet Cake

I have, sitting in my bookcase that holds all of my cookbooks, a little recipe box.  You can picture it.  It's orange with mushrooms painted on it and it jumped straight out of the 70's.  It's hideous.  Despite it's ugliness, it was my dear Gramma Hinson's.  Inside are dozens upon dozens of recipes written in her handwriting.  I love it.  I've made a "resolution", if you will, this year to start going through this ugly little box and make some of her recipes.  Some of them I remember from growing up, some of them I've never seen or heard of before, but this year I'm hoping to bring some of them to life.  The first one I decided to try is her Texas Sheet Cake recipe.  It did NOT disappoint.

Cake:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

4 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup water

1 stick butter

1/2 cup buttermilk (see my note)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 eggs; slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

Frosting:

4 tablespoons cocoa

1 stick butter

6 tablespoons milk

1 (1lb.) box powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, and salt and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the cocoa, water and stick of butter.  Bring to a rapid boil.  Add the boiling mixture to the flour mixture and whisk it mostly together.  It will be dry.

Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the batter along with the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 1x16 sheet pan (my regular 'ol cookie sheet/jelly roll pan worked just fine).  Bake for 20 minutes.  

For the frosting: In a small saucepan, melt the stick of butter.  Add the cocoa and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  Stir well until all of the lumps are gone.  Add the nuts and stir.  Allow the frosting to cool slightly.  While the cake is still slightly warm and the frosting is still warm, pour the frosting all over the top of the cake.  Use a spatula to spread it to every corner.  Enjoy!

*Buttermilk Note:  I never buy buttermilk because I can never use it all before it goes bad.

For buttermilk:
1/2 cup milk + 1/2 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar + 5 minutes of sitting time = buttermilk

1 cup milk + 1 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar + 5 minutes of sitting time = buttermilk