My mother got this recipe from my dad’s cousin, Shirley, in 1992. The sticky note attached to the recipe says, “This is to die for!” But, if your picky eater gives you a scowl when you say, “it’s Texas Sheet Cake!” you can pivot and say, “It’s chocolate cake with ‘nutty-buddy’ frosting.” Sometimes, it’s all about marketing! -E

Texas Sheet Cake

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup margarine
4 T. cocoa powder
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
½ cup finely chopped pecans

For the icing:
½ cup margarine
4 T. cocoa powder
⅓ cup milk
½ t. salt
1 box (16 oz.) confectioner’s sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a 2-qt. saucepan, combine margarine, cocoa and water in a saucepan and bring to a quick boil. Pour over sugar flour mixture and stir well.
3. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Mix well and pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until cake tests done.
5. During the last 5 minutes of baking, prepare icing. In 4-qt. saucepan, combine margarine, cocoa, milk and salt and heat until margarine melts. Off the heat, blend in sugar, vanilla and pecans. Spread on cake while still hot in the pan.

Notes:
If you want a thinner cake you can bake this in a 14 x 11-inch pan for 20 minutes. The recipe calls for margarine, but I use butter. -E

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