I confessed to my friends that they were eating the second edition, so it's possible they were just trying to make me feel better.
Nonetheless, I'm reasonably comfortable sharing the recipe now, for those of you who won't be discouraged if it takes you two times (or more) to get it to an acceptable serving status.
This is the recipe as sent by Mom; my (hard) lessons learned are noted below.
Mom's Chocolate Sheet Cake
Mix 2 cups sifted flour and 2 cups sugar in bowl.
Bring to rapid boil: 1 stick margarine, ½ cup Crisco oil, 1 cup water, 4 Tablespoons cocoa. Pour into sugar and flour and blend well. Stir in 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ cup buttermilk. Pour into pan, greased. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Melt 1 stick margarine, 6 Tablespoons buttermilk, 4 Tablespoons cocoa; bring to boil. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add 1 - 1½ boxes confectioner's sugar (enough to make it spreadable) and 1 cup nuts. Spread on cake when it comes out of the oven.
Robyn's Notes
* Instead of margarine, I used unsalted butter.
* It is well documented that Mom's pan is larger than a 9 x 13 dish, but in Round Two, my 9 x 13 dish worked. It will never taste like the cake that's prepared in the pan, but there's only one of those, and it's not in my possession. We do what we can.
* Probably due to the fact that my pan wasn't the right size, I did have to cook it for about 3 minutes longer (23 minutes or so).
* In the second, more successful batch of icing, I found only one box of confectioner's sugar to do the trick. (That's right. Only one box.)
* Our family's nut of choice for baking is pecans. (Or, as Dad insists on calling them, pee-cans.)
And one last heads up: this is a dessert with a sugar level that will make you climb the walls. Beware.
But enjoy.
* Instead of margarine, I used unsalted butter.
* It is well documented that Mom's pan is larger than a 9 x 13 dish, but in Round Two, my 9 x 13 dish worked. It will never taste like the cake that's prepared in the pan, but there's only one of those, and it's not in my possession. We do what we can.
* Probably due to the fact that my pan wasn't the right size, I did have to cook it for about 3 minutes longer (23 minutes or so).
* In the second, more successful batch of icing, I found only one box of confectioner's sugar to do the trick. (That's right. Only one box.)
* Our family's nut of choice for baking is pecans. (Or, as Dad insists on calling them, pee-cans.)
And one last heads up: this is a dessert with a sugar level that will make you climb the walls. Beware.
But enjoy.
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