What's that? A cake recipe? Why, yes, I happen to have one right here.

Dana asked me the other day to re-give her my Mom's recipe for Texas sheet cake. I had determined to post it as a note on Facebook when I got -- The Upgrade (and well after others did. I think this means FB likes me better than you). The tabs don't work from my Mac, and the Note option is gone from the other little row of iconny bits. So, to satisfy the part of me that was already reveling in accolades over the most wonderful cake of all time, here's the recipe.

It's a super moist, really wonderful cake that always wins over a crowd or makes someone happy on their birthday. Here you can see it in its "love cake" form; in the wild, it's a big rectangle. I've started making it with white whole wheat flour to make it a wee bit healthier, and I know there are lighter versions out there. But this came to me from my Mom and her family, and I've been having it since I was wee, so I stick to the original pretty closely, because That's My Cake. I feel like it's my Mom doing the cooking when I make her recipes.

TEXAS SHEET CAKE
Why Texas sheet cake? I think it killed a man once just for snoring.

The recipe calls for a 9x15 jelly roll pan. I have found that a dark colored one works better than a lighter one. Weird. But true. While the cake is baking, make the frosting.

CAKE
DRY:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
½ cup sour cream (or ½ cup milk with enough vinegar to sour, maybe a teaspoon)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

WET:
2 sticks margarine/butter
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup water

1. preheat oven to 350.
2. combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.
3. combine wet in saucepan on stove. Bring to boil.
4. add wet ingredients to dry, mixing thoroughly. Pour into greased jelly roll pan.
5. bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until knife slipped into center comes out clean. Set on cooling racks.


FROSTING
Pour one 1-lb box of powdered sugar into mixing bowl.

Heat over low:
1 stick margarine/butter
4 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons cocoa powder

Heat till butter melts; mix.

Add to powdered sugar.
Mix well.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix well.
Frosting should drop slowly from spoon -- plop, even: not a river, but not sludge either.

Frost the cake while still warm. You’ll want it cool enough that it doesn’t come apart when you spread the frosting. Doing it while still warm lets the frosting sink into the cake and makes it that much more moist.