In the Kitchen: Christmas Eve Cake

     When I was young, we always spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family.  The evening revolved around the potluck supper which, of course, ended in delicious dessert.  I recently had a craving for the chocolate cake we had, and asked my aunts for the recipe.  Turns out it was a basic Texas Sheet Cake with homemade frosting.  Here's the recipe:

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 tbs cocoa
1 cup water

2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening

Cake Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400°.  Mix sugar and flour together.  In a pan, heat cocoa, water and shortening and bring to a boil.  Mix in sugar/flour, then add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.  Bake in a 13x9 pan for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients:
1 stick butter
4 tbs cocoa
5 tbs buttermilk
1 box powdered sugar

Frosting Ingredients:
Melt butter in a pan then add cocoa.  Sift in powdered sugar gradually and mix until smooth then add 1 tbs vanilla.  Pour the frosting over the still-warm cake.

I made the cake for the first time today and couldn't resist licking the frosting spoon when I was done.  Yum!