My Mom's Chocolate Cake

Hey Jude's Note:

I can't believe I'm sharing this family recipe. It's the signature Jansen Family Recipe and no family gathering is complete without it. I'm submitting it for a request for recipes and ideas for a sleep-over/birthday party event. It's from my Mom, it's old, I have no idea where it came from. No need to drag out the mix-master for this, just a bowl and a pot is all you need.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 24

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 lb butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 lb butter
• 6 teaspoons milk
• 1 lb confectioners' sugar
• chopped nuts (we like chopped pecans) (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl.
2. Boil 1/4 C cocoa, water, 1/2 lb butter in a medium sized sauce pan.
3. Pour chocolate mixture over flour and sugar mixture and stir well.
4. Add buttermilk, beaten eggs soda and vanilla.
5. Pour into a jelly roll pan (which is, roughly, 11x15 and 1 inch deep), bake at 400° for 20 minutes.
6. While cake is baking, make frosting.
7. Combine frosting ingredients, except for confectioners sugar, in the same sauce pan used for chocolate mixture above (saves washing dishes).
8. Boil, then add confectioners sugar.
9. Pour over hot cake, sprinkle with nuts, and let set for an hour or two.
10. Serve and watch the smiles and requests for the recipe.

Reviews

[Aroostook]

Oh, yeah...a definite five star recipe! =)Your mom's method of making a chocolate syrup to add to the batter is a new one for me. (I cooled this syrup a bit before adding to flour. Thought it might make the cake dry if it was too hot. How do you do it?) I am sooo happy you shared this family treasure. It certainly was a great hit at work.

[Fritter]

Sounds like Texas Sheet Cake

[Amanda Beth]

This was delicious! And so easy to make! My only problem with the recipe was that it didn't specify how long to boil the cocoa mixture. So I just let it boil for about thirty seconds. I made it in a shaped Dora the Explorer pan for my son's birthday, and it was so so good. Got nothing but compliments on it. I topped it with buttercream frosting instead of what was in the recipe though, because we needed to color the icing. The cake itself was gorgeous; our decorating left a little to be desired, but it tasted fantastic. Thanks so much for the great recipe!