Cake for Friends

I mentioned in the last post that I had made a soup lunch for five of my friends. My dad provided the dessert! My parents had a B&B for several years, and Dad was the main cook. (Mom was head bottle washer and hostess with the mostest!) Here's the family recipe he gave me:

This is a wonderfully moist--almost gooey--chocolate cake!
CHOCOLATE SHEATH CAKE
(a recipe handed down from my mom's mom, Velma Wiley, and my dad's mom, Maggie Johansen)

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup water
1 cup oil
4 Tbs cocoa
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar and flour together.
Bring butter, water, oil, and cocoa to a boil.
Add sugar and flour to the liquid mixture. Mix well.
Add beaten eggs, buttermilk, soda, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Mix batter well and pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Frost as soon as it is taken from the oven, using this recipe:
FROSTING

1 16-oz box powdered sugar
4 Tbs cocoa
6-8 Tbs milk
1 stick butter, melted
1 Tbs vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients except pecans. Add pecans before spreading on the hot cake.