Sauerkraut Cake

Step 1: Cream the oleo (margarine) until light and fluffy.

Step 2: Add sugar and blend well, then mix in eggs and vanilla.

Step 3: Sift together dry ingredients (cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).

Step 4: Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with water to the creamed mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Step 5: Stir in sauerkraut and pecans.

Step 6: Bake in two prepared layer cake pans at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until cakes test done. (The recipe calls for using a piece of straw to test, but a toothpick works well and is more available in "city" kitchens.)

Step 7: Cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pans, then let the layers cool completely before adding icing.

Step 8: Ice with a mixture of 8 ounces cream cheese combined with 1/2 stick of oleo (margarine),one box (1 pound)powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Decorate with pecan halves.

Step 9: Since part of the charm of an "old" recipe is the language, I've tried to reproduce the flavor of the past -- where that stick of margarine was "oleo" and no one used a whisk or told you how to prepare a cake pan or how to "test" for doneness (or how long to cool the layers before removing them from the pan). Even so, the recipe was said to have been handed down in the family, so using oleo was probably an update of the previous butter or lard.