The Cake Slice February 2010: Mississippi Mud Cake

This month we baked a Mississippi Mud Cake. Normally I think of mud cakes as being tall, dense, sticky cakes but this cake is quite different – a cross between rocky road and brownie. It consists of a chocolate pecan studded sponge, topped with mini marshmallows and drizzled with hot chocolate sauce. Rich, sticky and very indulgent!

This cake received mixed reviews in our group, people either seemed to love it or loathe it. Personally I was firmly in the ‘love it’ category. A lot of bakers complained it was far too sweet, I didn’t find this to be the case. It was still sweeter than your average cake, but not unpleasantly so. However, I didn’t use the mound marshmallows as part of the topping which probably reduced the sweetness level quite considerably. The reason I left out the marshmallows is that no one in my family are fond of them and I wanted people to eat the cake.

I think brownie is a better description for this baked treat than cake. I consider cake to be soft, fairly light and spongy but this recipe resulted in a single layered moist, rich and sticky chocolate gooey brownie square. It was scattered with chunky pecans which added a nice textural contrast, were utterly delicious and made it seem even more brownie like.

To really push this ‘cake’ over the edge the whole thing is drizzled in a gooey chocolate glaze that sets into a thin chocolaty sugary crust. Mmmm it was divine. Just look how moist and fudgy it was. I may even use this recipe next time I want a batch of brownies! I also halved the recipe and baked it in an 8inch tin, as the full recipe made quite a large amount. My advice would be forget the marshmallows and enjoy the rich chocolaty fudgy cakey-bronwieness YUM!

Mississippi Mud Cake (brownie)
(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)
For the Cake (brownie)
200g butter, cut into big chunks
55g cocoa powder
4 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp vanilla extract
450g caster sugar
180g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
115g chopped pecans or walnuts

Mississippi Mud Frosting
400g icing sugar
55g cocoa powder
100g butter, melted
110ml milk or evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g mini marshmallows or large marshmallows, quartered


Method – Cake (brownie)
Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch pan. In a medium saucepan combine the butter and cocoa powder and cook over medium heat, stirring now and then, until the butter is melted and the mixture is well blended, about 3 – 4 minutes. Stir in the beaten eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour, salt and pecans and beat until the batter is well combined and the flour has disappeared.
Quickly pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cake springs back when touched gently in the centre and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
While the cake bakes, prepare the frosting so it is ready to pour over the hot cake.

Method – Mud Frosting
In a medium bowl combine the icing sugar and the cocoa powder and stir to mix well. Add the melted butter, milk and vanilla and beat everything together well. Set aside until the cake is done.

To Serve
Remove the cake from the oven, scatter the marshmallows over the top and then return the cake to the hot oven for about 3 minutes to soften the marshmallows.
Place the cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack. Pour the frosting all over the marshmallow dotted cake and eat straight away or allow to cool to room temperature. Cut the cake into squares and serve.

Note: The recipe also works well when halved and baked in an 8inch square tin.