Mississippi Mud Cake

I've heard about Mississippi Mud Cake before, but never tried it.  When I was flipping through my Serendipity cookbook, I came across this chocolately sticky sweet dish.  And, because it was basically diabetes in a cake pan, I had to make it. 

Of course I have a heart shaped pan.  Of course.

Nuts galore.  I only used pecans in this dish.

A heart shaped chocolate! What more could I want?

Marshmallows.  That is what more I could possibly want.  

No. wait.  Add some chocolate-pecan topping would be absolutely delightful.

Mississippi Mud Cake, from Sweet Serendipity Delicious Desserts & Devilish Dish by Stephen Bruce and Brett Bara

Makes one 9" round (or heart) for six or more people

For the Cake

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan
• 1 1/2 cups alkalized cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (I just broke them into pieces by hand)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups marshmallows

For the Topping

• 1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup alkalized cocoa
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour the bottom of a heart shaped cake pan (if you don't want to use a heart shaped one, then just use a boring 9" pan).

Sift together the flour and the cocoa.  Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  At low speed, mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Add the chopped pecans and the vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined.

Scrape the mixture into the heart shaped cake pan on the rack, baking for about 25-30 minutes.  

Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle the top with marshmallows, and return it to the oven.  Continue baking it until the marshmallows melt and start to brown.  

Remove from the oven and let it cool on a rack. 

While the cake is cooling, you can prepare the topping.  Sift together the confectioner's sugar and the cocoa into a medium bowl.  Add the pecans, evaporated milk, and melted butter, and mix until combined.  Simple!

For the dessert party, I put the topping in a bowl next to the cake so guests could help themselves to the topping.  If you are serving this individually, I would recommend drizzling each slice with a hearty drizzle dousing of this sauce. 

You can store this cake at room temperature, loosely covered.