Mississippi Mud and Death of a Mixer

Last week, I received a renewal invitation for Southern Living magazine, which included a free recipe for a dessert I haven't had in a very long time, and have never actually made.  Mississippi Mud Cake.  Surely every true southerner has experienced this chocolate confection.  You probably have a similar recipe in your own archive.  However, the only time I recall having it was at potluck lunches or suppers at church when I was a kid.  One of the older ladies of the church, Mrs. Oretha, was known for making it, and hers is, as far as I know, the only one I ever had.  She passed away many years ago, but I have my mom's copy of Mrs. Oretha's handwritten recipe for it.  I wonder why, now, all these many years later, that I (nor my mother) never attempted to make it.  I guess that's why I'm so enthusiastic about it now...it's like I rediscovered something from my childhood.

I placed the new recipe - the one I got in the mail - under a magnet on the refrigerator door and made sure I had all of the ingredients.  It hung there for several days, almost taunting me, daring me to give it a try.  It isn't a particularly difficult recipe, and I don't know why I kept dodging it.

Today I took that step and baked this luscious-sticky-gooey-extremely-chocolate dessert.  Let me tell you, it is awesome.  I googled some photos to compare mine to "professional" results.  I think mine looks every bit as good as, and even better than, some pictures I found.

What do you think?

This has an almost brownie-like cake base, with gooey marshmallows, fudgy chocolate icing, and toasted chopped pecans to finish it off.  Sinful, for sure!  Try this the next time you want something different than, perhaps, a plain old pan of brownies.  There is some effort involved, but it's not too much, and the results are definitely worth it.

Sadly, in the process of this adventure, I had to say goodbye to one of my most prized kitchen possessions:  My old Oster mixer.  This is my third one, and I was determined to run it until the very end.  It had been showing some signs that it wouldn't be with me much longer right before I closed my restaurant, and today I officially retired it.  This mixer dated from the very early 80's, and they just don't make them like it anymore.  It was actually a part of an entire food processing system and could do so many different things, but I only used the mixer portion of it frequently.

Incidentally...I had a job interview last week, and was asked one of those aptitude questions that you know are just going to be off-the-wall-unexpected as to the content, and the question was "If you were a kitchen appliance, what would it be, and why?".  Of course, being the baker that I am, my response was "a mixer".  I was thinking specifically of THIS mixer, which is capable of doing so many different and varied tasks, and doing them all very well.  Unfortunately, and regrettably, I did not articulate my answer to that extent....I was actually prepared to explain why a manhole cover is round.

Anyway...as I was whipping the chocolate frosting for the cake today, I detected an absolutely noxious odor...no, not from the frosting, but from the mixer....a hot electrical smell, kind of like burning plastic.  It didn't start smoking, which would have really freaked me out, but I knew the mixer was done for.  I quickly shut it down, unplugged it, and carried it outside.  I was enjoying the lovely chocolate cake aroma coming from the oven, especially since I was expecting a bit of company mid-afternoon, and I knew the house would smell really nice.  But no!!  A few seconds of running that sick mixer and suddenly the whole kitchen was overwhelmed by that terrible odor.  It is very difficult to remove that smell from the house.  I opened windows and pulled out a box fan to circulate the air, but that awful smell lingered for several hours.  I did a little research, and determined the problem was most likely the field coil burning out, which will cause the motor to stop.  The thing is at least 30 years old, so I am quite satisfied with it's performance and I certainly got my money's worth.  This mixer was a workhorse and was built to last.  Back in the late 70's/early 80's, Oster apparently did not engage in the "planned obsolescence" mindset. 

Ahh...the early 80's...circa 1982/1983...lovely times were had back then, and I do miss them so.  If anyone is going back there, please let me know so I can catch a ride with you!

Here's the recipe from Southern Living for this wonderful dessert.  I hope you like it as much as we do.

Mississippi Mud Cake
Yield: 15 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bar, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 (10.5 oz.) bag mini marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350F for 8-10 minute or until toasted.

Microwave 1 cup butter and semisweet chocolate in a large microwave-safe glass bowl at HIGH 1 minute or until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds.

Whisk sugar, flour, cocoa, eggs, vanilla extract and salt into chocolate mixture.  Pour into a 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  (I don't have a jelly-roll pan, so I used an 11x15 sheet cake pan and baked the cake for about 18 minutes.  And I used the mixer instead of a whisk to blend everything together.)

Remove cake from oven and sprinkle evenly with marshmallows.  Return to oven and bake 8-10 more minutes or until golden brown.

Drizzle warm cake with Chocolate Frosting (recipe below) and sprinkle evenly with toasted pecans.

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together butter, cocoa, and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted.  Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until slightly thickened; remove from heat.

Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla at medium-high speed with electric mixer until smooth.

Note: 

This frosting reminds me of the type of frosting you would use on an old-fashioned layer cake....that fudgy, quick-to-harden kind, although this recipe is a little thicker. 

I made the frosting while the cake was baking, so it had to sit for a few minutes.  It began to crust slightly, so I turned the mixer on a couple of times to bring it back to a smooth texture. (This is when the mixer started giving me problems.)  Because the frosting is somewhat thick, it is easier to spoon it over the warm cake instead of drizzling it.  It sets up quickly, and when I sprinkled the pecans over it, I lightly pressed them down into the chocolate/marshmallow topping.

Enjoy!


Sherry