Share a Spoon - Mississippi Mud Cake

 

<img src="http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu81/Adrienzgirl/Share%20a%20Spoon%20Warm%20the%20Heart/ShareaSpoon5.jpg" border="0" alt="Think Tank Momma"></a>
Share A Spoon
CCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEE
is there anything better?

Google Images

This week's theme is brought to you by my lovely bloggy and Twitter friends @amberella87, @kimslittlelife and @TheBlueZoo.  Apparently cake is pretty popular, or you Smackers are just a crazy bunch of baking machines!
I used to see myself as just a cook and not a baker.  I mean I could bake, but there's all that measuring and perfection and yada yada yada.  I thought there was too much precision involved and I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal.  I didn't have the patience for baking, or so I thought.
However, through the course of trial and error I have learned that mistakes are o.k.  Sometimes mistakes are even better than the original idea.  I started out experimenting in the savory kitchen.  I decided if it's a train wreck I will just throw it out and start over.  There's always take out in a pinch aka a travesty of epic proportions.  Besides, this is my kitchen.  Who says you have to follow a recipe?  
Well, that experimenting bled into baking.  At first it was more of a challenge to see if I could improve recipes that were sweet, the way I did changing things up on classic dishes.  I had learned at that point to start measuring or approximating for my savory recipes to share with others.  Recipe writing requires measurements.  So when I started writing my own baking recipes I was already in the habit of approximating measuring.  

When I decided to make this cake I struggled.  Living in the South, I have had Mississippi Mud Cake several times over and recipe after recipe.  My favorite recipe came from a lady that used to work with my mom.  She made the best Mississippi Mud Cake I had ever tasted.  She shared her recipe, but when others made it, it just wasn't as good.  What's even weirder than that?  The woman couldn't cook savory dishes to save her life, but she was a Master Baking Goddess.
Rather than make her recipe and have it fail miserably like so many others before me, I decided I would make my own.  I worked this recipe over and over until it came out the way I wanted it.  My recipe is different than Naomi's but it's just as tasty in my not so humble opinion.

Brandee's Mississippi Mud Cake

2 sticks butter softened

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts (I use the ice cream nut topping. It's chopped really fine, works really well!)

1 jar Jet Puff Marshmallow fluff

2 handfuls of mini marshmallows

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa and baking powder. Stir in salt. Set aside. Cream together butter and sugars. Add the extracts. Add eggs one at a time. Slowly incorporate the flour/cocoa mixture. Fold in the nuts.

Spread batter into a greased 13x9x2 baking pan. Cook for 35 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. (Or until the cake is set.) 

Remove from the oven and let cool until for ten minutes. Spread one small container of marshmallow fluff over the cake and sprinkle 2 handfuls of mini marshmallows evenly over the cake (see what I mean about approximating?). 

Return the cake to the oven and bake for 10 minutes (or until the marshmallow melts and toasts lightly.

Let cake cool completely.

Frosting:

1 stick butter softened to room temperature

3 cups of powdered sugar

1/3 cup of cocoa

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and milk together. Beat until smooth and creamy. Takes a few minutes. Stir in chopped pecans. Top the cooled cake with the frosting.

This cake is simply put SINFUL.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!  Now, it's your turn.  Share your favorite cake recipe this week!  Link up below!
Happy Eating Smackers!  Leave me some love and let me know what you want to see in the coming weeks on Share a Spoon.  (You don't have to participate in order to pick a theme.  If you are looking for recipes just let me know and I will do my best to help you!)  We're coming up on our 1 Year Anniversary and I am super excited about that!