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MISSISSIPPI MUD CAKE

(Serves LOTS)

 If you judged a recipe solely on its title, you wouldn’t go much farther here.  Nothing seems too appetizing about a cake full of messy mud from the mighty Mississippi River.  But step back and think about a precocious Southern cook who has just concocted a deep dark, and moist chocolate cake.  The cake is topped with marshmallows and a heavy, almost candy-like chocolate frosting.  She takes one look and says in her best drawl, “Why mercy me, that looks just like Mississippi mud.”  And so the name sticks. 

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil’s food cake mix (no pudding in the mix)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 ½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow crème
Chocolate pan frosting (see other recipes)
1 cup chopped toasted pecans (toast chopped nuts in an oven heated to 350 for 4-5 minutes.  Watch carefully as they can burn quickly.) 

1. Preheat over to 350.  Lightly spray 13 x 9 baking pan with vegetable oil spray.
2. Place cake mix, melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more.  Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger – about 40-42 minutes.  Remove pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
4. Immediate spread the warm cake with the marshmallow cream
5. Prepare the chocolate pan frosting.
6. Pour the hot frosting on top of the marshmallow crème and spread it out with a spatula so that the frosting reaches the edges of the case.  Scatter the top with the toasted pecans.  Cool the cake for 20 minutes before serving.