Mississippi Mud Cake

I'm a word game freak.  Love.  Them.  When I was younger, I'd buy the Word Search magazines to occupy my time on road trips.  As an adult, I became a Scrabble addict and on vacations I hound my mother to play.  So imagine my excitement when I discovered the iPhone/iPad app, Words With Friends.  It's a take on Scrabble and you can play against your friends on your phone or iPad.  I'm totally addicted.  And I'm GOOD!!  So I obviously make all my friends download the app and play me.  And I kill them.  Really!

A few weeks ago, I was hanging at the pool with my bff who had received an iPad for Christmas and was telling her for the eleventy billionth time that she had to download the app and play me.  We may or may not have been consuming adult beverages and I only tell you this because it may or may not come into play later in this story.  So......she says, "I did download it."  I say, "What's your screen name?"  She tells me and I proceed to log into the game and invite her to play.  She had her iPad with her, but it had overheated in the sun (that's really a problem you need to fix Apple.....if you're reading this.....Steve.....) so she couldn't play at that minute but later on, after she had gone home, I received a message that she had played a word and it's my turn.

Anyhoo, we proceed to play a few games over the next several days and of course I'm killing her.  There's a messaging system in the game where you can talk back and forth with your opponent and she messages me "You're killing me."  I messaged back, "Sorry, boo!" (it's not weird....she calls everyone "boo" so we all call her "boo").  We continue playing and talking back and forth about the game.  Fast forward to last night.  She and her husband were here for some of this fabulous Mississippi Mud Cake and I say something to her about how horrible she is in Words With Friends.  And she says, "I've never played WWF."  I'm all like, "Boo.  It's okay that I'm kicking your ass every time.  I kick everyone's ass!"  She says, "No.  Really.  I've never played."  (Now might be where those consumed adult beverages come into play.)  I say, "But you gave me your screen name and everything at the pool that day and I invited you to play and you started playing me.  We played all last weekend while you were in Boston.  We were chatting on the game and everything."

She says, "I never took my iPad out of the suitcase the entire weekend in Boston.  Never even turned it on."  Me, "Well who the hell have I been playing then????"  So I messaged the unknown person asking what state she lived in.  "Missouri."  So I apologized for calling her "boo" and said I thought she was someone else the entire time.  She says, "Hopefully she can give you a better game than I can."  I messaged back, "It's doubtful!"

Turns out my bff had never actually downloaded WWF on her iPad and now I have one less person to beat!  If you'd like to take me on, my screen name is jillbuker.  Bring your "A" game, however!  :)

If you'd just like some of this insanely delicious cake, here's the recipe.  It's out of Melissa Foster's new book Southern Kitchen which is a fabulous book.  I've marked practically every recipe to try!

Mississippi Mud Cake

Melissa Foster's Southern Kitchen

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease and flour an 11x7-inch pan.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the cocoa until well blended.  Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, and stir in the eggs and vanilla.  Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until well combined.  Add the pecans and stir to mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven, but do not turn the oven off.

Frosting:

While the cake is baking, combine the cocoa and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl and stir to mix.  Add the melted butter, milk, and vanilla and stir until combined.  (Mine separated when I added the cold milk, so I stuck it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it came back together.)

Assembly:

Scatter the marshmallows and pecans over the hot cake and return to the oven for about 4 minutes, just until the marshmallows are softened and puffy.  Remove from the oven and pour the frosting over the marshmallows and pecans to cover, while the cake is warm.  Cool completely, cut into squares, and serve.