Mississippi Mud Cake
A dense, dark cocoa sheet cake spread hot with marshmallow, drizzled with chocolate ganache and covered with toasted pecans: messy, rich and built for a crowd.
Mississippi mud cake is named for what it looks like: dark and dense like the muddy banks of the Mississippi River, King Arthur Baking suggests, and its origin is unclear. King Arthur calls the cake an offshoot of Mississippi mud pie that appeared in several parts of the country in the mid-1970s. The newspaper archives found by the word historian Barry Popik tell a different order: "Mississippi Mud cake" served as dessert in a Rayville, Louisiana, paper in July 1964, a full recipe in the Port Arthur News in Texas in June 1967 (cocoa, chopped pecans and miniature marshmallows spread on the hot cake), and "Mississippi Mud Pie" in an Arkansas paper only in 1971. Popik also notes the name was already familiar from a 1927 song called "Mississippi Mud", and that most of the early recipes came from newspapers outside Mississippi.
🇺🇸 This one is American
A dense, dark cocoa sheet cake spread hot with marshmallow, drizzled with chocolate ganache and covered with toasted pecans: messy, rich and built for a crowd.
🇦🇹 The original
Vienna's original is a dense chocolate sponge spread with apricot jam under a hard, glossy chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream. See the Sachertorte (Viennese Chocolate Apricot Torte) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
A hot cake melts the marshmallow
Spooned onto the cake straight from the oven, the marshmallow softens enough to spread in a thin, even layer without tearing the top.
Sour cream and hot water
The sour cream adds tang and moisture, and the hot water blooms the cocoa, so a cake this sweet still tastes deeply of chocolate.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.
- Step 2
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the cocoa and hot water.
- Step 3
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a large bowl. Pour in the cocoa mixture and stir; the batter will be lumpy. Beat in the sour cream, eggs and vanilla until nearly smooth.
- Step 4
Pour into the pan and bake 30 to 45 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out clean.
- Step 5
Let the cake stand 1 minute, spoon the marshmallow over the hot surface, wait 2 minutes for it to soften and spread it gently to the edges. Cool to lukewarm, about 1 hour.
- Step 6
Microwave the chocolate and cream 60 to 90 seconds, until the cream is very hot, and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the marshmallow and scatter the pecans (and coconut, if using) on top.
Mississippi Mud Cake
Serves 16 · one 9 x 13-inch cake · 1 hr 10 min total
Cake
- 16 tbsp (227 g) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup (28 g) Dutch-process cocoa
- 1 cup (227 g) hot water
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (397 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 cup (113 g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings
- 2 cups (246 g) marshmallow creme or marshmallow spread
- 1 cup (170 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup (113 g) heavy cream
- 1 cup (113 g) pecans, toasted and chopped
- 1 cup (85 g) toasted coconut (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the cocoa and hot water.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a large bowl. Pour in the cocoa mixture and stir; the batter will be lumpy. Beat in the sour cream, eggs and vanilla until nearly smooth.
- Pour into the pan and bake 30 to 45 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake stand 1 minute, spoon the marshmallow over the hot surface, wait 2 minutes for it to soften and spread it gently to the edges. Cool to lukewarm, about 1 hour.
- Microwave the chocolate and cream 60 to 90 seconds, until the cream is very hot, and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the marshmallow and scatter the pecans (and coconut, if using) on top.
Adapted from King Arthur Baking's "Mississippi Mud Cake". Amounts, pan, oven, timing and toppings are King Arthur's. King Arthur uses marshmallow spread (store-bought or homemade); the 1960s newspaper versions Popik quotes used miniature marshmallows or marshmallow creme, and we give mini marshmallows as a tip. King Arthur's optional toasted coconut is listed but not counted. Serving count is ours. King Arthur Baking. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- 1967-style: instead of marshmallow creme, scatter 3 cups of mini marshmallows over the hot cake and return it to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes to soften (our timing).
- King Arthur says store-bought or homemade hot fudge sauce can replace the ganache.
- Store covered on the counter for a day, or refrigerate up to a week (King Arthur).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The cake came after the pie. Disputed: King Arthur calls the cake an offshoot of Mississippi mud pie from the mid-1970s; Barry Popik's newspaper finds have the cake in print in 1964 and 1967 and the pie in 1971.
- It is named for the river's muddy banks. Folklore: the most repeated explanation (King Arthur says the name "may" come from that look); Popik points out the phrase was already popular from a 1927 song.
- It comes from Mississippi. Disputed: Popik says most early recipes appeared in newspapers outside Mississippi, in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Kansas.
- Real mud cake uses mini marshmallows. Folklore: the 1967 recipe did; others of the period used marshmallow creme, as King Arthur does.
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