Mississippi Mud Cake

I for some odd reason have always loved infomercials. Show me a testimonial and give me a discount and that product is as good as mine. I used to wonder why I was so easily swayed when watching HSN or paid programming and then I realized it was in my blood. My grandmother is the queen of home shopping. Whether it is buying five magic bullets or two 100 piece knife sets, she is the woman of advertiser's dreams. There is actually no one else in my family like this except for me. I've fallen for such marketing schemes as Tan Towels, the Ab Rocket, Shakeweight, and the microwavable egg maker to name a few. So the other day when my grandma told me she had me a present, I was excited. Of course the rest of my family groaned but I knew it'd be good. She started off, "I found you this great pan.." I knew right away it was the Perfect Brownie Pan. We've all seen the commercials, it bakes each brownie individually and cuts them in the pan for perfect edges. To most people I doubt it holds much appeal but I have wanted that since the first time I saw it.
The point of this whole story is I've been on a brownie making frenzy these past few days. I'll be honest, changing around the baking pan on all of these recipes hasn't exactly produced the best results but at least the brownies have all been beautifully cut (haha). It bakes brownies differently so they haven't come out like I've wanted yet, I'm going to keep trying though. For this recipe turning a cake into brownies was just a little experiment for me. Surprisingly it turned out ok, but I'm sure the cake form would be amazing. My advice: the taste was delicious so don't be like me, follow the directions and this recipe should turn out great.



Mississippi Mud Cake
Recipe from Southern Living
Yield: Makes 15 servings

Ingredients

• 1  cup  butter, melted
• 2  cups  sugar
• 1/2  cup  unsweetened cocoa
• 4  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cups  coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
• 1  (10.5-ounce) bag miniature marshmallows

 Ingredients

• 1  (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/2  cup  milk
• 1/4  cup  butter, softened
• 1/3  cup  unsweetened cocoa

Preparation

Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan.
Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle Chocolate Frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.
Note: 2 (19.5-ounce) packages brownie mix, prepared according to package directions, may be substituted for first 7 ingredients. Stir in chopped pecans. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Proceed with marshmallows and frosting as directed.

Preparation for Chocolate Sauce 

Beat all ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.