The Kee kids used to beg for Mississippi Mud Cake every birthday. Since their cousins did, too, we would eat this gooey, chocolate dessert every month or so. Here’s a grown-up version, infused with bourbon and worthy of a dinner party. It’s an easy, but impressive and decadently rich cake. Be sure to cool this moist cake completely, i.e. several hours, before serving to ensure it doesn’t fall apart. (Actually, we’ve never been able to wait that long, but I bet you have more will power.)

Our highly skilled tech team (Louise!) is working hard to fix the bugs with the printable version. In the meantime, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa (such as Hersey’s Special Dark. You may substitute plain unsweetened chocolate, but the cake will be significantly sweeter.)
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Syrup:

• scant ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon Bourbon

Marshmallow layer:

• 1 jar (7 ounces) Marshmallow Creme

Icing:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 4 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 box (16 ounces) powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions

1. For cake, put 2 cups sugar, 2 cups flour and salt in large bowl. Mix well with fork.
2. In medium saucepan, melt 2 sticks butter, 4 tablespoons cocoa and water. Bring to boil, then add to flour and sugar. Beat well.
3. Add buttermilk, eggs, soda and vanilla to flour mixture. Beat just until smooth.
4. Bake in greased 9″ x 13″ pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean or almost clean. (Note that this is a moist cake, so it will not have the texture of pound or even layer cake. You don’t want it raw, but a little gooey is okay.)
5. While cake is baking, in small saucepan heat ½ cup sugar and scant ½ cup water to boil, then add bourbon.
6. Remove cake from oven, poke holes into top with knife, then spoon bourbon syrup mixture over cake, allowing the syrup to infuse it.
7. Immediately, while cake is still hot, spread jar of marshmallow creme evenly over cake.
8. For icing: In pan, mix 1 stick butter, 4 tablespoons cocoa, 2 tablespoons milk, 4 tablespoons bourbon and salt. Boil, then add powdered sugar. Pour over cake while still warm. Swirl icing with knife to create marble effect and sprinkle with nuts.
9. Cool completely before serving.