Southern Living Off the Eaten Path , Morgan Murphy’s new book about food and travel in the South, is right up my alley. Although I don’t always cook with a particularly Southern touch, as a born-Southerner, good Southern food runs in my veins. I can’t imagine a life without biscuits or grits! This book has inspired me to go back to childhood favorites as well as add new dishes to my table.
And, with a Natchez Trace road trip in my plans, it’ll serve as a great food guide along the way. With little family left there, I haven’t been back to Mississippi or Louisiana in many years. I’m anxious to go back and revisit my childhood, see what’s changed and what’s remained the same.
My kids, who haven’t ever really spent any time there, are curious to explore the Southern part of their heritage. Food, of course, will be a big part of the experience. Grits, BBQ, Sweet Tea, Biscuits, Shrimp, Country Ham… I think I can gain ten pounds just thinking about it all!
The hardest part of reading this book was trying to decide what to make first. I started with a classic, Mississippi Mud Cake. I hadn’t made one in years it’s just as good as I remembered. And as a bonus? The the rest of the family was amused by making me tell them how to spell Mississippi. Didn’t all kids growing up there learn to say “M-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Humpback-Humpback-I”?
Mississippi Mud Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 cups miniature marshmallows
Icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 13x9x2 baking pan. Combine flour, 1/3 cup cocoa and salt. Set aside. (I added a little extra cocoa powder.)
Beat 1 cup of butter until creamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar, beating well.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
Gradually add the flour/cocoa mixture to the butter mixture, beating well.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 32 minutes. While the cake is in the oven, get a start on the icing.
Combine powdered sugar and cocoa.
Melt 1 cup butter over medium heat. Add the sugar/cocoa mixture and the evaporated milk. Stir until smooth.
Stir in the pecans.
By now the cake should be done. Take it out and sprinkle with marshmallows and 1 cup pecans. Bake another two minutes, or until the marshmallows get soft and melty.
Spread the icing over the cake. The recipe says to reserve half the icing for another use. Around here the only other use would be to dive straight into the pan so we used the entire batch on the cake. Ivy might have preferred to dive into the pan.
Let the cake cool completely before serving.
Enjoy!