Mississippi Mud Cake

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, OH MY GOODNESS!!!!  This thing is SOOOO good!!! 
I had found a few different Mississippi Mud Cake recipes online, but really wasn't satisfied with any of them, so I took things from all of them and made my own recipe.  Now, this cake is not the prettiest, but WHO CARES when it tastes this good!!!  Its sort of like a cake, and a brownie, and a smore all rolled into one!
Note:  You can make the chocolate frosting a little thinner by only adding 2 cups (16oz) of powdered sugar and then you could drizzle it on top of the cake all nice and pretty.  I didn't do that.  I like my frosting a little thicker, so I added another 1/2 cup to 1 cup of powdered sugar, but then it doesn't drizzle and look all pretty.  Seriously... WHO CARES.  Its that good!  But I just wanted to add that note for anyone who wants their cake to look prettier - especially if you make this for a party or get-together.

Anyway, on to the recipe...



Mississippi Mud Cake
1 cup butter, melted (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup margarine)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt (approximately 1/8 tsp)
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups pecans, chopped (I used walnuts because that's all I had)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 (10.5oz) bag of miniature marshmallows

Chocolate Frosting:
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar (depending on how thin you want the frosting to be)
1/2 cup milk (I used 2% because that's what I had on hand)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.) Whisk together melted butter, sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, eggs, vanilla and salt in a large bowl.
3.) Stir in flour; then stir in nuts and coconut.
4.) Pour batter into greased 15x10 inch jelly roll pan or 9x13 baking pan (I used two smaller baking dishes - both approximately 8x8 because I was planning on taking half to our small group.)
5.) Bake for approximately 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (I baked my 2 cakes for exactly 30 minutes.)
6.) Remove cake from oven, sprinkle marshmallows on top evenly.  Return to oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.
7.) Remove cake from oven and drizzle frosting over warm cake.
8.) Cool completely.

Frosting Instructions:
Combine all frosting ingredients in mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until creamy.

Note: If you'd like to make this even easier, you could substitue a brownie mix for the first 7 ingredients.  Mix the brownie batter, then mix in nuts and coconut and bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven.  Add marshamallows and frosting just as the recipe states in steps 6 through 8.
Note 2: You can also substitute one 7oz jar of marshmallow creme for the bag of mini marshmallows.  If you do that, you don't need to bake the cake 5 minutes after adding it.  Just pull the cake out of the oven, spread with marshmallow creme, let cool a few minutes, then drizzle with frosting.

ENJOY!  :)