Emily: Rolo Cake & Mississippi Mud Cake (02/08/16)

Hi, I'm Emily.  For my Edge Project I am studying baking.  Every Wednesday I bake dessert for the students and faculty.  So I thought I would share my weekly desserts with you.  I will tell you what did and didn't work (and also offer suggestions).

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A picture of the Mississippi Mud Cake.
Image selected by Emily and located at Tastes Better from Scratch!

Rolo Cake was a big hit and it’s so easy to make. It’s just chocolate cake with caramel frosting with a drizzle of melted caramel and melted semi-sweet chocolate on top. However be sure to separate icing evenly across the cake. With my limited time my icing spread a little too thick in some places. Also I suggest, if you aren’t much of a sweet tooth, to just generously drizzle the icing.

Last Wednesday I made Mississippi Mud Cake. Everyone loved it. Mississippi Mud Cake is a chocolate cake with marshmallows on top and a chocolate ganache icing generously drizzled on top. This dessert was almost a "fail" because once I started cutting the first pan into squares it looked horrible. I think the icing needed to set more. However, even though it didn’t look the best it still tasted great.

I have a couple suggestions for this recipe. One: don’t over toast the marshmallows. You want them to puff together but not turn brown. Two: if you do wish to cut the cake, dip the knife into hot water with each cut. Three: be generous with the icing, I find it really compliments the cake. Four: use a very moist chocolate cake recipe. When the cake goes into the oven a second time, it drys out a little. And five: a scoop of vanilla ice-cream would suit this cake perfectly (although vanilla ice cream is good with just about everything).

A snapshot of the mouth-watering Rolo Cake.
Image located by Emily.

Rolo Cake

Moist Chocolate Cake

Yields one small sheet pan

- 2 cups Flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- 3/4 cups Cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 cup Oil or Butter (I use butter)
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Coffee, brewed at room temp.
- 1 cup Milk

In the mixer combine all dry ingredients. Then beat in eggs, vanilla and and oil. Slowly add coffee and milk to the mixture. Lastly pour into the sprayed and prepared pan. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Caramel Frosting:
http://www.pauladeen.com/caramel-frosting

Mississippi Mud Cake:
http://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/2015/09/mississippi-mud-cake.html