Why my Mississippi-Cake is moister than yours

Deutsche Version

The Mississippi-Cake is a classic chocolate cake from my childhood. No children’s birthday party without this moist cake. My friends and relatives love this cake and request it often. The Mississippi-Cake is not to be confused with the Mississippi Mud Pie, an American dessert, made of cake, cookies, custard, ice cream, whipped cream, liqueur, hot fudge and chocolate sauce. Albeit the Mississippi-Cake was inspired by the Mississippi Mud Pie, the recipe is different.  

Whenever I bake a Mississippi-Cake, I get asked why my cake is so chocolatey and moist and not dry at all. I bake it since ages according to the recipe by Betty Bossy. After a little bit of research, I figured out why my cake is not dry at all but others might get a dry cake. I bake this classic chocolate cake according to the old Betty Bossy recipe and not the new one. The ingredients stayed the same but the difference is in the baking time and temperature. According to the new recipe the cake should be baked at 180° C for one hour. This is too long too hot. In the old recipe, the cake is baked at 180° C just for 30 minutes. Then the temperature should be lowered to 160° C and the cake baked for another 30 to 35 minutes. Baked at a sinking temperature, the cake turns out moist and not dry at all.

Da der Mississippi-Cake ein stabiler Kuchen ist, der sich gut schneiden lässt, eignet er sich sehr gut für mehrstöckige Kuchen oder Zuschnitte, wie der Schmetterling im Bild.

Here is the recipe by Betty Bossy: Mix

• 175 g soft butter

• 250 g sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

• 1 pinch of salt

Add

• 4 eggs

and whisk to ribbon stage. Solve

• 2 tablespoons instant coffee

• 2 tablespoons hot water

and mix the liquid in the batter. Add

• 250 g white flour

• 50 g chocolate powder

• 50 g cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 dl cream

Fill half of the cake batter in a buttered cake pan. Place

• 6 chocolate bars (each 23 g)

on the batter. Cover with the remaining cake batter.

Bake at 180° C in the middle of the preheated oven for 30 min. Lower the temperature to 160° C and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes. Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for a few minutes. Dust it with icing sugar while still warm or let it cool down completely and cover it with chocolate icing.

To check if a cake is baked or still needs a few minutes in the oven, stab it in the middle with a skewer, a clean knitting needle of a pointy knife. If there is batter sticking on the skewer/knife, the cake still needs a few minutes. If it comes out clean, the cake is done and ready to be taken out of the oven.

More cake recipes:

• The taste of autumn - Chocolate Pear Cake

• One recipe - endless cakes