I’ve got a special bake for you this week – Mississippi Mud Cake is a dense, rich cake so Italian Meringue Buttercream goes perfectly with it. I like to balance the light, fluffy buttercream – This is a cake that can take lots of filling but you don’t need a heavy buttery filling. Even though this buttercream uses 500g of butter, it is still light and airy.
I seem to have an abundance of Wholemeal flour so used a good chunk inside this cake – Raspberries are at the end of their best at the moment too, so I got a bargain with these 2 punnets.
MISSISSIPPI MUD CAKE WITH RASPBERRY ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
| Serves | 8+ |
| Prep time | 1 hour, 20 minutes |
| Cook time | 45 minutes |
| Total time | 2 hours, 5 minutes |
| Meal type | Dessert, Snack |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Birthday Party, Casual Party, Valentines day |
INGREDIENTS
- 400g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 Medium Eggs
- 60g Cocoa Powder
- 2 teaspoons Strong Instant Coffee Granules (Dissolved in 200ml of recently boiled hot water – Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before adding to the cake mixture)
- 2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract (+ 1 teaspoon for Buttercream)
- 120g Wholemeal Flour
- 200g Self Raising Flour
- 200ml Milk
- 5 Egg Whites
- 500g Very Soft Butter
- 100ml Cold Water
- 300g Caster Sugar
- 2 Punnets Raspberries
DIRECTIONS
| Mississippi Mud Cake | |
| 1. | |
| Preheat the oven to 170C and line 3 x 8″ Cake tins | |
| 2. | |
| Whisk together the Dark Brown Sugar and the 2 whole eggs until they become paler and fluffy. | |
| 3. | |
| Add in the cocoa – When the coffee/water mix has cooled sufficiently, add this whilst still mixing | |
| 4. | |
| Alternate adding 1 tbsp of the flours and a small drizzle of milk until all flour and milk is added | |
| 5. | |
| Continue to whisk on a medium setting for 20 seconds then distribute evenly between the 3 tins and bake for 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Up to this stage can be done up to 3 days in advance – this is the sort of cake that can take standing (wrapped in foil) If you can wait that long! | |
| Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream | |
| 6. | |
| Whisk the 5 egg whites until they achieve stiff peaks and very slowly add 50g of the caster sugar a very tiny amount at a time | |
| 7. | |
| In a small pan, add the remaining 250g of caster sugar and 100ml of water. Heat on a slow heat and whisk until the caster sugar has just dissolved. Stop whisking and speed the heat up to high. Brush down the sides of the pan once with a wet pastry brush to stop sugar crystals from appearing and burning | |
| 8. | |
| You are then waiting for the sugar/water mixture to reach 121C (use a sugar thermometer) As soon as it does, dip the pan into a large pan of cold water and remove immediately. Wipe down the base of the pan – you don’t want any excess water dripping into the meringue mixture | |
| 9. | |
| Add a thin but steady stream of sugar/water mix into the egg white mixture, whilst mixing on a medium-high setting | |
| 10. | |
| Once it has all been added, keep mixing on a medium setting until the sides of the bowl start to feel cooler | |
| 11. | |
| Add tablespoons of the butter at a time whilst still whisking – This bit freaks me out as I always think it will curdle but it doesn’t | |
| 12. | |
| Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining vanilla extract | |
| 13. | |
| Mush one punnet of raspberries with a fork (you can blitz in a blender but I prefer some texture from the raspberries) and stir into the meringue mix. | |
| 14. | |
| Divide into 4 equal parts and spread between each layer of cake – Decorate as you wish on top and add the other punnet of raspberries | |
| 15. | |
| Refrigerate for 2 hours and eat | |
This cake is gorgeous!!
Aw thank you! What a lovely comment x
Ooooh this looks absolutely delightful. The Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream looks delicious. I love raspberries!
Thanks for sharing.
Laura x
This cake looks awesome!!
This looks and sounds amazing, I have never made the buttercream before, might be time to give it a go x
With a name like Mississippi mud cake, you sure know how to make an expat girl feel homesick! Will def have to give this a go and bring a bit of the States to the UK!
#bloggingmumsclub
What a stunning cake Helen – I’ve never been brave enough to try Italian meringue buttercream but you’ve inspired me to give it a try! A lovely selection of entries to Bake of the Week – must remember to enter next time I’m baking.
This is such an AMAZING cake Helen!!
I’ll bet each bite is like heaven 🙂 I love raspberry but unfortunately it’s very hard to get it here
Thanks for the party and for sharing this wonderful cake
Wow what a delicious cake Helen, so tasty. Look forward to linking up shortly
All of my favourite things in one cake! Love meringue buttercream too 🙂
Italian meringue is great!! I really like your cake and looks so stunning too. Very nice with the raspberries 🙂
Wow, this cake is amazing
I’m not sure if I’ve ever had Italian meringue buttercream, it looks scrumptious!!
Oh my gosh you’ve made me so hungry with this post! I love raspberries and this looks like an amazing way to enjoy them. When I’ve sorted my new oven out I’ll have to try this recipe x
I am so proud of you! You nailed the Italian meringue. It looks soooo good…. Definitely will follow your instructions on how to make it, because most of the times I fail with anythinkg that has to do with whipped eggs! he he he
What a gorgeous cake! I really love Italian meringue buttercream. It’s decadent and delicious but only for special occasions or my butt would be the size of a Volkswagen.
This cake is beautiful. I love the naked cake approach. Plus Mississippi Mud and Raspberry, what a lovely combination. I’ve never made Italian Meringue Buttercream before but that is on my never ending bake list. In fact I’ve never made Mississippi Mud Cake either, but now that I see how awesome it looks I am also going to have to add that to my bake list. Wow, my bake list is getting long! 😉 Thank you so much for sharing. Pinned!
Wow – chocolate, raspberry, meringue – so many of my favorites in this one. Looks delicious!
Oooh this looks delicious. I’ve tried making Italian meringue buttercream once before but I think the sugar wasn’t hot enough (I don’t have a digital thermometer – yet!) so it wasn’t anywhere as good as the one you’ve made.
Angela x
mmmm that looks amazing Helen – so many elements i love all in one great looking dessert cake – yum! x
3 things I love about this (besides the chocolate!): 3 layers, no icing on the sides, and raspberries. I think this will need to be my husband’s birthday cake this year 🙂
What a beautiful dessert! The cake itself looks so moist and light, but the buttercream looks heavenly! I wish I could indulge in desserts like this more often! xo, Catherine
Great photos! I would like to eat this whole cake, please and thank you. 🙂
Very beautiful cake!! If you don’t like raspberries (me) what other fruit would you substitute it with?
Hi Evi – How do you cope without raspberries?! I think a tarty fruit goes best with this recipe – Something like blackberries, blueberries or cranberries? Let me know what you try and how it goes x