Another busy week. I spent most of it on work related stuff. Tony got a root canal. I’ve never seen a man so happy to do that. I understand why. He had an infection and a lot of pain. He waited too long to get it done. He was also expecting to be laid up for a day or two. I said he won’t be laid up at all. Once the numbing wore off, he felt good. Maybe next time he won’t wait so long to get a procedure done.

This week I am starting with a recipe from Southern Living for Mississippi Mud Cake. I liked this recipe because it’s more than a standard chocolate cake. Not that chocolate cake is boring by itself. It’s just nice to change it up. While I will be changing up sweeteners and flours, I want to try to keep the chocolate and marshmallows.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the whole milk with coconut milk to remove the dairy.
• I replaced the butter in the cake with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the calories and saturated fat.
• I replaced the sugars with their sweetener equivalent to reduce the carbs and sugar.
• I replaced the all purpose flour with almond and coconut flours to reduce the carbs.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Lower Carb Mississippi Mud Cake

Serves 12

Cake

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sweetener
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• Dash of salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 (10-oz.) package mini marshmallows

Frosting

• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 (16-oz.) pkg. powdered sweetener, sifted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Prepare the Cake: Preheat oven to 325˚F. Grease a metal 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place chocolate in a microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH, stirring every 30 seconds until melted, about 1 minute 30 seconds total. Whisk together sweetener, applesauce eggs, and melted chocolate mixture in a medium bowl. Combine flours, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; stir into melted chocolate mixture. Fold in pecans and vanilla.
2. Spoon batter into prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs, 20 to 21 minutes. Remove cake from oven, and cover top with marshmallows in an even layer. Bake at 325°F until marshmallows are just soft, about 2 minutes.
3. While cake is baking, prepare the Chocolate Frosting: Heat butter, milk, and cocoa in a medium saucepan over medium until butter is melted, about 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, and bring mixture to a boil. Boil 1 minute, and then remove from heat. Whisk in powdered sweetener and vanilla. Immediately drizzle cake with Chocolate Frosting. Let Frosting harden about 2 hours before cutting cake into squares.