It’s said that these cakes – ubiquitous on café menus in the 1980s – take their name from their resemblance to the muddy waters of the mighty Mississippi River. This recipe is based on the classic Women’s Weekly recipe, but we’ve added a good slug of Bourbon to warm things up a little. A fudgy chocolate-Bourbon sauce and a dollop of thick cream round things off perfectly.
Ingredients
Chocolate-Bourbon sauce
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 160C. Combine sugar, milk, butter, chocolate and Bourbon in a bowl and stir occasionally over simmering water until smooth (2-3 minutes), then cool to room temperature. Sieve over flour, cocoa and baking powder, whisk to combine, then whisk in eggs. Pour into eight 250ml dariole moulds, buttered, floured and lined on the base with baking paper, filling to 1cm below tops (there may be a little mixture left over). Bake until a skewer withdraws clean (25-30 minutes). Cool in tins, then run a small knife around sides of cakes and turn out.
2.For chocolate-Bourbon sauce, stir sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook until dark caramel (4-5 minutes), remove from heat and add 80ml water (be careful as hot caramel may spit). Return to heat, add chocolate and Bourbon, stir until smooth and set aside.
3.Preheat oven to 180C. Place cakes on an oven tray lined with baking paper and warm though in oven (5-10 minutes). Dust with cocoa and serve with chocolate-Bourbon sauce and thick cream.
