We celebrated New Year's Eve with a dinner out, but satisfied our sweet tooth back at my friend's house with a fabulous chocolate cake. My motto: You can never go wrong with chocolate!
My friend's dessert initiated the desire to create some decadent new chocolate treat for my family's New Year's Day dinner, the very next day.
So, we found a recipe for a chocolate marshmallow cake, which, after tasting it, we thought should be called Rocky Road cake. This dessert is like eating cake and candy, all at the same time and the colder the cake, the more like rocky road it tastes!
High quality cocoa and chocolate make this cake even better. In purchasing cocoa powder, you may have noticed that cocoa powders can be "Dutched" or "Un-Dutched," - a fancy way to say alkalized or natural.
Apparently it was a Dutch man who invented the alkalizing process.
While the alkalizing process deepens the chocolate color, mellows the flavor and reduces the bitterness, a natural cocoa has a fruitier flavor.
Alkalized cocoa is more soluble in water, which is good for most baking purposes, but it may be fun for you to experiment with both to see what you prefer.
The French Valrhona cocoa powder is an example of alkalized cocoa powder and Scharffen Berger offers a natural variety.
These two are at opposite ends of the spectrum and as such, would make a good test.

- Rocky Road cake
1½ sticks unsweetened butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ cups pecans, chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups miniature marshmallows
Frosting
½ stick butter
3-4 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces, bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup milk
Directions:
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in cocoa powder. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into a greased (or sprayed) 9x13x2 inch glass baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean from center of cake.
Remove from oven and immediately distribute marshmallows over entire top of cake. Allow marshmallows to melt slightly and spread frosting over top of marshmallows while cake is still warm.
This will be a gooey process, and the marshmallows will mix a little bit with the frosting, but that is perfectly okay. Allow to cool completely before serving.

- For frosting:
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and melted chocolate until well mixed. Add cocoa powder and beat until integrated. Add 3 cups of the powdered sugar and beat into chocolate mixture, adding milk as needed for spreadable consistency. Add remaining powdered sugar, as needed, to adjust consistency. Spread over melted marshmallows on still warm cake. Serve cooled to room temperature.
Susie can be reached at suziven@hughes.net