The hot, hot, hot weather is on it’s way! Tomorrow at this time the mercury is expected to climb back up into the range of “oppressive”. We’re ready for it. The air conditioners are in the windows, and I have a garden full of salad greens ready to be a quick and easy dinner.
Despite the heat that comes in waves these days, sometimes you still want a little something sweet. And sometimes ice cream and popsicles just don’t cut it. If you’re anything like me, you still want cake, and you think really, really hard about baking one. Just a small cake would do, but summer is usually pretty void of all things cake until birthday season rolls around.
Fortunately, there is an answer that I didn’t actually expect would be very good. I’ve seen these microwave cakes for years and have always avoided them- but they got the better of me, and I just had to try them.
They sure were easy! The one thing I will suggest is that you might want to use the biggest coffee mug you can find- even one of those large mocha/soup mugs would work great, because this cake rises up to towering heights while it’s baking in the microwave. So much so that there was an indecisive moment where I sat there and watched it rise and wondered if I should abandon the effort. I restrained myself, and once the microwave stopped, the cake quickly sunk back down into the mug.
I topped our cakes with a scoop of cookies-n-cream ice cream and a healthy drizzle of caramel. They sure took care of that sweet tooth AND the desire for a slice of cake. I thought the cake turned out better than expected and will definitely be making these again. I would love to play around with them and try other flavors too, but chocolate is just such a good option- why mess with something that’s already so great?
Note: I made one batch of batter and divided it between two 14 ounce coffee mugs. The original recipe I was following said it made one mug of cake- I would have had Mt. Vesuvius in my microwave had I followed those directions. So the recipe below is for TWO mugs of cake. I did bake them one at a time- it only takes a few minutes each. You can also feel free to add a tablespoon or two of add-ins- things like nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, etc. I made straight up cake to top with toppings.
Chocolate Cake In A Mug
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour 4 Tablespoons sugar 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder pinch of salt 1 egg, beaten 3 Tablespoons milk 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil Splash of vanilla extractWhisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, oil and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
Divide the batter between two coffee mugs.
Bake them one at a time in the microwave. If you have a 1000 watt microwave, bake for 3 minutes on high. If you have a 700 watt microwave, opt for 4 minutes.
Top your cakes as desired and eat up!