Cake for One

Ok, my friends. So far this week I’ve been making other people’s recipes for my birthday fare. Today, I’m showing you one of my own.

It’s not super classy, but it is what it is.

A couple of months ago, I was complaining to my friend Elizabeth that I had no dessert in my house. She told me that a friend of hers had made a mug cake. As in, a cake that you make in a mug in the microwave. I Googled it, and found out that I’m pretty much the last person on the internet to have heard of this phenomenon. So I tried a recipe.

It was terrible.

Seriously.

It was lumpy and gummy and not worth eating. I decided that mug cakes were gross and a terrible idea.

But then there was another night that I had no dessert in the house. I was desperate. So I looked at a few more recipes and then decided to scrap them all and make my own.

And let me tell you, it’s just like cake. In a mug. Made in the microwave. And it takes all of 5 minutes. This recipe is just for one mug cake, so when you’re home alone and need cake, or you’re mad at your significant other and want to punish them by eating cake in front of them, this is the recipe for you. Or you could make two in almost the same amount of time.

First, you’ll need a mug. Duh. Any mug that’s standard size or larger. Just don’t use a particularly small mug or you may end up eating cake out of your microwave.

Put 3 tablespoons of butter in your mug and microwave for about 40 seconds or until it’s melted.

Add 1/4 cup sugar and stir with a fork.

Add 3 tablespoons milk

and a splash of vanilla.

Stir again.

Add 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.

And about 1/8 teaspoon of baking powder. Or a generous pinch.

Stir it until the cocoa is fairly well incorporated.

Then add 1/4 cup flour. Stir until it’s pretty smooth, but don’t overmix.

Then for the tasty bits. You can use all chocolate chips or white chocolate chips, or chopped up candy bars or whatever. I opted for a mix of chocolate chips and toffee bits this time. You want about 3 tablespoons or so, but I just put about a palmful in.

Put them on top, but don’t stir! If you stir they’ll all end up on the bottom. If you put them on top they’ll just sink in a bit and the cake will rise around them so they’ll be more or less distributed throughout.

Then comes the microwaving. This cake comes out perfect in my microwave after 2 minutes and 30 seconds. But your microwave might be different. But here’s the important thing. DON’T OVERCOOK IT! If you overcook this cake, it will be nasty. It will get gummy and the texture will be nothing like cake. So start with 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and then you can go up to 3 minutes if you have a low-wattage microwave. If your microwave tends to cook more quickly, maybe even start with 2 minutes.

This cake is not going to win any awards for prettiness. I added some more toppings after cooking so that this picture would look more appetizing. You could whip up some frosting if you’re a frosting kind of person. Or pop open a can of frosting, if that’s more your style. But I’m not really into frosting, so I just added more chocolate.

This is surprisingly moist and cake-like for having been made in a microwave. It’s pretty decent stuff. And it’s probably the easiest dessert you’ll ever make from scratch.