Thursday, September 25, 2008

Let them (and by "them," I mean "YOU") eat cake

Right then. Sorry about that. I guess it was sort of rude of me to proclaim the deliciousness of a three-minute coffee mug cake and then not tell you how to make one yourself. Maybe I just assumed you all received the same e-mail? Maybe even my own mother forwarded it to you? OK, more likely I just got distracted by something shiny. (Or, you know, something winey. It matters not, obviously.)

In any case, I do hate to be called a cake tease. Here you are, then. The recipe for "The Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake in the World." (And why is it dangerous, you may ask? The e-mail explained that, too: Because we are now only three minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night. Ahhh. I get it now. Let's just make a cup of cake, shall we?)



1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well with a fork. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and continue to mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake might rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.


I have made this cake exactly once, so obviously I am an expert, and as such, here are my notes. First, I highly recommend not skipping the "optional" chips, though I'm not convinced you need three full tablespoons. Chocolate need never be "optional," but it needn't be excessive, either. Secondly, I neglected to read the actual instructions until I had everything already in the coffee mug (Wine, remember? I'd had wine.), so I just mixed everything up all at once. As far as I'm concerned, it worked fine. Also, I have no idea what my microwave's wattage is. It is white and medium-sized and was purchased in 1992. That probably doesn't help at all, but my point is, three minutes still seemed just about right. And my cake didn't rise over the top of the mug, but I used a gigantic mug that is likely the size of two mugs, so that could explain that. And finally, I would like to suggest that if you don't have baking cocoa at home, perhaps you could skip that and make an equally tasty vanilla cake? Frankly I'm not sure if that's a sound theory or not, but if you want to try it and report back, that'd be cool. Me, I actually had baking cocoa in the cupboard. It's the egg I'm still sort of stunned I had. It's also the egg (and the fact that I don't usually have eggs just hanging out on hand in my fridge) that will prevent me from making a single-serving chocolate cake every time I want one. My aversion to eggs is finally good for something, it seems. Whew.

26 comments:

3carnations said...

Thank you. Sounds dangerous, indeed. I could make a cake...and then theoretically make another cake.

I won't actually do that, of course...but I could.

The Dutchess of Kickball said...

I "think" there is a possibility I could actually make this all by myself.

Craig said...

I have no idea how this will turn out (I am fairly certain that I'm going to try it right away), but I do know that this--"Maybe even my own mother forwarded it to you?"--along with the discussion in the previous post, cracked me up.

MplsMel said...

The sad thing is I usually have all those things on hand. I can see myself in a wine induced stupor trying to mix that up one evening when I want chocolate with my wine. This is not a good thing.

Noelle said...

I don't think omitting the cocoa will make an instantly vanilla cake. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try.

lizgwiz said...

Thank you. I think we all feel better now. ;)

Anonymous said...

Impressive! I think I might have to try it this weekend!

NGS said...

We have eggs. You can come borrow some of ours. We eat way too many.

But flour? Baking cocoa? Those are things people keep at home regularly?

Huh. Maybe we need to improve our pantry.

P.S. Maybe even my own mother forwarded it to you? HI-larious.

Alice said...

huh, looks like i need to pick up some baking cocoa. (is that different than... uh.. normal cocoa? no sugar added or something?) and an egg. i ACTUALLY HAVE the rest, though!

technically i have an egg too. but it's REALLY OLD and not worth potentially ruining chocolate over.

shelleycoughlin said...

I'm going to try this out, and so help me, Stefanie, if it is delicious I am sending you the invoice for my new giant-sized wardrobe.

Courtney said...

Ha, cake tease. That's an SNL sketch waiting to happen.

Stefanie said...

3Cs--You could. You could indeed.

Dutchess--I don't think so. I know so!

Craig--Please report back. I really sort of am wondering if the raving was the wine talking.

Mel--That is not sad at all! But I know where you're coming from. I still have an egg left in the fridge, and I sort of want another cake-in-a-mug now!

Noelle--Again, report back. Maybe adding some brown sugar in place of the white will help? I don't know... What DOES make vanilla cake? Or the standard "yellow" cake? See? This is why the tag on this post says "So very not Martha." MARTHA would know these things.

Liz--I'm glad. :-)

Lara--This weekend?? Why not RIGHT NOW?

Grad Student--There was a time when I didn't have flour at home regularly either. There is hope for you yet, I think.

Alice--Yep; baking cocoa is unsweetened. Maybe you could use regular cocoa and then just cut the sugar? (Again, I have no idea what I'm talking about. But feel free to experiment!)

NPW--Yikes. Well, maybe we can go shopping together for new giant-sized wardrobes.

Courtney--In the sketch, can Tina Fey be me? (After all, we both look like Sarah Palin, apparently...)

Anonymous said...

I have everything but the eggs as well. We are glasses and no-egg twins!

Aaron said...

Goddamn I want cake something awful now. Thank you for this timely and important post.

The Modern Gal said...

I'm pretty sure I did not need to know about this recipe.

Anonymous said...

Three tablespoons of oil seems like a lot for one mug of cake. On the other hand, I've never eaten a mug of cake. I kind of like saying, "mug of cake" though.

Sauntering Soul said...

I second the comment from flurrious. I can't be bothered to think of anything original of my own to say but she said what I was thinking. "Mug of cake" is fun to say and I imagine it's pretty fun to eat too.

metalia said...

OMG! That is BRILLIANT! And you make it in a coffee mug? That is perhaps the cutest thing ever. I'm off to make it right now. SERIOUSLY.

Mickey said...

We may have baking cocoa. If so, I will go try this right now. Or should I wait for Courtney to get home? I know: I'll make some now AND when Courtney gets home!

Anonymous said...

Is this an example of "be careful what you wish for"? Despite my claims to want this recipe, I am now fearful to try it in case it really is that easy and delicious.

Mickey said...

Result: It doesn't look so pretty, but it doesn't taste half bad. Thanks!

Stefanie said...

R--"Glasses and no-egg twins" cracked me up. :-)

Aaron--I do like to tackle the big issues, as I'm sure you know.

Modern Gal--I'm pretty sure I didn't, either. I totally almost made another mini cake last night.

Flurrious--I thought the same thing, too. I actually used only about 2.5 tbsp of oil, for that reason. You know, because that extra mere half-tablespoon makes such a huge difference...

SS--Mug of cake. Mug of cake. Hee.

Metalia--OK, but as I said in my email earlier, I do hope it's not going to double as your birthday cake! You deserve a REAL cake, too, my friend.

Badger Reader--That's a risk you'll just have to take, I guess.

Mickey--Yes! Someone else finally reports back. Thank you. You're right: it's not pretty. Suppose I should have mentioned that too.

Lizzie said...

I had a recipe for peach "cupcakes" (same idea) that had only three ingredients: pureed peaches (ie, babyfood), cake batter, and cool whip for the frosting. And they were SO GOOD. Of course, even though it was only two ingredients and a plop of cool whip, I can't remember the proper amounts of those two ingredients, so this is not helpful.

I bet I could find it with a quick google, but it's 1am and I have to be up at 7, so I should probably turn off the computer.

Maddie said...

Oh my holy freaking dangerous. I'm going to be in trouble with this one!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, I totally want this. YUMMY!

Craig said...

Reporting back (finally). It's not bad but a bit egg-y. A whole egg for one little mug full of cake is a lot.

It's certainly not as good as a cake that I'd normally make, but it also didn't take nearly as long to make and it's still not bad at all.