Chocolate cake in a cup
Until today, I was unaware of this apparent e-mail/Internet phenomenon. (If you Google "chocolate cake in a cup," you get 1,800,000 hits.)
It's a 5-minute chocolate cake that's made in a mug in the microwave. Someone e-mailed the recipe to my father, who passed it along to me.
It goes like this:
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)
Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1,000 watts.
The cake will 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.
Then EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.)
It ends: "And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night."
Unfortunately, I'm at the office and can't concoct this thing RIGHT NOW like I want to. Has anyone tried it? Could it actually be good?
According to the folks at King Arthur, not so much, but they offer a few improvements.
Contributors
Sheryl Julian, the Globe's Food Editor, writes regularly for the Food section.Devra First is the Globe's food reporter and restaurant critic. Her reviews appear weekly in the Food section.
Ellen Bhang reviews Cheap Eats restaurants for the Globe and writes about wine.
