Did you know that you can make cake in your microwave? Yeah, really. Now I told you before that I’ve been looking for a replacement for J’s favorite chocolate cake. But it was a quest I thought I’d have to put on hold until after we’d moved, seeing as we’ve said goodbye to the oven. But then it occurred to me that I still had a microwave…there had to be a way to make a small cake in there, right?
Thankfully, pinterest was happy to indulge me with many different recipes and ideas for how to make a cake in the microwave and J was my willing taste tester. It turns out there are many spectacular things about baking a cake in the microwave. First, the clean up is super easy. I used a grand total of two dishes…one mixing bowl and one ramekin to “bake” the cake in. Although many pinners out there suggested cooking the cake in a coffee mug…this option just seemed like a microwave mess waiting to happen. I can just see the cake climbing up the sides of the mug and oozing all over the microwave.
Second, it was fast. I mean, like each cake took a grand total of 5 minutes to make. That’s from pulling out the ingredients to placing it on a plate to cool. Yep, 5 minutes to chocolate cake? I can handle that!
Finally these cakes are the perfect size to be split for an easy dessert for two. Now, I saw a lot of recipes for mug cakes that refer to a recipe of this size as a single serving cake, but really? Just because you could eat it all by yourself, doesn’t mean you should! This is definitely the perfect size for sharing.
I made about ten cakes in the last two days, trying to perfect the recipe. Which meant I kept popping in to the office with a plate of cake and a fork say “J, here, try this one“ and “How does that compare to the other 3 I’ve fed you?” I made several attempts to make this cake healthier but I just couldn’t keep the cocoa sweet or the texture right when I was working with such small quantities. So I spared J from tasting the worst of the cakes…including this one where I tried sweetening with honey and shredded apple! Yeck! That usually works but not this time! But when I finally had the perfect chocolate cake and I came out to share it with J he scoffed “What, no frosting?!” So I whipped up a mini batch of vanilla buttercream which topped it perfectly!
Try this delicious chocolate cake next time you’d like something sweet but don’t want to commit to baking an entire cake.
Happy Eating!
~Nikki
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 drop vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 drop vanilla extract
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients until well combined.
- Add oil and milk and mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated.
- Lightly grease or spray the inside of a small ramekin or coffee mug (unless you’d like to eat the cake directly from the container) and fill with the cake batter (should be about ⅔ full).
- Microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds on high. A toothpick should come out cleanly from the center of the cake. The time may vary depending on your microwave, if the cake still appears gooey continue cooking for up to an additional 30 seconds.
- Using a hand mixer, cream the butter then add powdered sugar, milk and a drop of vanilla extract. Allow the cake to cool before frosting.
- Using a hand mixer, cream the butter then add powdered sugar, milk and a drop of vanilla extract. Allow the cake to cool before frosting.
Sounds good, I’ll have to try this out!!
Whoops didn’t mean to put a star there I haven’t even tried it yet!
Lol, one star? Oops! Let meknow if you try it how you like it!
Thanks!