The lazy Patriot’s guide to the mug cake
With only one dish to wash and a cook time of less than two minutes, the mug cake is any lazy teen’s sweet dream come true. Mug cakes are incredibly versatile—they come in every flavor between matcha green tea and nutty Nutella, and the experienced baker can even transform a plain mug cake into a rainbow-colored beauty with food dye. Here’s a basic vanilla recipe to get you started.
April 24, 2015
1. COMBINE 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 egg in a microwaveable mug that can hold approximately 1 cup of liquid. Mix together thoroughly; the resulting goup should look consistently yellow and eggy.
2. THIS STEP IS VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR CAKE. Take another mug that can hold about 1 cup of liquid. POUR half of the egg mixture into this mug. (Yes, you’re making two mug cakes at once. You can share one with a friend, or if you’re really hungry, you can eat both yourself.)
3. ADD 1 tablespoon of milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract, and a pinch of salt to both mugs. Mix together until the ingredients look uniform.
4. TAKE one mug and add 3 tablespoons of self-rising flour to it. It’s okay to be generous with your flour, because more flour means more cake.
5. MIX the flour into the wet ingredients quickly; if you take too long, your flour will start to rise before you put your cake into the microwave and it will cave in on itself like a Junior during AP testing.
6. PLACE your cake into the microwave for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. You’ll need to experiment with cooking time, since different microwaves cook differently.
7. WHILE you’re microwaving your first cake, add the flour to the second mug cake and mix it in. This should take about a minute, and by the time your first mug cake is done, your second will be ready to go!
8. WHEN your cakes are done, go ahead and top them with exciting things like whipped cream, ice cream, or chocolate syrup—or eat them just as they are. Let them cool down for a few minutes before digging in, though, because they’ll be really hot when you first remove them from the microwave.
