Mugged

My friend Jessica, who sometimes lurks here, sent me this recipe the other day:

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

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 1000 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.

I thought it sounded like a fun kid project so we did it. When I chose to do it the kids were a bit over-tired and subsequently highly obnoxious so it was, in fact, not a fun kid project, but I can report that it was fairly tasty and the obnoxious monsters seemed to enjoy it a lot.

It's kind of rubbery, being cooked in the microwave and all. My gut tells me the gluten in the flour and the protein in the egg are opposed to this method of cooking. It could possibly be mitigated by the substitution of cake flour and maybe, just maybe, fake egg. I don't know. My microwave doubles as a convection oven so I'm tempted to change the name to 20 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake and bake the thing like God intended, with convection heat. The rubberiness of it made for a good Cakesicle.

*Absolutely don't consider these optional.