5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

I got this recipe from an unlikely place: New Dress a Day (which I had mentioned before). You can make this cake in a mug by baking it for 5 minutes in the microwave, and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already. I like the fact that it makes just one serving (or two small servings in our case, since we split it) for those nights when you just want a little something sweet to end a meal, but you didn’t have time to plan anything. That being said, the consistency of the cake is a little spongy (in a “squeaky” sense), so it’s not the best thing ever. Which is just great, because if it were, it’s so easy to make that you’d probably be having it too often. (If you have an hour instead of a few minutes, consider chocolate mink cakes, which I suddenly remembered existed.)

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp lactose-free milk
3 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp chocolate chips (optional, but why would you omit them?)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (microwave-safe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly before pouring in the milk and oil in. Keep mixing. Add the chocolate chips next (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! (This didn’t happen to me, though.) Allow it to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate. Split it if desired.