Given the incredibly fast pace of today’s society, we often find ourselves with very little time on our hands. Even though everybody seems to be in such a rush, we need to find those few spare moments to indulge in life’s little treasures. Do you like chocolate cake? Do you have five minutes? Well, this is very clearly the recipe for you.
My mom is far from being the most tech-savvy person on the planet, so imagine my surprise when she forwarded an email message my way, telling me about this remarkable five-minute chocolate cake recipe.
What makes this recipe particularly unique is that you don’t need any real baking skills, you don’t need an oven, and you don’t need any kind of real baking utensils. That’s because this chocolate cake is prepared in a coffee mug (we all love coffee, right?) and you do the “baking” in the microwave.
The Ingredients and Requirements
So, what do you need to bake this cake? While the people in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery on 4/20 may include an extra special ingredient in the mix, here’s what the email listed:
– 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
Naturally, you’ll need a teaspoon for mixing and a microwave for “baking” too.
Chocolate Cake in Five Minutes or Less
Let me preface this by saying that I am no baker. Don’t ask me to sift any flour or whisk any mixture. However, seeing how all I need is a microwave and a coffee mug, I think I can handle preparing this chocolate cake. Here are the instructions:
1. Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
2. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
4. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract. Mix again.
5. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.
6. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!
7. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
8. EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.)
I’m guessing that this chocolate cake recipe came from a Brit, since the email concludes with “You are going to print this out straight away, aren’t you?” I don’t know too many Americans or Canadians who use the term “straight away.”
I do know many Canadians and Americans who will gladly each chocolate cake though. Enjoy!
(On a side note, these pictures came with the forwarded email. They’re not mine. Maybe I’ll post a pic to my Flickr photostream soon.)
Awesome, I can actually give this a try, as I have all the ingredients at home.
Thanks for sharing, see you on Twitter! 🙂
“Oil” is hardly helpful. Canola, vegetable, olive or motor?
It depends. For the Vancouver climate, a 5W30 is a pretty safe bet. 😉
I tried it with canola and it worked out fine.
Michael,
I was ‘off the grid’ for a bit, attending the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas last week. Was trying to drum up some contract systems design engineering or technical project management work to feed the family and pay the bills.
That is a cool recipe! (“straight away” indeed…).
You can make chocolate frosting or ice cream syrup, for that cake by adding a small amount of water to Hershey’s or any cocoa mix in a mug, and heating in the microwave for 20 seconds or so…depending on the power setting.
Still trying to break that $20.00 ‘profit ceiling’ in Affiliate Marketing, (someone clicked and bought one of my diet plans!).
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
Its really that easy?! I’m in trouble, and could be baking these little cakes every day! Thanks for that!! 😛
Okay so I made this on Sunday…and it was actually not bad, a bit on the chewy tough side, but still bearable.
I wish I had had some vanilla ice cream to go with, all-in all no complaints.
Thanks for sharing
Damn, this looks too easy to NOT try! 🙂
I made this last night with a couple of changes: Substituted brown sugar and added an additional tablespoon of cocoa, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp baking powder. I also mixed it in a separate little bowl so I could Pam an individual straight sided ramekin 4″ dia. X 2″ high. My microwave is 1200 watts, but nuked it 3 minutes anyway. It came right out of the ramekin and was quite good! The chocolate chips did not sink to the bottom and it was very moist, dense and chocolatey. Dusted it with a thick coating of powdered sugar. Boy am I in trouble!!
Nice variation. It’s a little too easy and convenient of a recipe, eh?
The salt makes it. I’ll have to try the BP.
I mixed the whole thing in a 2-cup measuring cup — no Pam, no grease — and the cake came clean from the sides. I added the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla at the same time and mixed only once. I know, I’m lazy!
Most people forget to put salt into sweet baking, but it’s needed for proper taste.
Every other recipe calls for salt and either BP or BS. And now that I think of it, I think I used baking soda not baking powder. It was late! What can I say? Sweets must have salt to really bring out the sweetness and the brown sugar gives the cake a heavier texture which I think, in the end (no pun intended) is going to give ME a heavier texture.
I tried this as well! this was heaps of fun and actually tasted pretty good. I posted some details on my blog about this as well: http://simplerthanyouthink.blogspot.com/
I tried this, and it wasn’t very good. :/