Chocolate Mug Cake

Sometimes you just need a little something sweet as a little pick-me-up. Now I’m aware that there are some great recipes for individual portions of such things out there, but they’re mostly to be made in a microwave, which I am currently sadly without. So I came up with this, which I made in the oven. I used a large mug that was microwave and dishwasher proof and only put the oven on to pre-heat right before I start mixing the batter so it wasn’t too hot when I put the mug into the oven. Thankfully didn’t end up with a cracked mug or bits of china and chocolate cake all over the inside of my oven (oven-cleaning being amongst my least favourite chores). If you want a tasty treat and can wait half an hour, give this a try. Just make sure you bake it for 25-30 minutes and no longer – until it has just set on top. Experiments (read: having this more than once this week) have shown that it dries out pretty quickly if you leave it in the oven beyond about half an hour. This would be even more improved with lashing of cream, or some ice-cream or creme fraiche, none of which, sadly, have been in my kitchen this week. If you’re really organised (which I’m not) it might be a good idea to grease the mug first. Or you can do what I did and substitute greasing in advance for a good soaking after you’ve eaten the cake.

What to do:

First, turn the oven on to gas mark 6. Then put the following ingredients into a (hopefully) oven-proof mug: 1 egg; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence; 3 dessertspoons dark brown sugar; 2 dessertspoons cocoa powder; 2 dessertspoons self-raising flour; 3 dessertspoons milk; 1/2 dessertspoon of margarine or butter. Next, mix everything together thoroughly with a fork. And when you think you’ve finished beating it, beat it a bit more. Place the mug in the middle of the oven, close the door and come back about half an hour. Carefully (it will be hot) take the mug out of the oven, place it onto a plate (it will probably be too hot to hold), get a spoon and dig in.