The Thousands

There is a mythical creature in the land of baked goods. It’s the not-hard-to-follow, not-time-consuming, and delicious cake. Thanks to Vexta, it seems to have been found, and get this – you don’t even need an oven. ‘Baking without an oven?’ you say. ‘Shut up.’ No, totally. It’s a single serve chocolate cake that’s ready in five minutes. Got any other problems? That’s what I thought.

We got together with Michael Pham who decided to test kitchen the mug cake for us here at TwoThousand and give us a little insight on baking. Or nonbaking. Or maybe… nu-baking.

Patrick Collins: So, cake…in a mug…made in the microwave, it really sounds unappetising. Give me the benefits as to why anyone would want to try this in the first place.
Michael Pham: It’s just so convenient to have a wholesome cake at your fingertips whenever you like – without having to clean up much!

PC: Is it delicious? And on what scale? I mean is it more like a little Hostess cake thing or is it like a small bit of a big, nice homemade cake?
MP: Surprisingly, it is tastier than you’d imagine – not dry and chewy, but fluffy and warm – like all good things in life! I’d give it a 7 out of 10. It’s in-between the ding dong and homemade cake categories. I’d imagine that if you were entertaining friends it might be quite fun and rather a novelty.

PC: Why is there no icing?
MP: Because you eat the cake hot! Don’t you know anything about icing? In order to properly ice cake, you have to wait til it cools properly, and let the icing set – kinda not the point of a tasty, express microwave mug cake. Although, if you’re after that icing sugar hit, I’d recommend dusting it with icing sugar.

PC: Is this more of a single serve cake or a lonely produced cupcake? What about a ‘mugcake’? Or maybe a blending of the two?
MP: It’s definitely a single serve cake – it’s not as fluffy and airy as a cupcake.

**PC: Did you screw it up at all, or was it perfect from the start?
MP: It was faultless the first attempt and has an easy to follow recipe. Although the recipe is for a rather large mug, I made two!

PC: Any thing else that is interesting you would like to add?
MP: It goes well served with a bit of mint on the side as a garnish and ice cream – and also would be super tasty if I had added the optional chocolate chips!

THE 5-MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE by Vexta

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
1 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 (high). 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.

EAT! (this can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!