The Chocolate Chocolate Mug Cake

 

I've never exactly been a fan of mug cakes, truth be told.  The 1 minute mug cake or the 2 minute or easy or what-have-you.  Honestly, IMO, they're just not good.  They don't taste like chocolate and they "bake" up in the microwave into mush.

Or taste like burnt oil.  Or just never "bake" all the way despite running it longer and longer.  Or some other issue that makes for a wholly disappointing experience.

Well guess what.  I've fixed all that and I bring to you The Chocolate Chocolate Mug Cake.  heh.  Yes, The.

See, because one night at like ten p.m. I needed some kind of chocolate cake, last minute, and out of desperation convenience, tried a recipe I found online that sounded like the solution. 

Holy cats and dogs, disillusionment reinforced.  And it didn't even scratch the chocolate itch either which made it worse.

So I tried another one another day because I was annoyed.  Same result.  I just couldn't with the whole genre anymore.  But I still required to have last-minute chocolate cake whenever the need arose.

Because, see, things have changed.  Quite a bit, in fact.  So, for quite a few reasons, as you now know from that link, baking unfortunately took a back seat.  Sadly.  For you and for me.

That doesn't mean I went completely bake-free, that's incomprehensible. 

I, truth be told, was baking things from my own blog for myself.  Like the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.  Or the Cakey Brownie Sheet Cake.  Too, the Sicilian Style Pizza, heck yeah.  Or for the boy in my life.  Which ya know, I already shared these with you, so I couldn't share them again.  That'd be silly.

Ultimately, this became a sort of research quest for not only me but for you, because as I said, most mug cake recipes suck and we all want a good one in our back pockets.
 

I know, I keep showing you the final texture because it really is fluffy like cake.

You're likely not interested in the in's and out's and process of figuring this out and that's completely fine.  I wasn't necessarily either. 

I just wanted a single-serve mug cake that didn't explode in the microwave, that was easy to make with ingredients on hand, no egg, that comes out actually fluffy like the texture of real cake, and tastes like chocolate. 

And for it to work, waves hand.

You'd be surprised how tall of an order that is, how many icky versions I had to endure, but today:  solved.

Forsake all others, trust my offering to you because I was never a mug cake fan and now I am.  Of this one.

Ok.

Very easy.

And if you need to make substitutions for something like buttermilk, you can as I tried whole milk, oat milk, and almond milk.  They all work.  The difference in texture is slight, it does exist, but if you have buttermilk, use that and then use it up with other recipes I've shared with you.

So first?  The mug.  That's key.  Here are my pointers:  microwave-safe* of course, average regular mug size as the batter rises inside and can overflow.  No oversize mug, no short ones, no wide ones, just the typical mug.

In fact.  Get your mugs from Jen (my Flaky Bakers cohort) and her Perfect Mug Pottery studio.  Yes.  Do that.

The mug you see in these photos?, don't do that.  I only used that squat one so you could see what was going on inside it.

Chocolate chips?  Use whatever you'd like.  Milk, semi-sweet, dark, white, chips, chunks, mini, chopped, it all works.  A bit over a tablespoon?  No worries.

As for microwaves?  They do vary so your time may deviate a bit from mine, trial and error, boo hoo to have to keep testing, but the timing in the recipe has worked for me across two different microwave brands and ages.

A very important pointer:  do not skip the three minute rest at the end.  Don't think aw it'll be fine and dive in.  No.  Don't.  The rest is key to the right fluffy-cake texture.  I would not make you do it if it wasn't necessary.

Ready?  Ok, let's make The Chocolate Chocolate Mug Cake.

So just melt the butter in your mug to start.

Then stir in the brown sugar and vanilla.  Or literally just toss everything in and mix it up after melting the butter but I like to get the sugar dissolving first.

And then yes, throw all the ingredients in, doesn't matter what order, just make sure you've got them all, and I find a fork works best to stir everything together.

Try to avoid overmixing but be gentle and go until you no longer see any flour.

Pop that sucker in the microwave uncovered and run on high for forty seconds.  Count out twenty seconds or set a timer, whichever is easiest.

Here's where the timing variation may apply.  For me, twenty additional seconds on high hits the sweet spot but it can be anywhere between fifteen to twenty.  

What you'll see is it might look slighly underdone, maybe slightly wet-appearing on the sides, but the center will be set, soft, spongy-looking.  It's done.  Do your best to trust the process and skip running it for longer unless you find it really needs a couple seconds more.

Only decide this after eating it though, not by sight, because it is easy to overcook this and no one wants that.

Yes I know, I apologize profusely for not getting clear photos of the finished top as that'd be really helpful.  It overflowed in this mug and I got distracted by having to clean that all up.

Then let the cake rest in the microwave for three minutes.  

What you end up with is a yeah, it's still a mug cake, but at least it's got a cake texture to it and it definitely scratches that chocolate itch.  And it's actually really good.

You can kind of see the finished top here.

So there we have it, The Chocolate Chocolate Mug Cake.  Happy midnight cake needs met to you.

*The mugs and microwaves are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.