A Steaming Cup of Hot Chocolate (Cake)

When a recipe for a chocolate cake in a cup appeared on the Nappy Addicts forum this morning with the easiest of ingredients and a promise to be ready in 3 minutes I knew I had to give it a go right then and there. In reality it took a few hours before I found time in my day for it but it was a fun experiment when I finally got to it.

I had the perfect cup! My oversized shabby chic cup that most people think is a soup mug. I had to take a close up of the print because I love it so much and anyone who knows me even a little will not be surprised by this at all.

Chocolate Cake in a Cup

4 tbs plain flour
4 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs cocoa
1 egg
3 tbs milk
2 tbs vanilla yogurt
1.5 tbs vegetable oil

Place all dry ingredients in the cup and mix well. Break in egg and mix well. Stir in milk, yogurt and oil. Mix well! Place in the microwave for 3 minutes (I added another minute onto this because it sank a lot when I opened the door after 3 minutes).

The original ingredients list called for three tablespoons of oil which I thought was a bit much so I modified the recipe slightly.

Here it is spinning in the microwave. I kept a close eye on it to make sure it didn't explode over the sides or crack my cup as I read that this had happened to someone else.

Just peaking over the top!

It did not rise past the point you see in the above photo but I am glad I used a large cup or it would have been much higher. When the microwave stopped it sunk back down past the rim.

Whilst I waited for the microwave to finish I decided to take a photo of the cookbook I currently have on display in my kitchen. I admire Bill Granger so much for being a self taught cook. That must take so much passion! His cookbooks are fantastic and always look good just sitting there. I feel I am a better cook just for having one around. Maybe I will pick up his talent by osmosis. Highly unlikely seeing as I'm here cooking cake in a cup.

Once the microwave had finished I turned the cup upside down on a plate and the cake came out very easily. I assumed it would because of the oil in the cake but I was still impressed seeing as I had not done anything to prepare the cup.

The finished product looked pretty good I must say. Not bad for 3 minutes work!

And the taste test? Well the resulting cake was extremely dense and not overly sweet which surprised me considering the 4 tablespoons of sugar that went into it. In the end I drizzled a little chocolate sauce over the top and it was a welcome addition. I ate the whole thing but was glad I had not eaten lunch before hand.

All in all this would definitely hit the spot if you were in a 'must have chocolate cake NOW' kind of mood but I've made and had MUCH better chocolate cakes in my time. It would be an interesting challenge to get it tasting better though. I might have to make 1 or 20 more before I perfect the recipe. It's a hard job but I will never be Bill if I don't commit 100%. Back to the test kitchen!