A French Food Fad for 2015 – Mug Cakes

I don’t think Mug Cakes are new. I’ve found blog posts dating back five years with oodles of recipes for them but they seem to have taken Paris by a chocolate brown cocoa powder storm this year. Everywhere I looked little cookbooks were devoted to them. At Le Grand Epicerie de Paris you could even buy a mug fully loaded with the ingredients for the mere price (I jest) of 13.50 Euros.

This post has a recipe I developed for a deliciously ooey-gooey Chocolat-ey Chocolate Mug Cake. It’s easy and fun and ANYONE can make it. I hope you will. Let me know how it turns out for you.

I thought it would be nice to share a salted caramel mug cake with you but that did not go so well. In the first attempt, the caramel melted into nothingness. In the second effort, with very expensive salted caramels, they burned and stuck to the bottom of their ramekin.

I decided to go for a three strikes you’re out – do or die – death by chocolate approach and scored another life as a cook with this recipe that worked like a charm. I hope you enjoy it. My family gave it two spoons up.

Chocolat-ey Chocolate Mug Cake
Yield: 1 mug cake or 2 ramekin cakes
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg – beaten
3 Tablespoons skim milk
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons chocolate chips
Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl till smooth then add the chocolate chips.
Pour all the mixture into a regular sized coffee mug and microwave on high for 90 seconds.
OR
Divide the mixture into 2 ramekins and microwave on high for 60 seconds.
Enjoy with ice cream or whip cream on top and a bit of fresh seasonal fruit.
Variation – Stop the microwave at one minute, drop a few salted caramels into the centre of the cake and continue cooking for the last 30 seconds.