crashandcarry: March 2011

I really really really wasn't going to make another cake in a mug so soon. I certainly didn't think I would be posting two blogs in a row about cake in a mug (for blog aesthetic purposes). As a matter of fact, I wish I had never even heard of it. This cake has been haunting me every waking hour and creeping into my dreams. Every time I have a spare 5 minutes or so, I find myself thinking "I could be making/eating a cake right now".

But since my Three Minute Miracle Rocky Road blog has been cruising around Tumblr at the speed of lightening, I thought it best to make sure microwaving a cake is as easy as I purported it to be... And created this Lemon Poppy recipe to test my claims.

Three Minute Lemon-Poppy Cake-in-a-Mug

4 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
pinch kosher salt
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
zest of 1 lemon

Stir well and microwave for 3 minutes, let cool for 1 minute, then tell everyone within earshot how totally awesome you are! I also added 1 tablespoon chia seeds to mine for optimum om nom nomness. I used skim milk for this one, and prefer to use canola oil, but use what you have handy! This is about "doing it on the fly". If you are going to obsess about proper ingredients (and proper measuring), you might as well bake a "real" cake.

Oh... The icing... It's a simple cream cheese icing...

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon cream cheese
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
pinch kosher salt (optional)
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

Microwave the pat of butter in a small microwaveable bowl (I used a soy sauce bowl) for 10 seconds until it softens but doesn't melt. Add the cream cheese and microwave for 5 seconds (it might pop and explode and gets really hot so be careful). Stir until these 2 ingredients together until completely incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, salt and lemon zest and stir until you have a lovely creamy glaze. You can leave out the lemon zest and add some vanilla seeds or a pinch of cinnamon... This glaze is highly customizable, as long as you have the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar. I like to add my glaze to the cake while it's still warm so it oozes down between the cake and the mug and soaks into the whole cake. Mmmmm.... Cake.

Must. Have.

Cake.