I've been really into mug cakes lately. They're easy to make, and I end up with just the right amount of warm dessert for myself. I really like Budget Byte's Cinnamon Nut Swirl Mug Cake (minus the nuts).
But man, for a "microwave cake", it's actually kind of complicated. I'm pretty sure I use every size measuring spoon I own plus an extra bowl, mix three sets of things, and use the microwave many times. So yeah, I needed to cut some of this out.
Budget Bytes has a few other mug cake recipes, and I wanted to try them out. I saw her post this Funfetti Mug Cake earlier this year, and I saved it for the next time I had milk I needed to use up. This was a lot easier. Like, I finished making it and I thought, "wow that was easy".
The taste? It was okay. It felt like something was missing though.
And then I realized that she doesn't put any salt in this recipe. How can you make a cake with no salt?! I made the recipe again a day later with a pinch of salt. Not the best, still not even close to the taste of that cinnamon mug cake, but better.
Okay, so I also made some hot chocolate a few days later, and I realized my cocoa powder expired over two years ago. It still seems fine, but I guess I should try and use it all up. I remembered that Budget Bytes has a chocolate mug cake recipe. I made this once while my sister had been staying with me and I remember feeling that it was pretty...average.
But I still need to use up this milk, and I also need to use up this cocoa powder, so I made that chocolate mug cake again. And this? This was even easier. This one doesn't have butter, so I didn't have to even use the microwave twice or grab a bowl. I also didn't bother with the dollop of peanut butter in the middle.
The taste was still pretty average though, and it definitely wasn't sweet enough. Maybe I've grown too much of a sweet tooth lately, but two teaspoons of sugar just did not feel like enough. So I decided to remake this again, but use a whole tablespoon of sugar. Definitely helped.
And that had that extra benefit of getting rid of a need for a measuring teaspoon. So this is so easy now. One mug, one 1/4 tsp spoon, one tbsp spoon. Use the 1/4 tsp spoon to mix everything. One minute in the microwave. That's it. I could make one of these every day.
Still, those two easier mug cakes don't beat the taste of the cinnamon swirl mug cake. Maybe I can tweak that one...