A Better Mug Cake, Take 2 (As in, better than the Better Mug Cake!)

I know it's been a while. Things have been crazy, but they are finally calming down.

Here's a quick run down of what I've been up to in the past two weeks:

• Successfully finished my first year of graduate school.
• Completed my first internship for the program.
• Started a cool second internship for the summer with a trade magazine.
• Attended "opening night" for the 2012 drum corps season!
• Ran in the Run for Your Lives 5K in Indiana...I didn't make it out "alive," but I had a blast doing it!
• Bought new running shoes (in anticipation of the awful things that would happen to the old ones at RFY).
  
• Got my first "big girl" job--still working out the details, but I'll update on that a little bit later... =)

Anyway, all of this busy-ness has meant less time than usual for cooking. I've been making some tasty summer salads to take to work for lunch, and I'll be posting some recipes for those later.

But, salads? Surely that's not why you're here, looking at this post...

No, you're here because you've seen my claim for a better, better mug cake. I'm not exaggerating, either. This cake is faster and simpler, with fewer ingredients, and completely amazing. And fewer calories than the original!

The great thing about this mug cake (aside from all of the above benefits) is this: it makes a tasty, delicious chocolatey sauce at the bottom of your mug. And the more milk you add, the more sauce you get! (Although I suspect you would eventually hit the law of diminishing returns with that one...but I haven't yet.) It reminds me of the pudding cakes my friends and I would make at sleepovers back in high school: dense, chocolatey cake with a rich sauce underneath to spoon on top, that we'd eat straight from the pan at some point after midnight. I'm pretty sure that cake came from a box, but this one certainly doesn't have to!

Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me figure out where I found this recipe. (I'm usually very good about these things...but the site never made it to my bookmarks!) So, I'm not trying to plagiarize, and if you know where the recipe came from, please tell me so I can link to it. And leave a raving review.

Saucy Chocolate Mug Cake (Or, the Best Mug Cake Ever)
Serves one

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp skim milk (or a little more...) 
• Toppings and/or mix-ins

Some of the usual suspects...

Steps

1.  Combine the dry ingredients in a microwave-safe mug with a fork.

Mix it up!

2.  Add the vanilla and milk. Stir to combine. Add a spoonful of chocolate chips or other mix-in if desired.

What's a well-loved recipe without a little spill on it?

3.  Microwave on high for 45 seconds. Check the cake--it should be mostly dry on top, but you should be able to sort of tilt it back and forth by pressing gently near the rim of the mug. That's a good sign that your sauce is alive and well down at the bottom. Microwave for 10-15 seconds longer if necessary.

An 8-oz mug works fine, as long as your heart can can handle
the pop-up effect. If you're afraid of overflow, use a bigger mug.

4.  Top with Nutella, peanut butter, or whatever. Or just dig in! Enjoy!

Before topping--I realized I never got a good picture of the
"saucy" part--but trust me, it's down there on the bottom!!

4.  Top and enjoy!

Topped with Trader Joe's Almond Cocoa Spread
and a few chocolate chips.

Very good! And around 200 calories, depending on how much milk you add, and your mix-ins and toppings. Enjoy.

A Better Mug Cake

Friday's pudding post has had me thinking about dessert, so I thought I'd share another dessert recipe with you while we're on the subject.

If you've been anywhere near Pinterest, StumbleUpon, or any of the hundreds of cooking blogs out there on the internet lately, chances are you've encountered the mug cake. As fads go, this is one of the ones that you either love with all your heart, or you hate.

Taking a cue from the multitude of recipes and comments I've read, there seem to be two main problems with the standard mug cake: too eggy, or too oily. Most recipes use a whole egg for one little mug cake, so I can see how that would be overpowering. Oil adds richness to the cake, but too much is not a good thing.

After experimenting quite a bit with the mug cake and the mug brownie, I think I've created a pretty good recipe. Maybe not the best, but, as the title claims, at least a better recipe than the standard one floating around.

My first attempt was based on a mug brownie recipe that left out the egg altogether, thereby solving one problem, and I further decided to eliminate the oil by replacing it with plain nonfat yogurt. The results were edible, but the cake was gummy and a little too tangy for my taste.

For my second attempt, I surmised that a completely nonfat mug brownie probably wasn't ever going to taste that great. So I used just a tablespoon of oil in the batter, and it was better but still suffered from the gumminess problem many people have experienced with these cakes. It really needed a little bit of "lift" to improve the texture.

The recipe that I'm giving you here is the third variation, no eggs and no oil involved. I used just a pinch of baking soda to make it lighter and fluffier without egg. I also swapped out the oil for something better...peanut butter! The (odd? weird? interesting?) thing about this cake is that you don't really taste the peanut butter, but it adds that element of fat that you need to keep it tasting like cake. Sometimes I play it up by adding a dollop of peanut butter on top.

Chocolate Mug Cake
Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• Dash vanilla
• 4 tbsp flour (sometimes I sub instant oats for one or two tablespoons--the texture takes some getting used to, though)
• Pinch of baking soda (really, just a pinch will do!)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3-4 tbsp skim milk
• Toppings (optional)

Steps

1.  Start by adding the peanut butter and vanilla to a 12-oz microwavable mug. Microwave on high for about 30 seconds until the peanut butter is melted.

Add the peanut butter...

...and get it nice and melty.

2.  Add the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and cocoa powder to the mug.

Dry ingredients next.

3.  Add 2 tbsp of milk and stir with a fork to combine, being sure to scrap the sides and bottom of the mug. Add more milk as needed until the mixture looks like cake batter.

Now is the time to indulge your cake batter
fantasies, without risk of salmonella.

4.  Place the mug in the microwave and cook on high for one minute. I always use a 12-ounce mug just in case, but this cake doesn't rise nearly as much as the ones that use egg in them.

Check the cake and continue to cook in 15-second intervals as needed, being careful not to overcook. Mine are usually done after a minute, although there's usually a small uncooked spot on the very top in the center. But since there's no egg in the batter, I don't worry about it!

Mug cakes are not the most photogenic food.

5.  Top the cake with a dollop of peanut butter or Nutella, sliced fruit, or whatever you like.

An attempted close-up of the texture.

My honest opinion: cake made in the microwave will never live up to "real" cake baked in the oven. That said, if you are going to make cake in the microwave, you don't have to settle for a gummy blob. Read recipes and comments, experiment, and see what happens.

So, what do you think? Have you tried mug cake? Do you have an even better recipe?

Chocolate Pudding for One

One of the challenges of cooking for one is dealing with my favorite meal of the day: dessert.

I only really bake brownies or cookies when I've got someone to give them to (students and housemates are great for this, most of the time). Muffins and other baked goods only get made when I can claim some space and stash a few in the freezer.

That means that the solo dessert-eater is a bit limited in choices, especially if you don't live with other people who are willing to eat the rest of that two-tiered chocolate cake for you.

The mug cake/mug brownie craze is one option, and I'd have to say it's a pretty good one. Some other choices are ice cream and hot chocolate, also good. But sometimes I get sick of them, and sometimes I just want something different. When that happens, I turn to this recipe: chocolate pudding.

Mmmmm.. warm, homemade pudding.

I know what you're thinking: isn't that what they make pudding cups for? Yes, probably, but I never seem to think that far ahead when I grocery shop, plus who knows if I'll feel like pudding that week or not. Personally, I find it easier to just keep a lot of basic ingredients on hand, so that I can make whatever appeals to me when I want it.

This recipe actually derives from a hot cocoa recipe on the Eating Well site. I found it when I was in a hot chocolate mood, and the short list of ingredients appealed to me. As I read through the comments, I was intrigued by one reviewer's observation that simply adding more cornstarch to the recipe resulted in something more pudding-like. I took the idea and ran with it.

The recipe you see below makes enough pudding for one chocoholic, or probably two regular people. The full serving is about 170 calories if you use skim milk. (I haven't tried it with nondairy or any other type of milk.) If you want to make hot cocoa instead, reduce the amount of cornstarch to about 1 1/2 teaspoons. Or, if you get tired of waiting for your pudding to thicken I suppose you could just drink it instead.

Chocolate Pudding
Serves one, but is enough to share!

Only four basic ingredients! And you probably have them!

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Dash of vanilla, optional
Dash of salt, optional

Steps

1.  Heat milk in a saucepan over the lowest heat setting.

I've found that this funny looking flat spoon is the best
stirring utensil for this. You can use a whisk in the beginning,
but switch to a spoon for the best pan-scraping ability.

2.  Stir in sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa. Add a dash of vanilla and/or a pinch of salt, if desired. Whisk or stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined.

It looks messy at first.

But it will come together!

3.  Heat, stirring frequently. Scrap the sides and bottom of the pan with the spoon often.

If you're bored at this point, you could probably just stop
and have hot chocolate.

4.  The mixture will eventually begin to thicken. When it comes to a simmer (slow bubbles every few seconds), stir constantly.

Look for the slow bubbles.

5.  Cook and stir until the mixture reaches a thin pudding consistency. (It will thicken some as it stands.) Pour into a bowl or container.

At this point, if you've planned ahead, you can refrigerate your pudding to eat later. Press a piece of plastic wrap into the pudding surface if you want to avoid the pudding skin, or just cover it loosely if you happen to like the skin.

I, however, seldom realize that I want pudding until I really want it right then. So I just pour it into a bowl and let it cool a bit while I wash the dishes, and then eat it while it's still warm.

Top it with strawberries or banana slices!

Oatmeal Four Ways

Can you tell it's finals week?


If you haven't inferred it from the lack of blog posts, suffice it to say that I've been busy. Grading, researching, writing papers, editing and proofreading, analyzing, rewriting...I've been doing a little bit of everything for the past couple of weeks, and I'm ready for it all to end in the next week or so.

Don't let the lack of posts and recipes fool you into thinking that I've stopped eating, though! I certainly haven't, although I've been nomming more pre-packaged foods (thanks, Trader Joe's) than usual, and making quicker meals when I do cook from scratch.

Which brings us to the topic of this post: oatmeal. Quick, easy, cheap, and delicious.

I love oatmeal. I really do. I have fond childhood memories of the Quaker Oats instant packets, particularly the kind with the dinosaur eggs (remember those??), but also equally fond memories of my parents whipping up a pot of the plain stuff to top with raisins and brown sugar on cold Sunday mornings. While I've "graduated" from the super-sweet instant packets and I still love the raisin and brown sugar combination, I've also come up with a handful of my own variations, some of which I'm sharing with you below (with possibly more to come).

A word about oats and cooking methods: I know the steel-cut stuff is all the rage right now, but I prefer the texture of the quick-cooking oats. You can use whatever you like for these recipes (they're more about mix-ins than technique), but you'll need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

As far as technique, I probably use the stove-top and microwave methods about equally, and I have preferred cooking methods for most of my oatmeal variations. The stove-top gives you a firmer texture, whereas the microwave tends to be creamier because everything cooks together. You can also get the creamy texture on the stove if you add the oats when the water is hot, but not yet boiling. If you do use the microwave, NEVER leave it unattended; the oatmeal will expand to fill whatever bowl you have it in, and from there it can overflow.

I also make a slightly smaller serving size than standard:

Basic Oatmeal Ingredients

3/8 cup oats
3/4 cup water (or milk)

Mix-ins (see variations below)


#1: Banana Oatmeal


This variation is great for using up bananas that are past their prime!

Banana oatmeal with a touch of milk.

Add-Ins

Ripe banana (whole or half)
Dash of cinnamon
Nuts (optional)

Steps


1.  Peel a ripe banana, break it into pieces, and place in a bowl (I just use the one I'm going to eat from). Add the cinnamon and mash it with a fork. (You could also slice it, but mashing is faster.)

2.  The best method for this one is the microwave. Add the oats and water to the banana and microwave on high about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2b.  If you want to make it on the stove, add the banana to an empty saucepan on low heat and cook and stir it for about a minute. Then, add the water and oats. I've found that if you add everything together the banana ends up being oddly starchy; the extra cooking step fixes that.

3.  Top with a spoonful of walnuts or a splash of milk, if desired.


#2: Chocolate-Banana Oatmeal

This variation plays off the sweetness of the banana instead of adding extra sugar. It's still possibly more of a dessert than breakfast!

Chocolate-banana oatmeal.

Add-Ins

Ripe banana (whole or half)
Heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder

Steps

1.  Peel the banana and mash in a bowl with the cocoa powder.

2.  Follow the steps for cooking Banana Oatmeal above.

#3: Pomegranate Oatmeal

Pomegranates are in season in the winter, so they're a great way to liven up your oatmeal on a cold morning.

Pomegranate oatmeal.

Add-Ins

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp pomegranate seeds

Steps

1. On the stove, heat the water and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it boils (or sooner, for creamier oatmeal), add the oats. Cook and stir.

2.  When the oats are just about done, turn off the burner and add the pomegranate seeds (you just want to warm them, not cook them). Mix them in until they are distributed throughout the oatmeal. Top with additional seeds if desired.

2b.  To make in the microwave, combine water, vanilla, and oats in a bowl. Microwave on high for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it's cooked, add pomegranate seeds to the hot oatmeal.

#4: Savory Oatmeal with Spinach and Egg

An interesting departure from the usual sweet varieties. Honestly, this is my least favorite of the bunch, but I've been seeing savory oatmeal all over cooking blogs so I had to try it.

An Asian-inspired savory oatmeal variation.

Add-Ins/Extras

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup baby spinach
1 egg
Soy sauce

Steps

1.  Add the water to a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

2.  While you're waiting for the water to boil, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic for about a minute. Add the egg to one side of the pan (most people cook it sunny-side up or or over-easy so that you end up with a runny yolk to mix into the oatmeal). When the egg is about two minutes away from being done, add the spinach to the other side of the pan (keep them separate) and wilt it. Remove the pan from the heat.

3.  Add the oats to the saucepan. Cook and stir until done.

4. To serve, add the oatmeal to a serving bowl. Stir in the spinach. Top with the egg and a drizzle of soy sauce.