Let Them Eat Cake!

My friend, Sherry, sends the coolest emails.

This morning she sent a recipe titled The Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake Recipe in the World. Wow. The recipe seemed simple, too simple, to be "dangerous." And I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake. But this little miracle cake was all I could think about all day. Finally, at seven tonight, Mags and I had a minute to try it out.

Here's the recipe:

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour (that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
Small splash of vanilla
Nuts (optional)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT -- this can serve 2 if you want to share!

We mixed well, mixed thoroughly, and mixed well again and popped the cup into the microwave.

T-minus three minutes and counting.

At 2 minutes 20 seconds, all was well. At 1 minute 55 seconds, cupcakezilla started to rise from its cup. At 1 minute 20 seconds, cupcakezilla towered above its cup. I reread the part of the recipe that says "Don't be alarmed!"

"Mom," said Mag, "I guess that's why the recipe said don't use self-rising flour.

I didn't tell her that I wasn't sure that I hadn't.

A few seconds later, after reading the don't be alarmed part a third time, I had flashes of cleaning exploded, burnt-on cake from the microwave.

I resisted the urge to hit the stop button.

With 30 seconds left, cupcakezilla began to slouch back down into its cup. At 8 seconds left, the excitement seemed to be over. Mag and I looked at each other, open mouthed. Had it really worked?

Wow. Yes.

I didn't even put cooking spray in the cup (I think I'll try it next time) and it slid out nicely onto a plate with minimal stickage.

I was impressed. It actually tasted good. With a little milk, it was downright yummy!

And why, as the recipe suggested, was it the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? It was explained at the bottom of the page: Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!