Mini Cup Cakes – Made In A Cup
When I was a kid, my mother called me The Mad Scientist. It wasn’t that I was an ace in science, but more that I liked to mix stuff in tiny cups — and leave them scattered around the house.
So when I stumbled on a recipe on the Prudent Baby blog (prudentbaby.com) for a coffee cake in a coffee cup, I was hooked. The ingredients were insanely tiny (1/2 an egg! drops of vanilla!) and the results could be tasted in minutes because the cooking was done in the microwave. The instant gratification meant that weekday breakfasts could include a warm, adorable coffeecake for one grateful child. In short, it was kind of brilliant.
Turns out the coffee cake post was Prudent Baby’s top post of 2011 (thanks to links to it by, among others, an online group for pot smokers who were psyched about a 5-minute cure for the munchies). Co-founder Jaime Morrison Curtis, who came up with the cinnamon-flavored cake as an alternative to chocolate cake-in-a-cup recipes, recognized its appeal right away.
“Tiny things are awesome,” she says. “I did have to mess around with it a bit … but that’s the fun part of making recipes.”
It was so much fun, it made me wonder what else I could cook in a coffee cup. Here’s what I discovered:
Though the microwave is a blunt cooking instrument, it works well with small portions of anything that aims for a soufflelike consistency. Think English steamed puddings, lava cakes, bread puddings, omelets — and don’t overcook.
Compensate for the lack of browning by using dark brown sugar, or covering the tops of your creations with garnishes such as crumb topping or cheese.
Once you’ve figured out basic proportions and cooking times (which will vary depending on your cup size and your microwave), start raiding your fridge for ingredients that suggest variations on your themes.
Because the quantities are so small (though you can also double recipes and split them between two cups), you can experiment as much as you like without fretting over wasted ingredients. Once you start, you might discover that you’re a mad scientist too.
Recipe notes: Use a microwaveable cup, and consider placing it on a plate to catch possible overflow. We found that a 12-ounce cup worked best for these recipes. You may need to adjust cooking times depending on the strength of your microwave oven. The cup and mixture will be very hot. Allow to cool a bit before eating. Each recipe makes 1 serving.
Coffee cup coffeecake
Crumb topping:
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch salt, optional
Cake:
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
And if you’d like to try chocolate cake in a cup , try this recipe:
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)
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 extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1,000 watts.
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.
Then EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.)
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