Cake in a cup

I think I've said it before but I'll say it again: I'm against cupcakes.  They're too cutesy and trendy.

Today I perfected a recipe for a single-serve cake in a cup-- NOT a cupcake.  This was one of those microwave-in-a-mug cake recipes that are bountiful on the interweb, but it was the first time I made one that was satisfactory to me.  The ones I made in the past were too spongy, not well-baked or well-mixed.  I tweaked the recipe from Instructables.com to suit my taste and my microwave (1250W).

Ingredients:
The dry
scant 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
2.5 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder
The wet
3 tablespoons milk (any kind)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter(*preferrable)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional, but highly encouraged
one heaping tablespoon of chocolate chips, preferrably the small kind for mixing in pancake/waffle batter

Directions:
1. In a big microwave-safe mug, combine dry ingredients until homogenous
2. Push the ingredients to the bottom and the sides to form a well
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the well
4. Stir a few times to get it mostly combined
5. Add chocolate chips and stir a little more until everything looks combined--don't overmix!
6. Place mug in the microwave, set it to medium-high heat for 132 seconds.
7. Wait 15 seconds to let it cool down, then dig in straight from the mug! If you so desire, you can gently go around the edge with a spoon to coax the cake out and then turn it over on a plate and drizzle some chocolate syrup or accompany the cakelet with some vanilla ice cream.


This will never taste like an ordinary cake, made the conventional way in a conventional oven.  It will have a spongy texture.  But by adding a combination of brown and white sugars and not adding an egg, the cake has a fudgier taste and texture, and therefore is much more satisfying for me.

original Instructables recipe