...with no eggs.

We (my most-awesome girlfriend & I) have been on a bit of a kick with these mug cake things.  These are little individual-sized cakes that you mix in a coffee mug and toss in the microwave for a minute or two. As long as you don't over do the nuking process, you get a decent little mug of cake...nice and moist.  It lacks the browning of a traditional, oven-baked cake but the speed and convenience (and overall tastiness) more than makes up for that.

Most recipes we've found call for an egg in some amount.  This is what makes the cakes...cake-ier. Well, last night we were getting ready to have our evening coffee and realized we had no dessert to go with our coffee.  So a mug cake sounded like the perfect solution.  The only problem was the one, lone egg in the fridge expired 8 MONTHS AGO(!).  So I looked up on the intertubes a recipe for a vegan mug cake (for those not familiar with vegans...eggs are a no-no (so are lots of other really tasty things)).

Here (for my records, as well as for anyone interested) is my version of the recipe for a chocolate mug cake.  My version isn't strictly vegan, so I can not speak to how tasty (or not) it would be as a vegan cake. You wacky* vegans will easily know what and with what to replace to make it suitable for you.

Chocolate mug cake

2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp hot cocoa mix (or 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa powder)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp milk

Mix all the ingredients together...if you want to be all proper about it, mix the dry ingredients first, then add the wet...mix it in a bowl or directly in the mug...or anywhere, anyhow you want.

Nuke it for about a minute...if you didn't already know, not all microwave ovens were created equal...some are really powerful and some are not, so adjust the cooking time accordingly. I'm guessing the oven I used was about 800watts.  You can always add a few more seconds if it's not quite done, but once it's charred...there's no going back.

It will not rise much at all, so feel free to put it in a tiny little mug or use the leftover space in a regular mug to add ice cream or cool whip or whatever, or nothing.  It will be a a lot like a fudge-y brownie (unless you overcooked it...then it will be more hockey puck-ish)

If you still have one, use your imagination...add stuff like chocolate chips, nuts (yuck!), or other things to the mix...experiment w/ different hot cocoa mixes...try some of those instant cappucino, mocha, latte mix things instead of the hot cocoa mix.

Oh, and if you have eggs, you can mix one (or half of one) into the wet ingredients and your cake will magically rise and be more cake-like...if you do add egg, cut back on the milk and oil...probably by at least half...more if it's a big egg.

Even if you screw up, it will still probably be edible and most likely tasty.  Unless you turn it into a briquette.

*I kid. I mean, I do think vegans are wacky...but in the friendly kind of way. Don't lecture me on my food choices and I won't mock you (much) on yours. Can't we all just get along?