Microwave cake, guys.

Okay... so in the midst of studying for finals, I was really craving some chocolate cake. Any cake really, I just had a sweet tooth is all. I felt like I had most of the ingredients necessary to make a cake from scratch, ...just no means of a real oven. Balls.

BUT OH WAIT. Lightbulb. They call them microwave OVENS for a reason, riiiight?? Right.

And here we are, surfing hand-in-hand with le'Google. BAM. Microwave cake recipes...

apparently I wasn't the only one who considered it. Anyway, I took a midnight break and decided to experiment despite the negative "bitter" and "tough" comments people left about the idea in general.

The original recipe called for...

4 tbsp. all purpose flour

4 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

1 egg

3 tbsp. milk

3 tbsp. oil

1 large mug :D

Combine ingredients in large mug and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Let it sit in the microwave for an additional 2 minutes, then remove and enjoy.

And the results...

The texture was a little stiff and was more bread like. It wasn't bitter because I tasted the batter first and it was indeed bitter (my guess is the cocoa powder ratio) and so I added 2 tsp. of vanilla extract. Tasted so much better. But I was still unhappy with its stiffness, if I wanted chocolate bread...this would be the ultimate recipe. So I decided to try again and edit the recipe.

My tweaked recipe (so far)...

4 tbsp. all purpose flour

4 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
1 egg

3 tbsp. milk

3 tbsp. oil

2tbsp. apple butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

*reduce cooking time by 30sec to 1min.

And the results...

It definitely tasted better and was a lot more moist. I think I'm not done experimenting until I find a texture that I like the most and a flavor I like. This kind of came out a little too sweet for my taste, I think I'll reduce the sugar if I'm going to add something like apple butter. I kind of want to try a light lemon version.

Today's lesson: when you're broke, don't own an oven and you're too much of a penny pincher like myself to by a table top convection oven... nothing is ever impossible! Yay for microwaves lol.