Carrot cake in a mug

Yeup, it is still hot in Chicago, and yeup, I’m still not turning on my oven.  I refuse.  It was 80 degrees inside my house yesterday.  I will begrudgingly make a birthday cake my for my boyfriend this weekend, but it might be an ice-cream cake.

I’ve seen mug cakes around for awhile (chocolate cake in a mug, brownies in a mug, etc.), so I thought I’d try it.  Also I’d already had dessert last night (a delicious peach melba from Mindy’s Hot Chocolate), but I wanted to make this so I just made it for my roommate.  Still had leftover cream cheese frosting in a can from the last time I made something with cream cheese frosting in a can (I suspect the raw carrot cake?).  So that made an appearance as well.

Mug cakes are pretty easy.  Gather up your ingredients:

Good-looking mug shot, or greatest-looking mug shot?

I like using banana in place of oil (also applesauce is good for this) and I like the flavor/moistness from banana.  So I mashed up the banana and beat the egg in the mug:

No magic here… afraid I’m just a Muggle.

Then grate up the carrot (I used two baby carrots) and throw that in:

Holy moly, these kinds of graters are so great

There’s no need to be smug, you know you’d make this too

Then add a bit of flour, sugar, spices, a pinch of baking soda, a bit of salt.  Add disproportionately lots of spices.

If you don’t want anyone to know you’re baking, a five-minute mug cake is a good way to smuggle in the habit

Then microwave for two minutes or until the sides pull away and it’s done (I did one minute, then another).

You either love it or hate it: it’s hard to be a mugwump when it comes to these cakes

I chucked it in the freezer for a few minutes, then cut it and frosted and decorated it.  Final result: more rubbery than regular cake, but still cake!  It tastes like it was made in a microwave, but also took very little time.  If you have an hour, just make a regular cake.  But this’ll do if you have five minutes.

Carrot cake in a mug, adapted from Cassey Ho’s Blogilates recipe:

1 egg

1/3 banana

2 baby carrots

2 TB flour

2-3 tsp sugar, depending on how you like it.  2 gives more of a muffin flavor

pinch baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg+cinnamon

splash vanilla

Mash the banana, then beat in the egg.  Add grated carrots, all the other stuff, and mix.  Microwave for 1.5-2 minutes (depends on your microwave).  Cool (I used a freezer).  Frost and eat!

Tags: cake, carrots, microwave, semi-homemade