Mugging for the Camera. . .

Say it's eight o'clock.  You feel like a snack and a movie, but there's nothing in the house and the snow is piling up outside to the point that the Empire coming to storm your base would only be a marginally good excuse for going out.  The answer?  Bake a cake!

No, not a cake, cake.  A mug cake.

Mug cakes are simple and easy to make in a short time with few ingredients.  The first mug cakes I learned to make were protein cakes when I first started Personal Training.  Some of those were rather dreadful, as protein powders don't always taste like they are supposed to.  If you stick to traditional ingredients, though, you can actually come up with a very palatable dessert without making a mess or missing the opening credits.  Here are a couple I've made when supplies were limited and the disk was already spooling up in the DVR-->

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE

You will need:

One mug, slightly greased

 One Tbsp. each of flour, cocoa powder, and brown sugar

 One egg

 Two Tbsp. Peanut Butter














1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder










Chocolate chips, cut up chocolate bar, or nuts.  Here, I'm actually
using vanilla chips.

Mix everything together until you get a consistent batter, then place it in the microwave.  Cooking times will vary, because of microwave power levels, so this is something you'll have to play with.  For me, 50 seconds seems to suffice.

During cooking, the cake will extend over the top of the mug.  Don't panic!  It will actually settle after the mic stops.  The cake will be exceptionally hot at this point, so it will take a bit to cool.  You can speed the cooling process by dumping the cake out onto a plate, but you can also eat it straight from the mug.  This recipe isn't the sweetest (think European chocolate), thanks to the peanut butter and cocoa powder, but you can add some confectioner's sugar if you'd like it a bit sweeter.

Another you can try is only a three-ingredient cake:

In a slightly greased mug, mix:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 or 2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 egg

Optional--Chocolate chips or candy bar fragments, etc

Beat everything until you have a smooth batter, then nuke it for approximately one minute. Don't forget to let it cool!  

And now, you're ready to tuck into some gooey cakey goodness and the movie of your choice!