Microwave Mug Cakes II: Making Cooking and Cleanup Easy

If you’ve tried the recipes in my previous post then maybe you’re starting to really get into eating mug cakes. It’s so addicting- every day can be a new flavor! I even started making the batter the night before for a super-fast morning routine.

However, you’ve probably also noticed that your mug-cake-mugs can be a real beast to clean. Even when I fill the mug with water right after eating, it never comes completely clean in the dishwasher, and has to be washed by hand.

Enter: parchment paper. While some parchment in the past was made with harmful chemicals, good modern brands are coated with silicone and made from paper that is minimally bleached without toxic chemicals.  In any recipe where I used to line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, I have essentially switched to parchment, since it is less resource-intensive to produce and doesn’t have the questionable health effects of aluminum.

For mug cakes, I have discovered parchment paper muffin cups! I found these at Andronico’s, but according to the manufacturer’s website they’re also available at Whole Foods, Wegman’s, etc.  The Extra Large size holds one mug cake exactly.  In addition to improving cleanup, they make the mug cakes look really professional and fancy.  The paper is so nonstick that it pulls away from the cake as soon as you move it:

If you just have a roll of parchment paper on hand, try this trick from Martha- but you might need larger than 5 inch squares for your mug.  This is another good brand of parchment that I’ve found in roll form at local health food stores.

Lastly, for maximum portability, using a parchment liner, cook your mug cake in a small tupperware (about 3-4 inch diameter), and then just pop the lid on and go!  In the full photo from my header, notice the sliced almond topping (makes it look extra tasty) and tupperware:

 

Yum!

 

 

Microwave Mug Cakes I: The Master Recipe

With all my free time, I’ve been cooking lately, and it makes sense that I might want to share my discoveries on a blog.  But what really motivated me was a desire to share one particular recipe: the low-carb, often paleo, microwave mug cake.

This is the recipe that started everything. But while I cannot take credit for the original idea, I think it’s fair to say I’ve picked up the baton and run with it.

Generic Mug Cake Recipe:

• 1 egg
• 1.5 tablespoons almond butter (24 grams)
• Appropriate flavor ingredients (see below).  In general, this involves 1/3 cup fruit or yogurt (85 grams if you have a kitchen scale), +/- sweetener and spices.  I use liquid sucralose as sweetener (which can be bought on Amazon), but sugar, stevia, etc should all be fine.

Directions: mix ingredients together with fork until a smooth batter forms.   Pour into microwave-safe mug or small bowl and microwave on high 2-2.5 minutes until fluffy and cooked through. (A future post will address how to optimize the cooking process.)

Below are the relevant flavor ingredients- choose your recipe, add to the egg and almond butter and enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread:

• 1 small banana
• Handful of walnut pieces, mixed in or sprinkled on top before cooking

Blueberry Muffin:

• 1/4 cup (60 g) plain greek yogurt
• Splash of vanilla extract
• 2 tsp sweetener (sugar, splenda, etc)
• Handful of frozen blueberries, stirred in after the batter is mixed.  By adding them still frozen, they won’t turn the batter purple.
• Optional: top with sliced almonds before cooking

Carrot Cake (this made my DH’s night):

• 1/3 cup (85 g) carrot baby food- make sure the only ingredients are carrots and water.
• 2 tsp sweetener
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 pinches nutmeg
• Splash of vanilla
• Handful of walnut pieces mixed into batter or sprinkled on top before cooking.  Would be good with shredded coconut or shredded carrots, too.

Persimmon Bread:

• Pulp from about 1 ripe Hachiya persimmon. (These are the persimmons that are slightly pointy on the bottom (vs the wider, flat bottomed Fuyu’s). Hachiya persimmons are not completely ripe until they feel soft like small water balloons.  Squeeze out the pulp and try to exclude the skin, which is tannic.)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Tiny pinch of nutmeg
• Walnuts per your preference

Stay tuned for additional recipes in development, and let me know if there are requests!