Because. Cake.

I’m not one of those trendy food bloggers who thinks everyone has time to hear them wax poetic about their culinary skills and the merits of a recipe that will save civilization before getting down to business, so here you go.

SINGLE SERVING CHOCOLATE CAKE 1/2 C. flour 2 T. granulated sugar 2 T. cocoa 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/8 tsp. salt 1/4 C. plus 1 T. milk 2 T. vegetable oil Blend until smooth and pour into cereal bowl. Bake in microwave 90 to 100 seconds on high or until most of the surface looks dry. Let stand briefly (like, really briefly, because if you can be in the same room with a hot, fresh miniature chocolate cake for more than a minute without grabbing a fork and digging in, there's something wrong with you) then frost. Or not. In my world frosting is never optional but it's a personal choice.

There are probably a thousand cake-in-a-mug recipes and I’ve made it my life’s work to test them all. I quit when I got to #347 because A) there are only so many ways to reinvent the wheel and B) this one, as Goldilocks said, is just right.

You will notice two things about the above photo. 1) I am not a food stylist. I do not have the time or patience to create lusciously dreamy food porn photos. You’re lucky I managed to stop eating long enough to snap this shot with my phone. I had the phone in my left hand and the fork in my right. I’m not kidding. 2) My mug cake is not in a mug. Apparently I do not have the proper size of mugs or the proper wattage microwave to make cake-in-a-mug recipes successful. Previous attempts came out with the texture of a dishwashing sponge while the center was still unbaked. This is a genuine vintage 1988 Corelle cereal bowl. It’s also being baked in a genuine vintage 1988 Amana Radarange. It’s the microwave I bought when I moved into my first apartment after graduating from college. There is nothing sleek or modern about it. It’s the size of a small doghouse but ya know what? It still radars like champ. It pops a full bag of popcorn without burning and bakes these delicious cakes. My life is complete.

Baking is therapeutic. Chocolate is therapeutic. This recipe is damn near a prescription for a mood-altering drug. Glad I could hook you up. This recipe just might save civilization. Make cake, not war. In light of full disclosure, this recipe could probably be two servings. It’s almost-but-not-quite too much for one person at one time. The key word here is almost. If you want to share it with your sweetie, you are a nicer person than me. I’ll make a second one to share. I’m not totally selfish.

A final note: the Blogger interface has changed since I last used it and not for the better. Until I figure out how to put actual paragraphs in the text, please bear with me. It's making me crazy(er) that the recipe is in paragraph form but I've spent 20 minutes trying to get it into a list and honest to God, I do have a life I need to get on with. The cake will taste just as good, I promise.