A Big NO: Chocolate Cake in a Mug

(I apologize in advance that there are no photos with this post... I'm going to have to get into the habit of taking pictures of everything I make from now on!)

Women across America (and probably the world) have been RAVING about this 5-minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug. I recently got the recipe in an e-mail, and tonight I was craving some chocolate (slightly strange for me, because I don't have much of a sweet tooth), so I decided to try this out, instead of making a pan of boxed-brownies.

The recipe says you are supposed to "bake" this cake in a microwave for 5-minutes, but my microwave is more than a little finicky (it's actually half-microwave, half-convection oven), so I made one for the microwave, and one in a small Le Creuset saucepan to cook in the oven.

The recipe I used was from http://tinyurl.com/y9ou3y2, and is as follows:
4 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
Small splash of vanilla

So the gig is you mix everything together, put in a coffee mug (I used a mason jar, as a tribute to my redneck heritage), zap it in the microwave for 5 minutes, and POOF, a delicious chocolate cake.

Well, that was what was supposed to happen anyways. Surprisingly, my microwave didn't set this thing on fire (as happened a few weeks ago to one of those pre-made store-bought microwavable chocolate cakes), and it actually puffed up like it showed in the photos. I dumped it out onto a plate for Ryan, my boyfriend and ultimate taste-tester, to try. It was rubbery. Like one of those bouncy balls you win at Chuck E Cheese. And surprisingly not that chocolatey. We threw it away after two bites. "Let's not make this again, ok?" said Ryan.

The oven baked one (I cooked it for around 15 minutes), was slightly less rubbery, but also not a "make-again" according to Ryan (and me).

I do hope this serves as a warning against all you (women) out there that are looking for a quick chocolate fix--there is none!! Buy some good dark chocolate (I prefer Ghiradelli for both snacking and baking) and keep it in the freezer for your more desperate chocolate moments!