Saturday evening, after a day of running errands and a late lunch/early dinner at our favorite Chinese buffet, Todd and I were both craving something sweet. I had been thinkjng about a batch of chocolate chip cookies, but really didn’t have the energy ever for that, when Todd mentioned, “Cake would be real good right now.”

Now, sometimes, this sort of thinking (cake, pie, ice cream, etc.) has us putting on shoes and heading to the nearest grocery store just because. But it was after 9pm, we were both in pajamas, and really didn’t want cake enough to go out and forage for it. I revisited the cookie idea, half-heartedly, when I remembered all those mug cakes that are floating around the Internet.

A quick search later and I was looking at the One Minute Chocolate Cake from Chocolate-Covered Katie.

And less than 2 minutes later I was serving Todd and I these beauties:

I divided the batter into 2 small LeCreuset ramekins (I love using these, they’re so cute, and I got them on deep discount at Marshall’s a couple years ago) and topped them with a small spoonful of ice cream (Bryer’s Lactose Free Vanilla) and a maraschino cherry.

I wasn’t sure how well it’d be, microwave breads being what they are, but this was just firm enough without being rubbery, very chocolately and worth a tiny bit of effort to have just enough chocolate cake for two without a trip to the store or leftovers to haunt us.

Of course, now that I know how quickly we can have chocolate cake, this could be dangerous!

Chocolate Microwave Cake
(without the optional substitutions from Chocolate-Covered Katie)

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 2/3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 2/3 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Milk
2 tsp Canola Oil
1/2 Vanilla Extract

Mix together the dry ingredients thoroughly (should be uniformly brown, no streaks of white still visible), then stir in the liquid ingredients and mix until batter-like.

Scoop into 2 small or 1 not-so-small ramekin(s) or mugs and microwave 30-45 seconds on High. The top still looked kinda squishy on our 2 after 45 seconds, so I gave it another 10 and it was perfect. Microwave oven strengths vary, so experiment to find your microwave’s sweet spot.

Serve warm as is or with your topping of choice.