Rainbow Mug Cake – Recipe/ Blog Carnival Entry

Are you excited? I'm excited.

This week I've been a little subdued thanks to a rather nasty virus that rendered me incapable of doing anything other than rolling around (on one occasion on the floor having passed out) and going 'uuuuurgh...' for at least two days, and then turned me into a zombie for a further two. However my spirits were lifted when, in between listlessly watching endless cat videos on YouTube (something I always do when I'm ill), I checked my emails and found one from Whittard.

It was entitled 'Cake in a Mug Blogger Carnival- You're Invited!'

I sat up- and then promptly sank back again after a headrush- but the grin was still on my face. A challenge! And cake! A cake challenge!

Whittard of Chelsea are running a Cake in a Mug Blogger Carnival at the moment, after the success of the afternoon tea blogging carnival that I entered last time. My eyes travelled wistfully towards the direction of the kitchen from my duvet fortress on the couch. 'Must... make... cake!' I thought. Alas, I had to wait until I was well enough to stand for a few minutes, let alone be able to taste-test my own creation. Thankfully a few days on, here I am.

So! Mug cake. A cake made in a mug, cooked in the microwave, to create a handy portion of cake-for-one. My task was to come up with a recipe for the Cake in a Mug Blogger Carnival. There was only ever one option for me to try- something I've actually wanted to try for a while now. Without further ado, from the creator of rainbow sundae cupcakes and maker of rainbow layer cake, Tashcakes! brings you...

... Rainbow mug cake.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

-4tbsp self raising flour
-1tbsp cornflour
-2tbsp caster sugar
-1 egg
-3tbsp milk
-3tbsp oil
-1/2tsp vanilla
-pinch of salt
-Food colouring (I used gel paste rather than the liquid stuff for bolder colours)

Method:

1) Put all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth.

2) Evenly divide the cake batter between six bowls, and colour them with your food colouring.

3) Spoon each colour into a separate plastic sandwich bag.

4) One by one, snip off the corners of the sandwich bags, and squeeze layers of colours into a regular-sized microwave-proof mug. 

5) Random rainbow smiley face not intentional and optional.

6) Let your batter sit for a minute, because you've beaten it up a fair amount through mixing and colouring, and the gluten in the flour will have started to get tough- you want it to relax a bit. Then pop your mug in the microwave and cook it on high for a minute to a minute and a half (all microwaves act slightly differently especially according to wattage, so check after a minute). Don't cook it for too much longer, or your cake will be rubbery.

7) Once your cake is springy and cooked, remove it and let it cool for another minute because it'll be molten hot straight out of the microwave- it'll look scarily puffy at first and then collapse a bit, but that's normal. When it's ready to eat, top with your favourite frosting, whipped cream or ice-cream, shake on some sprinkles, and enjoy!

Now that's definitely cheered me up after days of chicken broth, Lucozade and Farley's Rusks (yes, I still eat those).

Happy baking! Er, microwaving!