2-minute Microwave Mug Cake

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming (i.e. my Paris Top Ten List) for this important message:

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. Time to kick it up a notch.

The day started with a completely corrupted version of what's supposed to be a healthy breakfast - oatmeal topped with crème brûlée at Zazie in San Francisco.

Criminal.

Why even bother with the oatmeal. I barely ate any of it (or many of the bananas, for that matter) if only because I had to save room for pancakes. It wouldn't be my birthday without pancakes.

Fast forward to night-time. Post chicken parmesan dinner, made by the mister, came dessert part one: Secret Breakfast Ice Cream from Humphry Slocombe. For the uninitiated, that's bourbon ice cream with corn flakes - Humphry's most popular flavor, but nowhere near its most offbeat (from NYT: Who Wants Prosciutto Ice Cream?)

And if you think the aforementioned prosciutto ice cream is wackadoo, up there on the right is Humphry's foie gras ice cream sandwich. That's right. Ice cream made with fattened goose liver, between two ginger snap cookies (a limited time offer, considering a ban on foie gras goes into effect in SF in July.)

Quite the line-up on my special day. But how does a guy really impress a girl whose life passion is cake?

Why, you get out the flour and bake, of course.

Or in the case of my better half, you get nukin'!

My Sweet (the human, not the blog) had filed away a blurb from Lucky Peach Magazine, which laid out instructions for a chocolate cake, that you make in a mug, in two minutes, in your flippin' microwave!!! 

Mind. Blown.

You could buy this:

Spotted at Cost Plus World Market

But why would you?

Recipes abound on the World Wide Web (just Google "mug cake.") A Pinterest search yields a Nutella-flavored version (mmmm...) repinned dozens of times.

Here's the Lucky Peach version, which calls for a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons (20 grams) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (45 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (10 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons (30 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips 

In a medium sized microwave-safe mug, add the vegetable oil, whole milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Use a fork or small whisk to mix until combined. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake in the microwave on high for two minutes. Serve immediately.

"Serve immediately?" Who's making this in advance? It only takes 2 minutes. And therein lies the danger of this magical microwavable love in a mug: low commitment plus instant gratification equals sweet, sweet temptation.

Encore!

Happy birthday to me.