I've done this with young adults in our library kitchen. It's a great way to introduce simple kitchen techniques to kids actually. Showing them the basic components that go into (delicious) foods. Great fun

My wife and I tried these last year, and it was kind of nasty. It tasted like chocolate eggs, but then again, we probably didn't follow the instructions well enough.

Two girls one... cake?

This sounds very much like a simplified 1/4 recipe of the Chocolate Pudding Cake recipe from the 1960s Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (which is my go-to for cakes, biscuts, and pie recipes). The chocolate chips ARE important.

After I typed it up I realized mine has no eggs. It could be made vegan by substituting a non-dairy milk!

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

stir together in a bowl:
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder

stir in
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs oil
chocolate chips to taste

spread in 9 inch pan

sprinkle with
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tbs cocoa powder

pour evenly into pan
1 3/4 cups HOT water

bake at 350f for about 40 minutes. The sauce magically goes to the bottom of the pan, and the cake rises to the top. Serve warm. Whipped cream takes it to another level.

try mixing non-dairy creamer, water and a few packets of sweet-n-low. zap it for three minutes and you'll have the same thing. also, just add any flavored creamer for taste.
^_^

The first time I tried this it didn't taste great. I think the secret is no eggs and cooking it less so it's still moist inside. I've had no troubles since.

4chan /b/ has been posting this for quite some time.

I hope you're kidding. That sounds absolutely horrible.

frothy mix of...

I don't quite see the point.

It only takes 5-10 minutes (+baking time) to make a simple but proper chocolate cake anyway.

I think the idea is that this recipe applies (-baking time) to the proper chocolate cake experience. I made a polar bear cake for our Lost party this weekend, and baking time was about 25-30 minutes, plus another 5-10 minutes of cooling time after that. My significant other has a strict "no food after 9pm" rule, and if they suddenly get a hankering for a dessert around 8:45 (this happens with fairly regular frequency), this is exactly the kind of thing that's useful to me :)

Given at least an hour I'd totally go the traditional cake route, but sometimes I have to bake under duress, so this is perfect for that situation. Thanks for the link!

The absolute best thing about any cake... the icing. Really, that cakey stuff is just a delivery vehicle for icing.

Ah, so the rest of the world is finally enlightened on the wonders of Minute Chocolate Cake.

Reminds me of the microwave brownie recipe floating around 4chan periodically.

Gosh, I sure hope the cake isn't lazy, nor a lie!!!

This looks so much better than those toxic-looking Betty Crocker microwave cakes. I thought that Betty's microwaveable cakes must be like 98% artificial chemicals in order to "bake" in a microwave, but I am relieved to find that one can make a similar type of cake from scratch (tho I'm sure that Betty Crocker's stuff is made from mostly unnatural unpronounceable stuff).

Anyway, I'm going to go make this recipe RIGHT NOW because I haven't had breakfast yet, and cake is delicious.

This recipe, or ones like it, have been floating around the 'net for some time now. I've never actually had one with chocolate chips in it, but the plain version is pretty good with ice cream on top.

The neat thing is how it tries to leap out of the mug during the last minute or so of microwave cooking.

Well, yes - you can make a pretty decent steamed pudding in the microwave. Except Americans don't mostly know about steamed puddings, hence referring to it as a half-assed cake.

Also - I've made this (I found it not very good), and a variant that I much preferred using butter instead of oil, barley flour (mostly because that's what I had around, but it tends to make nicer-textured puddings and cakes than wheat), and milk, cocoa powder and sugar instead of the instant cocoa mix. Lets you get more chocolatey and milky, less sugary and edible-oil-producty.

Kids and I are totally making this. Love that the ingredients are so simple and that it uses no chemical leavening.

I actually HOPE it turns out BADLY, so that we can experiment with different ratios, ingredients, and stirring techniques so they then learn and understand how cakes work, instead of just making a nice treat.

Yum, that looks tasty. I'll need to try this. :-)

I hope this dessert isn't a single serving.

Nutrition Facts
User Entered Recipe

1 Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 975.1

Total Fat 60.6 g

Saturated Fat 12.8 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 13.5 g

Monounsaturated Fat 31.0 g

Cholesterol 160.9 mg

Sodium 72.0 mg

Potassium 333.2 mg

Total Carbohydrate 106.8 g

Dietary Fiber 5.5 g

Sugars 75.5 g

Protein 12.4 g

This is America, duh.

I think you'll find that people who don't live in America make cakes too, and also read this blog.

Yes, but I imagine they probably don't make 1000 calorie single-serving coffee-cup cakes.