Cake-in-a-Cup Recipes You Need This Season

By Hannah Holder
Blog Content Contributor

With some sweet holidays coming around the corner, you need to prepare yourself. Valentine’s Day is almost here, with Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter following close behind. Just because you are in college, or just budgeting because you know — adulting — does not mean you cannot enjoy some sweet treats this season. These next three mug cake recipes are so easy to make, it took me about 10 minutes to make each one! The best part about these recipes? You only need about 10 of the same ingredients to make each cake, and these ingredients might already be in your pantry! I picked three different recipes to fit every type of personality: a rainbow mug cake for my simple eaters, a red velvet mug cake for my rich and creamy eaters and lastly, a chocolate brownie mug cake for my chocolate eaters. So like an egg, let’s get crackin’.

Rainbow cake:

You will need…

• Three tablespoons softened butter
• One large egg

• 

  One tablespoon milk

• One teaspoon vanilla extract
• Three tablespoons superfine sugar
• Four tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Multiple shades of food coloring

To decorate…

• One tablespoon softened butter
• Two tablespoons powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Colored marshmallows

To begin, place the softened butter in any desired mug (or a mason jar like I used) and microwave for 10 to 20 seconds until melted. Add the egg, milk and vanilla extract into the mug, then begin to stir. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, then stir again. Next, divide the cake batter into separate bowls to add different shades of food coloring, then stir. You can either layer the different colors on top of each other like I chose to do, or you can mix them all together inside the mug; whatever your heart desires. Cook in the microwave for two minutes. I cooked mine for one minute and thirty seconds just to be a little extra gooey. To decorate, mix the softened butter with the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract then stir. Pour the frosting on top of the rainbow cake and top it off with colored marshmallows. I decided to be a little extra and add rainbow sprinkles on top! Now, enjoy!

Red velvet cake:

You will need…

• Two tablespoons softened butter
• One large egg
• One teaspoon red food coloring
• Two tablespoons buttermilk

• 

  One teaspoon vanilla extract

• Three tablespoons superfine sugar
• Three tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon white wine vinegar

To decorate…

• One tablespoon softened butter
• 1 ½ tablespoon cream cheese
• Three tablespoons confectioners sugar
• ¼ teaspoon red food coloring

Place the butter in a mug and microwave for 10 to 20 seconds until melted. Add the egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract and red food coloring, then stir. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder, cocoa, salt and carefully stir while adding in the white wine vinegar. Cook in the microwave for two minutes, but like earlier, I cooked mine for one minute and thirty seconds. For the frosting, stir the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth. You may add red food coloring to the frosting if you would like, but typically, red velvet frosting is a light, white color, so I decided to not add food coloring. Drizzle on the frosting, and enjoy!

Chocolate brownie:

You will need…

• Two tablespoons softened butter
• Two tablespoons superfine sugar
• One tablespoon brown sugar
• One tablespoon cocoa powder
• One large egg yolk
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Four tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Two tablespoons chocolate and vanilla chips

Place the butter in a mug and microwave for ten to twenty seconds until melted. Add the superfine sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder and stir. Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, and salt then stir thoroughly. Stir in some chocolate chips and microwave for two minutes (or one minute and thirty seconds for a gooey brownie) once mixed well. Once the cake is cooled down a bit, throw some chocolate and vanilla chips on top. The vanilla chips are optional, however, it added some of that extra flavor to my brownie that I was looking for.

My results…

Making these treats was a piece of cake. All three of these mug cake recipes came out so wonderfully. I will definitely be making these again for the upcoming holidays, especially the red velvet cake for Valentine’s Day! Even my parents, who are both quite the chefs, enjoyed these cakes. And yes, I had my mom help me make these cakes just so I could make sure they would turn out perfect for you guys. To discover more delicious mug cake recipes like these, check out Mima Sinclair’s “Mug Cakes: 40 Speedy Cakes to Make in a Microwave” book. I found these three recipes from Sinclair’s book, but added some twists of my own to each recipe. So, go ahead and make these simple, budget-friendly mug cakes– cause you dessert it.

Featured image by Hannah Holder.