Cake in 5 minutes

In a mug, no less. In the microwave, no less.
Ingredients

• 4tbsp flour
  
• 4tbsp sugar
  
• 2tbsp dutch process cocoa
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee (optional - really adds to the chocolate flavor)
  
• 1 egg
  
• 3tbsp milk
  
• 3tbsp vegetable oil
  
• 3tbsp chocolate chips
  
• 1/2 vanilla or orange or almond extract
  

This is for serious. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and instant coffee in a microwavable mug. Stir (with a fork or something) and then add the egg. Stir until you get kind of a paste. Doesn't have to be perfectly combined. Add the remaining ingredients except for the chocolate chips, and stir until well combined. Add the chips and stir.

Microwave on high for 3 minutes (for a 1000W microwave) or a little longer otherwise (more on this in a sec). Serve with vanilla ice cream and a staggering sense of unreality.

Thoughts: I figured "heck, why not? If it doesn't work, I'm only wasting one egg." And it turned out. Pros: took five minutes. Pretty great flavor (really). VERY fluffy texture. Cons: A little on the dry side and a little rubbery. This may have to do with three things: 1) I didn't actually use chocolate chips when I made this recipe. They would have added a lot, I think, but I didn't have any. (The original recipe also suggested chopping up bits of candy bar if you don't have chips... I think they meant chocolate bars, but could you use a snickers bar? I PERSONALLY think this would probably be utterly disgusting, but I thought the cake would be too, until I tried it). 2) I didn't add vanilla / orange / almond extract. This, again, was a suggestion in the original recipe, but I didn't want to waste a precious commodity on what I thought would probably be a failed attempt at cake. The added liquid might have helped to keep the cake a LITTLE more moist. 3) I think the cake could have been microwaved just a LITTLE less. About half-way through the cooking, the cake rises above the lip of the mug (about an inch in my case). DON'T BE AFRAID OF THIS - it will go back down and not spill anywhere. The thing is, I think I probably could have turned off the microwave when it fell back to the level of the mug. But I let it keep going the full 3 minutes, and it was a TOUCH on the rubbery side after it started to cool. I bet that if you turn it off 20-30 seconds sooner, it'll be much moister.

Disaster Index: 3/10 - COULD ACHIEVE GREATNESS with a few minor tweaks. Problem is, it's probably tough to control minor tweaks like that. It's tough to play by ear with a microwave. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.