Just One Slice!

One of the downfalls of having children rife with allergies is that there isn't a lot of junk around the house to nosh on when the sweets-bug strikes.

And, around here, it strikes often. And with force. And seems to bite at my ankles with teeth so rotten that I should be reminded "Sugar: it does a body bad."

I'd say, at least once/week, one of the two of us "adults" in the house has to make a post bedtime routine run to someplace that can provide the means necessary to beat off the sugar beast.

Needless to say, we kind of know the obligatory drive-thrus for the goods: Braums, McDonald's, Spirits Beer and Wine Emporium.* You get my drift.

Sad. But oh-so-true.

Mike informed me late in the afternoon on Sunday that he was "in the mood".** So, as I was planning the weekly menus in anticipation of my Monday grocery run, I had sweets on my mind.

As I was rifling through the virtual house-sized stack of recipes I'd clipped in the last 90 days, I ran across directions for "Chocolate Cake--Just One Slice".

"Oh. This can't be good.***" my brain reasoned. "One slice? Made in the microwave?" But, given it was my turn to go hunting for sugar, and my desire to be as lazy as humanly possible in retrieving said sugar, I decided to give it a try. After all, if it failed, I could still beg Mike to go in my place.

Looking over the ingredient list, I realized I was only short chocolate chips. Since I'm all about experimentation in the kitchen, I decided to give it a shot, with pecans as a sub.

Let me tell you that I had NO EARTHLY IDEA that I was getting a two-fer: 1. a yummy, easy, less-than-five-minutes-to-the-table dessert AND 2. entertainment. And all for the cost of a few tablespooons worth of ingredients and two minutes in the microwave!

See, there was this one peculiar instruction from the recipe, which I quote here: "The cake may rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!"

Just for grins, I put a saucer underneath the mug, in case the brains of the recipe was sitting in his office somewhere in middle America wringing his hands together, getting peverse pleasure at the thought of the number of desperate, sugar-dependent people mucking up their microwaves with his creation.

Let me tell you: this thing DELIVERED. No, I mean, REALLY delivered. As in baby out of Momma delivered.

Let's just say, that cake slice did a mean push-up out of the mug on its way to being edible. If you can imagine a can of Play-Doh or jellied cranberry sauce attempting to escape without being held upside down...that was what I was witnessing. It was so funny looking, I called Mike it for a little look-see.

Which produced copious laughter from both of us and a "WHAT IS THAT?" from him.

"Our dessert!" I announced.

He left the room, less than impressed. I could practically hear the condescending tone in his "HMMMM". He didn't believe this experiment would actually produce something worth eating.

In just a couple of minutes, after our little baby was completely birthed, it was testing time. Would this funky one slice chocolate microwave cooked cake make the grade?

Oh.my.goodnes. YES. And then some.

Since I had subbed nuts for chips, I feared I would get a rubbery, dry product. Nyet.

I also used powdered sugar in place of granulated. Not one bit of a problem.

This was a good slice of Heaven, fit for those who enjoy a piece of dark chocolate or a nut-filled brownie. I imagine, with chips, this thing would pack a sugary-sweet punch.

In any case, our hips were happy to expand for our new friend. And, so you can enjoy the birthing process in your microwave, I'm sharing the recipe below.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake--Just One Slice!
Egglands Best

2 T flour
3 T sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa
1 large egg (Eggland's Best, of course)
2 T milk
2 T vegetable oil
2 T chocolate chips (or chopped pecans as a sub)
Small splash of vanilla extract

Note: I used one tablespoon to measure everything for the whole recipe, stirring the egg in with a regular spoon. Dirty dish count: three. One tablespoon, one spoon, and one birthing mug.

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add egg; mix thoroughly. Pour in milk and oil; mix well. Add chips (nuts) and extract and mix again.

Put the mug in the microwave and cook on high for 2 minutes. The cake may rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. Allow to cool and tip out onto a plate, if desired (MommaJ: or eat straight out of the mug and only tip out when you are 3/4 of the way done to be sure that instruction works.)



*And the fine folks at all these establishments can thank us for keeping the sugar cane and booze economy going strong.

**Not sex, silly. DESSERT!

***No. It will be GREAT!!!!