chocolate "cup" cake

I stumbled across this recipe for a chocolate cake you can make in 5 minutes, in the microwave:
http://www.dizzy-dee.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-in-5-minutes

I told my pregnant friends all about it. If they were overcome with a chocolate-pregnancy-craving this would be the perfect fix. It wasn't overly sweet, perfect for 2 people (or one hungry person with a baby in their belly), and it only took a little over 2 minutes in my microwave.

I made some minor changes to the original recipe after reading everyone's feedback on dizzy-dee's blog post. It turned out awesome! My kids thought it was so cool that we made it in the microwave. Here's my version (but make sure you check out the original recipe!):

Ingredients:

2 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar (trust me, it wasn't too sweet even though this sounds like a lot of sugar)
2 tbsp cocoa (baking cocoa, not hot chocolate mix)
1 tsp baking powder
handful of chocolate chips (optional)
1 small egg
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:
1. In an over-sized mug, mix all dry ingredients
2. Add egg, milk, and olive oil. Mix well.
4. Place mug in the microwave. Cook for 2 to 2.5 minutes on high.

On the original recipe she says cook for 3 minutes on high, on an 1000 watt microwave. I have a 1500 watt microwave. My cake started rising after 2 minutes, then I let it go for another 30 seconds for a total of 2.5 minutes. When it started to rise I had to do the cooking-oatmeal-in-the-microwave-thing. What, you don't know what I'm talking about? That's where you stop and start the microwave so the oatmeal doesn't overflow in the bowl!

Valentine's Day Dessert: Chocolate Strawberries

For Valentine's Day, the kids and I made chocolate covered strawberries. Yummy!

You can find a lot of great recipes that have you using a thermometer and double boiler to make these, but I wanted to keep things simple. We used a Baker's dipping chocolate bowl and a Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar, and just melted the chocolate in the microwave.

First I washed and dried all the strawberries.

Next we placed the Baker's chocolate bowl in the microwave and heated for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between heating until the chocolate was all melted. Then I chopped up the white chocolate baking bar into small pieces, placed it into a microwave-safe bowl and heated it the same way.

The kids had fun dipping the strawberries in the chocolate. We placed each strawberry on a baking sheet as we worked, then we tried drizzling the white chocolate over them. It didn't come out so well...instead of nice drizzles we ended up with thick globs of white chocolate. Oh well, it was delicious nonetheless!



For a great tutorial with pictures and step-by-step directions, check out:
Last Minute Gifts: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This tutorial is what inspired me, although I opted for the much-easier route and used the microwave, and no thermometer! The next time, if presentation is a lot more critical, I will try the tutorial. As you can see from the tutorial pics those strawberries came out beautifully.

Here's what we used:
Baker's dipping chocolate bowl
Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar