Microwave Strawberry Vanilla Mug Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Glaze

 Ready, set, go.

Let’s make cake.

In the microwave. In 90 seconds.

 Who doesn’t love cake, with strawberries woven into it, with a puddle a bit of vanilla buttercream glaze added for good measure.

Get your day started off properly.

With cake for breakfast.

And it’s healthy because you’re getting in a serving of fruit. Yeah.

Along with a serving of frosting, which is the best way to start the day, of course.

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Microwave Strawberry Vanilla Mug Cake with Vanilla Glaze (with Vegan and Gluten Free Suggestions)

Makes one very generous portion

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 teaspoon+ if you love vanilla)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or 3 tablespoons if you want it sweeter)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 to 3 tablespoons strawberries, diced (I used TJ’s frozen strawberries and diced them. Halve or quarter your berries as desired)

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients (except strawberries), and whisk until batter is just smooth, but do not overmix. Gently fold in the strawberries. Prepare a mug by spraying it very well with cooking spray and pour batter into mug, taking care that there is plenty of room for growth. The batter/cake will nearly double in height in the microwave so select a large mug and do not fill more than halfway. (You may have leftover batter or you may get two mugcakes from this recipe, but don’t overfill or you will have a big mess) Microwave on high for 75 to 90 seconds, or until done. Microwave cooking times vary widely and I suggest standing in front of the microwave the entire time. It could be done in 60 seconds, it could take 2 minutes; it’s very hard to say but mine took about 90 seconds. While the mug cake is cooling, make the glaze.

Vanilla Buttercream Glaze

1 tablespoon butter,  melted

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/2 teaspoon+ if you love vanilla)

1 tablespoon+ cream (or milk)

Combine all ingredients (except for cream) in a small bowl and whisk, adding the cream based on desired consistency of glaze. Spoon glaze over the mugcake while it’s in the mug and allow glaze to soak and permeate into the cake. Or, remove cake from the mug by running a knife around the sides and inverting it onto a plate and spooning the glaze over it.

Notes:

I do not bother with mixing dry ingredients first, then wet; making this in one bowl and everything added at once is fine. You can also mix this all together in the mug and skip the bowl entirely, taking care you’ve sprayed it well with cooking spray. Do not fill your mug more than halfway full as the batter/cake will expand and nearly double in size. Allow for plenty of room for growth.

To keep vegan, use margarine in place of butter, use nut milk in place of cream/milk, and use a flax egg. To keep gluten free, use a gluten-free flour blend. I have not tried making this vegan or gluten free; I am only providing likely suggestions.

I am sure you could bake this in the oven in an oven-safe baking dish or suitable mug, but this is a “convenience recipe” and I have only tried it using the microwave.

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Cake making is as easy as combining everything in one bowl except for the strawberries, stirring, and folding those in last. I don’t bother mixing the dry and mixing wet ingredients separately, and then folding them together.

This is a convenience recipe and it’s much more convenient to just do it all at once. You can even just mix everything in the mug, making it even more convenient because you have one less dish to do, but for the sake of pictures, I used a small bowl.

Pour the batter into a mug if you didn’t mix the batter in a mug.

One huge, big, word of advice: Make sure you mug is TALL enough to support this recipe. Select a nice, tall mug because the batter will expand considerably; nearly doubling in height.

Don’t fill your mug more than halfway full with batter because you will end up with spillover city and a microwave cleanup project and that would be a major inconvenience.

The photo  below was taken about one minute after removing the mugcake from the microwave.

Upon initially taking it out, the batter had puffed up very high, even a little higher, than the mug’s rim, but as it cooled, it shrunk down some.

For the sake of pictures, I inverted the mugcake on a plate and drizzled glaze over the top but if it wasn’t for pictures, I would have just poured the glaze on top of the cake while inside the mug, and smooshed it all around with my spoon.

I would have eaten it like hot fudge poured over ice cream in a mug, all messy and blended together, which is the best way.

This was so good because it had the sweetness of vanilla cake but with the bonus of berries woven in, and then that glaze.

The vanilla glaze really enhanced the vanilla cake flavor. I am a vanilla fanatic and this was right up my vanilla alley.

The whole thing is right up my alley because there is cake involved, frosting is present, and the microwave was used.

My kinda recipe.

If you’re a fan of microwave “cakes” you may like:

Microwave Banana Oat Cakes

Microwave Blueberry Banana Oat Cakes

If you like to bake rather than nuke, I suggest Strawberry Banana Bread

 

Have you ever made a mugcake?

What’s the best thing you make in the microwave?

I know some people don’t like using microwaves but I do. Because I can make cake in it! Or tofu. Or popcorn. Or heat up my coffee. Just one tool in the toolbox.

Thanks for the Baking Supplies Giveaway entries