This is a weird product. At first I thought it was a new hot chocolate; that's what "chocolate...mug mix" implies to me. But then I noticed the strange, semi-solid, gloppy stuff in the picture, and it didn't compute. Then I saw the smaller print: "cake." WTF?
Yes, this mix creates a little chocolate cake in a mug. You put the powder in the mug, add a little water, stir, and microwave. Voila--cake. Or at least that's the idea.
On my first attempt, I followed the directions precisely, with two 20-second zaps. The "cake" was still partially liquid. So the second time, I increased to two 25-second bursts. That seemed to fix the problem.
However, the result is still very strange. It's sort of cake-like. But spooning cake out of a mug sets off conflicting brain signals. This isn't what's supposed to be in a mug, and this isn't how one is supposed to eat cake.
Beyond the problem of expectations being dashed is the problem that it's just not particularly good cake. That shouldn't be surprising. What do you expect from an add-water-and-microwave concoction?
You might also want to know that the mix contains large crystals of salt that do not dissolve. The first time I crunched one of these without knowing it was there, I thought I had broken a tooth.
Will I buy it again?
No.
Similar idea to the Easy Bake Oven which cooked by the heat of a lightbulb, but revised for the microwave. I know that you can do the same thing with any standard boxed-baking mix (think Duncan Hines)by taking 2-3 tablespoons of the dry mix and stirring it with some water and microwave in any microwave-safe container. The result is a poor substitute for anything baked in a real oven. I can get fabulous baked goods just about anywhere now (even if you go a few steps inside Trader Joe's to the bakery section), so I will pass.
ReplyDeleteThere are all kinds of crazy mug cake recipes out there- i’ve tried a couple out of curiosity a while back now and couldn’t get past the weird texture. Certainly nothing like what I think of as cake.
ReplyDeleteTtrockwood