Christina says: “I can never quite shake my obsession with mint chocolate chip ice cream, but eating those flavours warm, late at night from a mug, makes me believe I CAN give up the ice cream if I can keep my gooey, molten microwave cake. Sidecar this snack with a cup of peppermint tea or a hot cocoa or both, and you’ll be the hero of your household.”

Makes two 11-ounce mugs of cake/serves 2

Ingredients

5 peppermint sweets
40g unsalted butter, melted
35g buttermilk
25g grapeseed or other neutral oil
4g peppermint extract
1 large egg
80g sugar
20g light brown sugar
60g cake flour
1g baking powder
1g coarse sea salt
40g mini chocolate chips
6g cake flour

Method

Find your two best 11-ounce mugs and set them aside.

Unwrap the peppermint sweets and place them in a zip-seal freezer bag. Use a rolling pin to crush them into small, pea-size pieces.

Whisk the melted butter, buttermilk, oil, peppermint extract, and egg together in a large bowl.

Whisk both sugars, the 60g (½ cup) cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate large bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir to combine. If the batter looks lumpy, use a whisk to break up all the lumps.

Toss the chocolate chips in the 6g (1 teaspoon) cake flour and stir them into the batter. Divide the batter between the mugs.

Microwave the mugs until the cakes rise and puff up and look like they are about to spill out over the mugs. Start with 1 minute, and if it looks too raw, continue to microwave in 15-second increments until the sides and top have set, leaving hot gooey cake batter hidden inside (up to 2 1⁄2 minutes).

Remove the mugs from the microwave and garnish them with the crushed peppermint bits (they give a great toffee-like texture). This will take every ounce of self-control you have, but wait 1 minute before stirring it up and digging in with a spoon.

3 microwaveable mug cake recipes, because everyone deserves a personal dessert