Carrot Mug Cake: remorse free gratification

Time:          prep. 3-5 min
                    cook. approx. 20 min
Difficulty:   very easy
Yields:        for 2 servings
                   (or 4 when dieting)
Cost:           low

You know what it’s like to be craving for sweets, it comes in a flash, without warning. And in those moments, it makes you lose your mind, pushing you to bite anything containing sugar: mushy biscuits, antediluvian pastries; or chocolates with white spots, found in the “Dark Side” of the fridge. Empty calories are harmful to the shape, but also to the sense of guilt. However, suffering assumes monstrous proportions when things ingested in a hurry, are not even good. So, if you are of the opinion that making light sweets, for the soul and the waistline of your pants, is wise and right, then this recipe for carrot mug cake is just right for you. You can modify it according to the availability of your pantry. You don’t have eggs? Soak two teaspoons of chia as a substitute. You don’t have carrots? Apples are good too, as are plums or peaches.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons wholemeal flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of orange juice
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 grated carrot
1/3 teaspoon baking powder for desserts with vanilla
A pinch of salt

for topping

1 square of dark chocolate at least 70% of cacao
1 teaspoon of oat milk or cow’s milk
4 pistachios, or 2 hazelnuts or 1 walnut

Directions

Boil some water in a large pot which can hold two teacups. The water level should not exceed half the height of the cups. In the meantime, beat the sugar and egg in a bowl with a hand whisk, until a frothy cream is obtained. Sieve the flour and baking powder and mix gently with the whisk, adding the other ingredients. Slightly grease the inside of the cups, and pour in the cake dough. Then place them inside the pot with boiling water and close the lid. After about 20-25 minutes, your carrot cakes will be ready. In order to determine whether baking is complete, pierce the pie with a toothpick: if it comes out wet, then extend the baking time for another 5 minutes, otherwise “voilà les jeux sont faits”.

Get them out of the water and wait for them to cool down. In the meantime, prepare the dark chocolate topping. Put the chocolate square and the vegetable milk in a small coffee cup: melt it in bain-marie. Once cold, place the cakes in two plates and pour the melted chocolate with a teaspoon, garnish with a pistachio. You are ready to bring them to the table.

Additional advice

You can make these cakes much faster, with the microwave. It will only take 1-2 minutes. Since each microwave has different power and internal volume, check the baking after the first minute, every 20 seconds. If you don’t have a microwave like me, make a few more and put them in the freezer. Just take them out in time and re-heat them quickly in the oven. Trust me, their taste won’t be much different from the freshly made ones. In the end, the choice will be yours alone: the heated carrot cake or the stale cookies from the pantry!

Suggestions to serve

A Carrot Mug Cake, of course, would be much more beautiful and tastier with a cream-based cream, perhaps coming out of a professional piping tip to create hypnotic decorations. But now you know me, I won’t suggest anything just for the aesthetic purpose, moreover caloric, and without any nutrient worthy of note. I am convinced that, especially those who want to pay attention to the shape, should not give up the gluttony at all: even something ordinary would be fine, as long as it breaks the routine, in the long run deleterious for the human being and… for every diet. So, dear readers, let the topping of a teaspoon of dark chocolate with the chunks of dried fruit be enough: gluttony is fine, but feeling guilty is not. I want you happy, loaded and determined.

Enjoy your tea time and good revolution to all.

You might also like:

• Chickpea Humus
• Insight: Our irrepressible hunger for meat