With the latest series of The Great British Bake Off now upon us (it starts on BBC1 on Wednesday!) our lives are about to get a whole lot sweeter.

Still, while we enjoy very much eating cake – actually making it ourselves can be less than delicious.

Weighing, measuring, folding and separating: in short, baking seems like a lot of hard work.

Fear not, however! We’ve stumbled across the PERFECT solution for the lazy baker: cake in a mug.

A handful of ingredients, a large mug, your microwave – and hey presto! in minutes you’ve whipped up a yummy, moist cake without even a hint of a soggy bottom.

Yes, you will basically be Mary Berry meets Cake Boss… on a good day.

Here, we round up our three absolute favourites for you to try right now.

 

The classic:

  • 4 tbsp self raising flour
  • 4 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 medium egg
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Vanilla or almond essence (just a few drops)
  • 2 tbsp chocolate chips/nuts/raisins (or all three!)
  1. Use the absolute largest mug you have.
  2. Add the flour, sugar and cocoa powder to the mug and mix with a fork.
  3. Add the egg to the mixture and mix again.
  4. Add all the other ingredients apart from the chocolate chips, nuts or raisins and combine until smooth.
  5. Finally, add the chocolate chips, nuts, and/or raisins.
  6. Depending on the size of your mug, you might want to tip out some excess mix if it looks like it’s going to overflow.
  7. Centre your mug in the middle of the microwave oven and cook on high for 4-5 mins, or until it has stopped rising and is firm to the touch.
  8. Remove and tip onto a plate before devouring.

Oreo chocolate:

  • 30g butter
  • 15g of milk chocolate
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp single cream
  • Vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 3 broken Oreo biscuits – plus one for decoration
  1. Get your giant mug and in it melt the butter with the chocolate in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds
  2. Beat the mixture until smooth and allow it to cool slightly.
  3. One by one, whisk in the egg, cream, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder.
  4. Add the broken Oreos without stirring too much.
  5. Cook in the microwave for about 90 seconds.
  6. Remove and decorate with the broken Oreo.
  7. Allow to cool for a minute before eating and enjoying.

Peanut butter chocolate:

  • 30g butter
  • 30g of dark chocolate
  • 1½ tsp peanut butter – plus 1 tsp extra
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
  • 5 tbsp plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  1. Get your giant mug and melt the butter with the chocolate in the microwave for 30–40 seconds.
  2. Beat the mixture until smooth, then allow it to cool slightly.
  3. One by one, whisk in the peanut butter, egg, sugar, flour and baking powder.
  4. Cook in the microwave for around 50 seconds.
  5. Push the additional spoonful of peanut butter into the middle and cook for a further 40 seconds.
  6. Allow to cool for one minute before eating.
  7. Repeat as hunger dictates!