Sainsbury’s Cuppa Cake Mix
When this little box arrived unannounced on my doorstep last week, I knew immediately that someone at Sainsbury’s had a fairly good grasp on my baking skill level.
A mug, an egg and a microwave. Sounds complicated, but luckily the back of the pack gives detailed instructions.
Inside the box, we have two of these large, fairly unappetising looking sachets of brown powder with the odd chunk of chocolate.
So I beat my medium egg in the mug, added my tablespoon of water then thoroughly mixed in the powder. At this point it didn’t look promising, so you’ll be pleased to know I didn’t take any pictures.
Finally, I zapped the mug in the microwave for for a minute and a half (this is how proper bakers do it, right?) and let the mug stand for a minute before revealing my cuppa cake in all its glory!
So it doesn’t look quite like the picture on the box. Despite using a large mug and following the instructions exactly, mine seems to have risen a little more.
But the proof of the pudding mug-cake is in the eating. So next came the simple task of removing it from the mug and slicing it in two. It does say each cake serves two people and can be served on plates.
Unfortnately, removing a moist spongey thing from a mug is easier said than done.
That bit on the right? That’s your half.
The taste is… well, it’s a litle like hot rubber and egg. There’s a bit of chocolateyness to it, and it has a vaguely sponge like texture, but it’s a bit chewy, to be honest. Don’t expect a light, fluffy sponge here.
Would I buy it? Personally, no. I guess kids might enjoy it as some kind of kitchen science experiment (probably best served with plenty of ice cream and chocolate sauce). At 99p for two sachets, I guess it could be used as emergency cake rations for when there’s nothing else around. At a stretch.
Overall though, it’s silly and fun. But it’s not really cake.
I bought some of these from a little Japanese store on Brewer Street a few years ago, for myself and friends, they just tickled my fancy, especially as none of the instructions were translated to English so it was all a game of guesswork.
I’ve seen recipes on the interwebs for making one’s own simlpe microwave mug cake mixes, pretty straightforward I think, even for non-bakers!
Or you could do it from scratch, save money, and have real chocolate in the ingredients. There are loads of recipes available – just Google “microwave mug cake recipes”
Yep, it will prob taste much better if you do it from scratch….and even better if you cook it slowly over the hob..kind of like scrambled eggs. It ends up looking like a mess, but if you don’t cook it too much, you end up with a chocolate fondant-type effect. YUM.