Single Serve, Flourless Chocolate Mug Cake

I've been slowly getting rid of all store-bought junk in my pantry. It's been taking years with my junk-food eating husband but I finally have him down to just a few snacks, most of which he hides in his home office.

My intentions are two-fold:

1. With fewer processed snacks and goodies in the pantry I'm much safer from the mindless night-time snack sessions I have way too often. If I had a nickel for every time I found myself with an empty bag of whatever by my side I'd be a rich woman.
2. The kids have no other choice but to eat the much healthier snacks I keep on hand, which usually get passed up for Dad's Doritos or chocolate cupcakes. With a "cleaner" pantry they are now grabbing things like pistachios, cashews and fruit that I keep out in a basket. Well, the older one at least. My little man is still not crazy about fruit but he can eat his weight in pistachios!

I also love that it forces me to get creative. I've said this a million times but I don't think it can be stressed enough: I'm 100% more satisfied when I make something instead of grabbing something. The process of pulling out ingredients, whipping something up and enjoying it is so much more rewarding than rummaging through the pantry for a bag or box to open.  There's just something about staying more conscious about what I'm eating, and quite frankly I feel less guilt.

I know we shouldn't feel guilty when it comes to our food choices but when I stare down an empty bag of chips there's a bit of remorse.

Anyway, this is a long intro for my latest mug cake experiment. I've made and tweaked it a few times trying to find that balance of yumminess and  lightness. This isn't the most amazing cake you will ever eat, but for those nights when a chocolate snack attack hits and you want to feel good about the choice you made this will hit the spot.

Here's what I did...

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of kosher salt
• ½ tablespoon real maple syrup (10g)
• 2 tablespoon PB2 (12g) (Powdered Peanut Butter -- Click here to learn more)
• 2 tablespoon cocoa powder (10g)
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips (15g)

Instructions

Whisk the egg, vanilla, salt and maple syrup in a coffee mug with a fork.

Add in the PB2 and cocoa powder and mix well until you don't see any dry chunks. It may be thick but you can ad a slight dab of water if need be.

Stir in the baking powder and chocolate chips.

Microwave on high for 1 minute.

That's it!

You can dig right in!

You may not think it's a lot but the serving is quite large and VERY filling.  Here I dumped it out of the mug and cut it in half.

So satisfying with a cup of tea or a glass of milk!

I opted to reduce the overall sweetness and add some chocolate chips to give the cake a bit more moistness, which is its biggest problem. I always use mini chips so they disperse better but you can use regular or skip them altogether and increase the maple syrup a touch to compensate for the amount of sugar.

Calories and points came out a little higher than I excepted but this cake is really filling. Totally worth the splurge if you are fighting those "need to eat" demons as I do.

Note: I forgot to link to PB2 -- Basically it's powdered Peanut Butter. I introduced it in this post where I used it in a smoothie. I order mine off Amazon as it's cheaper than in my local stores.

📖 Recipe