I'm not a baker, can all of you that are so good please tell me why

O

orchid

Well-known member
where I went wrong? I've made this cake in a mug and it's really good. Perfect when you just want a quick little treat so I decided to make it a Kahlua cake. I followed this recipe but replaced the cocoa with flour and the milk with Kahlua and added chocolate chips. Microwaved as normal and it exploded over the cup. What did I do wrong?

Edited: wanted to add that it never firmed like cake and was a delicious Kahlua pudding!

Chocolate Mug Cake

Servings: 1

4 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon oil, such as vegetable or canola

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients

Microwave on high for 90 seconds to 2 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn’t spill over (depending on the size of the mug).

Let cool one minute before eating.

 
Hmmm, fresh baking powder? . . .

mug too small? Your recipe says to watch to make sure it doesn't spill over (depending on the size of the mug.) Was the mug smaller than the one you have used before? Did you mix it extra hard?

This is interesting. Did you do anything differently than what you did before? Was any thing different than what was before?

 
I've made this recipe many times using the same mugs. It was

the same baking powder and instead of using the 2 Tbsp. cocoa I added 2 Tbsp. flour. I just replaced the amount of milk with Kahlua I mixed it just as I always have. Would the alcohol do anything different? And also, 1 mug didn't overflow and the other did. Although the one that didn't wasn't the same height as usual. I loved the flavor of this and I would love to figure out how to get it right.

 
Two possibilities - replacing the cocoa with flour could have a different reaction with the

baking powder because fo the difference in acidity and it is also adding more gluten to the product, which affects the structure of the cake. Either one of those could have an impact on the results.

 
Yes Lisa has most of the answer I think

Both substitutions are the problem I believe. I think replacing cocoa with flour is the main culprit and replacing one liquid with another that is totally different is also a problem for a good result. Alcohol does not work the same as milk in a recipe.

Generally my rule of thumb is that I follow recipes for baking pretty faithfully- a bit of a tweak now and then but never to the actual "formula" of the recipe- but I go hog-wild changing cooking/roasting, etc recipes as they are far more forgiving.

 
Another possible problem: the chocolate chips. . .

you added a solid to your batter, which may have raised your batter too high in your cup.

Just a guess here, but when I read the comments at the link below, I had an "A-HA--maybe" moment.

The specific comment is about the 4th comment down the comments section. It starts out: "I added a bit of caramel sauce and peanut butter into mine" . . .

And reading the other comments, it seems that if you change just about anything in the recipe, you run the risk of it cooking differently and possibly overflowing your cup.

http://fullthymestudent.com/2-minute-microwave-chocolate-cake/

 
And also wanted to say that I read all this to John and we were

just laughing! He said how nicely and gently you all told me I was a baking idiot. Seriously, I really thank you all. What a great group of friends

 
See? A new wonderful recipe. The thing is this.....

All of us started to learn how to cook somewhere. The way we learned and continue to learn is to try, try, try and sometimes stuff doesn't work but most of the time it does. Along the way we learn tips and "rules" and how things work- how ingredients match up, just what we can "tweak" to make something our own taste- so that next time we make a similar dish it turns out great. Learning the basics is really important and instead of trying to know them all at once we learn them along the way. A little at a time. We chuckle at the "ditzy" stuff we all do once in a while but the main thing is that we try.

 
I do that all the time but not with baking. I've never baked much

and all other things I have a rule with myself. If a recipe sounds good to me I make it just as is. After that, I will make changes along the way. I've just not made sweets a lot and it would be better for us both at our age that we stay away as much as possible.

 
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