Red Velvet Mug Cake with Frosting

This red velvet cake dates back to October 2020.  It is embarrassing how many recipes I have in my drafts and how few I am making right now.  But as it is the chilly depths of winter almost two years later, Sylvia and I have been talking about mug cakes.  So it seems timely to post this recipe, even though October 2020 gives me bad flashbacks to lockdowns.  That is not comforting with 102 deaths in Australia today: the highest death tally since 27 January this year.  Our government is resisting mask mandates as the covid diagnoses rise but everyone seems to be getting more worried which might mean that just a few extra public health measures to keep the numbers down will be welcomed.

Who would have guessed that ageing banana and pineapple in the fridge would lead to a red velvet mug cake!  The banana and pineapple went into Hummingbird Cake (photographed above).  We made lots of cream cheese frosting - twice the amount that I had made last time when I posted about it.  Sylvia was delighted with extra frosting because she wanted to try a red velvet mug cake recipe that she had seen online.

Sylvia was peckish after her school work and came to ask if she could make the mug cake she had seen on Tik Tok.  While it seems decadent to make a frosting for a mug cake, it seemed positively frugal to make a mug cake to use up leftover frosting from our Hummingbird cake.

She made it all by herself while I was working at my desk in the bedroom.  It also seemed quite indulgent to eat the mug cake while I had a zoom committee meeting but I was so pleased to meet a deadline, and sylvia had made an effort to make me one as well as her own and mug cakes really need to eaten warm.

The cake was delicious.  It was on the dry side.  In the past I have made a few microwave cakes that have been a little dry so it did not surprise me.  I think we substituted milk for cream because that was what we had.  But the frosting made it all ok.  It was good to have a home made mug cake work after Sylvia's brownie in a mug from a packet had ended up like hot chocolate. 

I regret to say I don't know the link to the TikTok vid that Sylvia used or I would credit it.  I did find a red velvet mug cake recipe online.  It has a little vinegar which I have added to the below recipe because it always makes the flavour shine that bit more.  That is from my notes and all I can say about it.  It is so long since we made it that I don't even remember if we made it more than once.  I can tell you that Sylvia is not so much into recipes any more.  She tends to make cakes in a mug and cookies in a mug with no need for a recipe these days.

More microwave mug recipes online:

• Brownie in a mug (v) - Green Gourmet Giraffe
  
• Chocolate mug cake - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Jam sponge pudding in a mug (v) - Tinned Tomatoes
  
• Pancake in a mug (v) - Busy Little Kiddies
• Rainbow mug cake - Bigger Bolder Baking

Red Velvet Mug Cake with frosting
From TikTok
Serves 1

1 tbsp margarine
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
drop or 2 red food colouring
cream cheese frosting or white choc chips
sprinkles 

Melt margarine in a microwave mug.  Mix in flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, milk and food colouring.  Mix until combined.  If you prefer white choc chips to frosting, sprinkle some on top now.  Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Set aside for 5 minutes and, if using, top with a dollop of frosting (or white chocolate chips if that is all you have) and some sprinkles.

On the Stereo:
Don't look at me: Billie Eilish