Eating To Live (Flashback to my first few weeks in Cambridge)

This is the reason why my blog died after August 2013. An excerpt from an unpublished blog post about the food in Cambridge (which, 2.5 years on, is slightly better):

As I (literally) single-handedly type this post with my right hand, my left hand is stuffing my face with a "Cheese Ploughman's" sandwich from the Department of Engineering cafeteria which tastes like an odd mix of... really odd things... There are no words. But I was desperately hungry, and the sandwich along with 2 mandarins did only set me back £2.70. In essence, I am eating to live.

With each bite of this sandwich, I am tempted to wave the white flag and surrender to my hunger, but my stomach won't be too happy. And so I soldier on. Yes, I have made a few war references. This is because, in my mind, I am at war with this awfully mediocre sandwich.

I'm back! With a chocolate mug cake :D

Sometimes I have chocolate cake cravings. They can be very strong. This particular time, I remembered that I had some Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream in my freezer. Once the thought was there, it grew and grew. Chocolate cake. Must. Have. Now.

Since I didn't feel like baking a whole big cake, I proceeded to instead scour the internet for recipes of mug cakes. My literature review was hurried and by no means extensive (unlike the one I did for my PhD), but it did yield a good recipe (from Nigella's website) which I edited to my taste and ended up being pretty darn tasty!

(No photo because I ate it too quickly - it's basically cake in a mug. Surprise.)

The version with my editions are here (for 2 servings):

3 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp sugar (use demerara or other brown sugars for a caramel-y, nutty taste)
1 medium egg
1 pinch of salt
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1 scoop vanilla ice cream

1. Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl.
2. Add in the milk and melted butter, and mix well.
3. Beat the egg lightly with a pinch of salt in a separate bowl, and add to the cake mixture.
4. Separate the batter into 2 mugs (can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days and microwaved when desired)
5. Microwave one mug for 1 minute (for 700 watt microwave).
6. Serve topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream!

(Yay for the other mug of batter waiting in the fridge for me. I know what I'm having after lunch tomorrow!)