“Me making a Mug Cake? No! That’s never going to happen!”
Yes that was me until a few months ago! I really was against such sweet treats since I thought they would derail me from my healing journey. I also thought that cooking in a microwave oven was bad. Especially if you cooked stuff in it (as opposed to reheating). But thankfully it turned out that I was wrong on both fronts. My concerns were unwarranted.
When it comes to eating desserts or treats, there is a psychological aspect to it. We like to eat desserts not just because they taste good. But we also like them because of the joy they give us! Now that I am working more and more with clients coaching them on eating a healthy diet, I have begun to understand and appreciate this psychological component of eating better than I did before. A small treat helps us to feel good and NOT feel deprived which is HUGE when it comes to sticking to the diet! Hence I truly believe that sweet treats have a place even in healing diets. Of course the key is moderation! So in that respect, this mug cake is perfect since you are making only a small quantity! I actually make two servings of this mug cake eating only half of it at a time!
Now my other concern regarding the microwave also turned out to be baseless. Cooking in a microwave is not dangerous and does not damage the nutrients in the foods. Microwaves are perfectly safe to use as long as they are not damaged and leaking any radiation. I won’t go into the details here but you can read this excellent post by Dr Sarah Ballantyne on ‘The Paleo Mom’ website titled ‘Are microwaves safe to use’? where Sarah reviews all the scientific research published on this topic and gives her verdict that they are safe to use!
You can watch my video below to see step by step instructions!:
- ½ cup sweet potato boiled and mashed
- 1 tbsp cassava flour (or arrowroot flour)
- 1 tbsp coconut flour
- ½ tbsp carob or cocoa (use carob for AIP)
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp coconut milk
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup or coconut sugar
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract (use alcohol free for AIP)
- 2 tbsp hot water
- In a small bowl, add the mashed sweet potato puree and all the rest of the ingredients (in the order listed above). After adding the hot water, stir well using a spoon to form a thick wet mixture.
- Pour this mixture into a coffee mug or a ramekin.
- Cook in the microwave for 2 mins on high(full) power.
- Remove carefully from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving!
Are there any suitable AIP substitutions for the coconut flour and milk in this recipe?
I have not tried anything else but you could wither use tiger nut flour and avoid coconut flour or just increase the cassava or arrowroot flour. You could also replace coconut milk with tiger nut milk or just water. Lmk if you do try it!
Made it twice today using tiger nut flour and water for the coconut flour and milk. Also used 1 tablespoon melted palm shortening for the coconut oil. First time I made it I used the wrong type of salt, so it came out too salty and sweet. So I made it again with sea salt and omitted the sweetener, instead drizzling 1/2 tsp of honey on top. Was not molten, but more like a moist steamed cake. Tasted good 🙂
I cooked this for four minutes and it never turned into cake. Is it supposed to be more of a pudding? Also, I doubled the cocoa and the flavor still wasn’t very strong.
Hi there! Yes it is a bit gooey texture just like how mug cakes are in general. However upon cooling, it achieves more of a cake like texture. Not sure what happened in your case? If you doubled the cocoa, I would think you should have got a more ‘drier’ texture.