First Posted: 4/22/2013

Sometimes, when it’s late at night and I’m laying in bed trying to sleep, a singular thought pops into my head:

“I could really go for a piece of cake.”

(What? Just me? You liars.)

And that sucks, because I’m not going to get up and bake a full one, and, odds are, no stores are open for me to go and buy one from.

Thankfully, some genius somewhere figured out a way to not only make a single serving of dessert, but to do it in under five minutes. It’s no wonder there is currently chocolate all over my bedsheets.

Cakes, cookies, brownies, you name it – it can all be made for one person via coffee mug.

There are tons of recipes out there, but I’ve found two that I stick with because they taste incredible: the chocolate peanut butter mug cake and the banana Nutella microwave brownie.

First and foremost, make sure you grab a larger-than-normal-sized mug. These things are going to blow up pretty big, but don’t freak out because they eventually deflate for your noshing pleasure.

All the mug cake requires is flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, milk, vegetable oil, and peanut butter. Whisk the dry ingredients together in the mug with a fork, then add the milk, vegetable oil, and peanut butter. Whisk all of that together until smooth.

Pop it in the microwave on high for a minute and 10, let it cool, and enjoy.

It’s seriously that easy. Same thing goes for the banana Nutella microwave brownie. This one has even less ingredients with banana, chocolate chips, flour, sugar, butter, and Nutella.

Mash the half banana up in the mug, then simply add the rest of the ingredients and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove the mug and stir everything inside up, then pop it back up in the mic for one to two more minutes until it reaches brownie consistency.

Who loses in this situation? No one. Start your morning with some coffee, then end the day in the same fashion with dessert. Just make sure you have a napkin ready. Or don’t devour it like a savage, like I do.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MUG CAKE

Courtesy of thenovicechefblog.com

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 3 tablespoons milk

• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon peanut butter

How-to:

• In a large mug, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the milk, vegetable oil and peanut butter. Whisk until smooth.

• Cook in the microwave on high for 1 minute and 10 seconds.

BANANA NUTELLA MICROWAVE BROWNIE

Courtesy of erinsfoodfiles.com

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ripe banana

• 1 oz chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour

• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 heaping tablespoon Nutella

How-to:

• Add banana to mug and mash with a fork. Add remaining ingredients.

• Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds, stir well with a fork. Microwave 1-2 minutes more until it looks like a brownie.