Perhaps a common ‘ailment’ of many food bloggers is that we can’t resist tinkering with recipes. Even an excellent recipe can still be improved or tweaked to create another one. Speciation, culinary style, I suppose.

After my last experiment on an instant chocolate cake baked in the microwave, which in turn is based on a recipe from the BBC, I thought that I had been choco’d out since I am an unapologetic non-chocoholic. Well, ok to dark chocolate per se but not to what goes with it. I found the last recipe ok, as long as you don’t eat it in one sitting. It is definitely chocolatey, dense and resembles a French gateau more than a light sponge or chiffon cake. However, I found that using one egg for the miniscule proportions was still too heavy for my taste.

As soon as I sampled the first cake, the cogs in my brain started turning. The recipe needs to be slightly revised to cut down on the richness. Sweeten it up a bit to make it more palatable to others. How about using orange instead of vanilla extract?

And so here goes the revised cake recipe.

6 tbsp cake flour (all-purpose will do)
6 1/2 tbsp muscovado sugar (6 tbsp only if using white sugar)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
4 tbsp evaporated milk
4-5 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp orange extract
Will fit into 250 ml ramekin


  1. Put flour, sugar and cocoa powder into the cup (mug or ramekin) and mix very well until there are no more lumps.
  2. Beat egg in another cup then add milk, butter and orange extract.
  3. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until totally blended.
  4. Place inside the microwave at approximately 3 minutes medium-high setting.

How do I like this new recipe? Much, much better than the previous one. It is still smooth with a compact crumb. Though a wee bit sweeter than I would prefer, the orange cuts down the richness and makes it not cloying.

Good, good! But of course, it is not meant to be eaten in one sitting. This recipe would be good enough for four people, as a dessert or serves three at tea time.

Related posts: