It goes without saying that the internet has given us many beautiful things. Memes, for instance, provide a necessary distraction from work, school, or the ads at the beginning of YouTube videos. Likewise, I’m not sure if I could survive a day without having my lame Baltimore Orioles spring training observations liked by random strangers.
But all these things pale in comparison to the internet’s greatest gift: the proliferation of mug cake popularity.
I used to be firmly against the mug cake. For starters, they’re just not practical. I like my cake after exceptionally large dinners with my belt loosened and eaten while sipping coffee. From what, may I ask, do I drink coffee from if I’m eating cake in my coffee mug? The cake pan?
And then there’s the issue of measuring out ingredients and having things like flour, eggs, and oil on hand. Frankly, I’m lucky if I have leftover McGriddles in my fridge. The odds of having all those ingredients in my apartment are worse than maneuvering a modified YT 1300 light freighter through an asteroid field.
That said, Duncan Hines new Perfect Size for 1 Cake Mixes are doing a lot to change my thinking, thanks largely to a dummy approach that involves nothing more than a few tablespoons of water and a mug. Thankfully, I do, in fact, own a sink.
The new mug cake packets come in 18 flavors, which, let me be honest, is more cake than anyone really needs. So it made sense to start with the essentials: A birthday cake flavor and something chocolaty.
The Confetti Cake is surprisingly good —- much better than your standard Pillsbury Doughboy Funfetti, if you ask me. I got notes of a strong vanilla and buttercream element throughout the cake, which was light and fluffy yet still moist. The little bursts of sprinkled sweetness provide a great touch, especially when you consider that you don’t have to eat them at a ten-year-old’s birthday party. My only complaint is that there’s a slight aftertaste and grittiness of uncooked flour.
Weary of the uncooked flour, I upped the cooking time by a whopping ten seconds on the Chocolate Lover’s Cake, which I imagine was inspired by all the past cake’s on Pinterest which were made for somebody’s DH. That, or the marketing folks ate it and proclaimed it to taste like the love child of a chocolate chip muffin and chocolate angel food cake. In this they were spot on. There’s a lightness and airy structure to the crumb, but there’s definitely a moist, rich element that explodes with little morsels of semisweet chocolate. This cake was excellent, even sans frosting.
Certainly, my mug cakes weren’t Pinterest quality in appearance, but I can live with that. In fact, since the Perfect Size for 1 Cakes only take about a minute to make, I plan on ditching cake porn altogether and investing even more quality time with memes while, as they say, having my cake and eating it too.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 pouch – Confetti Cake – 270 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 370 milligrams of sodium, 50 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 30 grams of sugar, and 3 gram of protein. Chocolate Lover’s – 300 calories, 80 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 53 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 32 grams of sugar, and 4 gram of protein.)
Purchased Price: $2.50 each
Size: 4-pack
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Confetti)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Chocolate Lover’s)
Pros: Incredibly easy to make, even for the most kitchen averse people. Moist yet fluffy cake element combines best of muffin, poke cake, and angel cake worlds. More time for memes.
Cons: Varieties do not include chocolate eclair or pumpkin cheesecake. Undercooked cake has gritty texture and aftertaste. Will explode if you add to much water.
These look so good…I miss those Betty crocker warm delights so these are exciting to me. Honestly, I like the concept so much and the cute-ness factor that, even if the taste is lacking, I’m not sure I’d care! So it is a bonus that they seem to be tasty too. I think it just needs some milk or a scoop of ice cream. I hope people will review the others too.. so many choices, so I want advice on which to try first. Super interested in the lemon, the muffins, and the confetti, so I’m glad the latter was reviewed here. I’d also like to know how the many chocolate varieties compare. Walmart here I come!
Yesssss… omg I’m so happy these reviewed high. My trips to Walmart left me empty handed of these, but I just found a coupon via another store sooooo.. I’m hopeful I can find these. They’d be perfect at work.. a little treat for myself after running around.
I am an experienced baker and made this mug cake tonight for my 20+ year old son. I used milk instead of water as suggested in the “Tip.”
We BOTH thought the cake was awful!!
There was NO vanilla taste like a previous contributor described! In fact, it hardly had ANY taste.
Saying it was BLAND would be an understatement!!!! The raw batter taste 100% better than when it was cooked!
My son suggested we add some whip cream or frosting to the finished cake. The Canned Buttercream frosting tasted so much better than the cake! We scraped the frosting off the cake and ate that, and threw away the cake!
This Mug Cake did NOT taste anything like the “full size” Confetti Cake Mix.
RECOMMENDATION: Don’t waste your money! The 4 pack is pricey @ $2.50.
The Duncan Hines Cake Mixes were on sale for $.99!
I agree. I wonder if those that liked it ever baked, or were they used to those plasticized supermarket cakes. Awful!
Agreed I just tried chocolate lovers and the lemon cake 3 tablespoons of water did not seem to be enough
Maybe I should try putting the liquid 1st
I have 2 more flavors
I don’t have high hopes
I agree and people keep saying less than 1 minute . After it is put into the mug and milk added it says to microwave a minute 50 sec and let sit for 2 minutes. In my opinion, after this length of time, it tastes and has the consistency of warm dough.
Well, I’m not expecting a homemade cake out of a one-minute microwaveable creation, nor should anyone else who tries one of these. I’ve had two different varieties so far and liked them both. They’re convenient–that’s the whole point of it. That, and they’re a fun idea. We’ve made them as a quick, fun snack for a few girls’ night slumber party. It’s nice having a warm, just-out-of-the-oven treat. I don’t expect Martha friggin’ Stewart to come over to bake me a one-mug creation and make it taste like she spent four days prepping & baking it, and neither should anyone else. Only the most insufferable food snob would drone on about these and how dreadfully “awful” they are–they’re not. They’re quite tasty–just not maybe homemade from scratch, but then again, they don’t claim to be. Glad the canned frosting didn’t disappoint your sensitive palates, tho.
We tried two types and they were both nasty, I will not buy any of these again.
I agree ! I bought two , made one and threw the other unopened in the trash!!
I tried the cinnamon coffee cake and I thought it was tasty. I am not a huge cake eater so if I made a whole large cake, it would just go to waste or I’d end up eating it in one sitting. These are great portion control and they are super fast and easy to make so they are great for a treat while on break at work. I highly recommend. Just be sure to stir VERY well and scrape the sides & bottom like the instructions say. I cooked mine 10 seconds longer on accident and it turned out perfect so I would recommend doing that off the get go. I can’t wait to try the lemon!
I have tried the Banana and Chocolate and love them for quick snack will go back and buy more cant wait to try the others.
Wanted to love and cherish these mug cakes. However when I read the carbohydrate count, I felt absolutely deflated and sad. I can only have 60 carbs. per meal, as I am diabetic, darn! The two nutrition facts I read were around 50 & 60. Unless it’s my birthday, I’ll be leaving those carb-infested beauties on the shelf and out of that aisle! Sadly, I don’t belong there, speaking only of myself. Other diabetics do what you want, but I’m the boss of my body!
Everyone else enjoy!!!
I am absolutely insane about the “Perfect size for 1” mixes !!! I have sent them out as b’day “surprises”,
with a ribbon and candle attached, to family/friends. it didn’t take long before I was being asked “NOT”
to send along any more, per order of their doctor. Why … (?) … because of the sugar/carb/salt infested
counts.
Please come up with this same product, without those devastating numbers, so that everyone/including
diabetics can enjoy these d’lightful treats !!!
I go along with Linda and Michelle!!! Wish the #s wasn’t so high so I can have them to. Was hoping for a quick and easy way to have a good dessert BUT now that’s out the window for a single person.
I must of done something wrong. I got the chocolate lovers one and I followed the directions. I put the pack in the mug, put 3 tbls of milk and began stirring. It was super hard to stir and mix up. It was coming together in big clumps, and it was so dry, and yes, I did use tbls!! I even tried to add a little bit of water. That may have helped a tiny bit, but not much. Needless to say, it came out dry as h_ll. Don’t understand what I did wrong. The directions are quite easy, that’s why I wanted to try it. Anyone want to take a stab at what happened.
I used to spend hours making cinnamon rolls, pecan sticky buns and other goodies. As mentioned above, I’d eat way more than I should. I’ve found the cinnamon coffee cake to be an adequate 2nd place to a pan of homemade rolls. I use some confectioners sugar/milk glaze to really add flavor. Melt some butter in the cup then coat the sides before mixing, water in first.
Good snack at work with not much effort, keeps the pounds in check
I got perfect size so stupid such a waste of money seriously powdered frosting. How cheep are you people
Every flavor I have tried, has been fantastic..and I have tried several. They are the perfect size for when I need a sweet something at work !! I have never had one that was dry or hard to mix. I have always used water, never milk. I just made the Cookies and Cream one at work and several people tried it. It was fluffy and moist and had good flavor !!
I just tried one of these and it was awful. Any cake made in the microwave is going to stink.
Duncan blew it. Waste of money . Got these for free, and even that was too expensive.
If you’re looking for a bakery cake equivalent go to the bakery,
this isn’t it.
If you’re looking to satisfy that “gee I wish I had some cake” yearning, this works.
I had the carrot cake warm, with butter. A tip: it’s not nearly as good cold. It gets kinda rubbery.
While it wasn’t the best carrot cake I’ve ever had, (that would be mine,,,home made)
it satisfied, was easy, and I didn’t have a big cake sitting around to stuff myself with.
Next up: chocolate.
I love them when I need that late night sweet, it works for me, don’t understand what others expectations were for something that was eight servings for $4?????
I love these cakes for 1 ive tried coffe cake, the brownie and the choc cake. Do you or will you make a sampler pk with 1 of each i work at a hospital and the nurses were wondering so they can try them all
Tried the chocolate mocha. Yuck. I figured they aren’t great since my local Dollar tree has tons of them, but Dunkin Hines couldn’t be all that bad. WRONG. Glad I only bought one box of 4.