437: Mug Cakes

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:03

I'm Matthew.

Molly 0:04

And I'm Molly. And

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05

this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and see if we know anything about mug cakes.

Molly 0:12

Yes, this episode is about mug cakes, which is a term

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:16

I'd never heard. And that was my idea. And yet, I don't know if I have anything to contribute.

Molly 0:23

And you should have seen me yesterday trying to do some, you know, internet research into mug kings. So if you enter the term mug cake into Google, it just brings up a bunch of recipes. There's not like a Wikipedia entry for these things. No, I

Unknown Speaker 0:38

think when I was last when

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:40

I searched Wikipedia just took me to cupcakes.

Molly 0:42

Yeah, I tried other other search terms to like, microwave cakes. That still just took me to mug cakes. Yeah, so we are really I mean, I gotta tell you without Wikipedia, we are lost here on spilled milk.

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:56

I mean, it does raise an interesting philosophical question, though, which is, is a mug a type of cup? And the answer is definitely yes. There's no ambiguity there whatsoever.

Molly 1:06

That's correct. Okay. But I do think that when we talk about cupcakes in general, we all picture something that goes in a traditional type of oven, whether you know, conventional or convection, it goes in an oven oven. Yeah, yeah. Mug Cake goes in a microwave oven.

Matthew Amster-Burton 1:25

Yes. And so the reason I want to do this episode is because like a week or two ago, teenager of the show Iris walked into the room and said, I think I want to make a mug cake. And I thought they said mud cake for like several minutes. I'm like, oh, a mud cake either. That's either like some sort of like rich chocolate cake or maybe it's one of those like dirt cakes with gummy worms coming out of it. Either way. Sounds good to me. And then I realized at some point that they'd actually said mug a cake. Like oh, yeah, I do sort of know what that is.

Molly 1:55

Did you ask teenager of the show Iris where they'd gotten the idea to do a mug cake? I

Matthew Amster-Burton 2:00

did and they just said like they you know there was no there was no pre made dessert in the house and they wanted some kind of cake or chocolate II thing. Okay, okay, I said like, are your friends talking about mug cakes? They're like now?

Molly 2:14

Yeah, I wondered like, is this what the kids are talking about these days? Like on tik tok?

Matthew Amster-Burton 2:18

Is that is that what they do on Tick Tock? 100% Tick Tock is nothing but like clips of kids making mug cakes with Old Town road playing in the background.

Molly 2:27

What's Old Town road?

Matthew Amster-Burton 2:28

Oh my god. I think I think you just caused the biggest gasp in the history of Mali not knowing things on spill.

Molly 2:38

Wait, what's Old Town road

Matthew Amster-Burton 2:40

is the most successful hit song in the history of the Billboard charts.

Molly 2:46

Okay, sing it. Wrap it What? What is

Matthew Amster-Burton 2:48

going to take my horse to the old town road. I'm going to ride till I can no more. It's by this this like 20 year old rapper named little NAS x who like bought a beat off the internet. And I was like, I'm gonna make like a country rap song. And it ended up being literally the most successful hit song in history.

Molly 3:06

I've never heard of this. I mean, I'm in my closet right now. And and I think that that what this moment reveals is that I've been in it like living under a rock in my closet for a lot longer than just this quarantine.

Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21

Yeah, I guess so. Like you. You have you have some sort of personal protective equipment that's protecting you from pop culture.

Molly 3:29

I don't know if I'm supposed to be proud of it or

Matthew Amster-Burton 3:33

confused, right? It's just a song. Anyway, I think I think the song originally became popular on tik tok maybe, or maybe a different, like app that kids use and adults are like, what's that thing?

Molly 3:44

Okay. All right. Well, anyway, yeah. So Matthew, and I usually, you know, when we schedule a taping of a Spilt Milk episode, we usually consult this ever growing list of show topics, some suggested by one of us, some suggested by one of you, listeners, mug cakes just seemed to come out of nowhere. And Matthew was like, Alright, we're doing mug cakes. It was very unilateral. If you usually more like collaborative.

Matthew Amster-Burton 4:15

That's, that's true. Well, I don't know. I mean, I just watched the movie nine and a half weeks and it made me It made me like tap into like, a monster and maybe a monster. Yes. Yeah. So I that's my explanation. Although I didn't watch the movie till after I suggested mug cakes. Maybe the monster was in me all along.

Unknown Speaker 4:34

Anyway,

Molly 4:35

so speaking of nine and a half weeks, we might have an exciting announcement.

Matthew Amster-Burton 4:39

I think we are gonna have an exciting announcement

Molly 4:41

for spilled milk listeners. So

Matthew Amster-Burton 4:42

make it exciting announcement is like we're gonna have some sort of erotic getaway.

Molly 4:47

I was actually thinking nine and a half weeks like it seems like maybe one of us was pregnant and we were nine and a half weeks pregnant. That's

Matthew Amster-Burton 4:54

possible. Yeah, that's Yeah, that's,

Molly 4:56

I'm gonna tell you guys that is not the surprise. I'm gonna tell you it's definitely not me. It's definitely not me either. It's also not producer Abby. Okay.

Matthew Amster-Burton 5:04

Anyway, but we are gonna have an exciting we're gonna take the the listeners on some sort of erotic journey it within the next couple of months.

Molly 5:11

Yeah, yeah. Matthew, do you have any mug cakes on your memory lane?

Matthew Amster-Burton 5:15

No, I'm not actually sure. When I first learned of mug cakes, it seems like they came out of nowhere A few years ago, like I was thinking like, Oh, they must have been around like since the dawn of the microwave era. But no, it doesn't seem like it seems like they they appeared in this kind of the same way that cakepops did. Hmm.

Molly 5:33

You know, now that I'm sitting here listening to you talk about this, I realized that either in the middle of the night last night or this morning, as I was like waking up, I was thinking about what I would say during this segment of the show,

Matthew Amster-Burton 5:46

the memory lane segment, that memory

Molly 5:48

lane segment, and I was wondering whether mug cakes were like a vestige of the early microwave era when you know how all new appliances even today come with like a little Collection of Recipes from the manufacturer. Absolutely. And I was just wondering if that was where mug cakes come from. But you say no.

Matthew Amster-Burton 6:08

I mean, I say no. But do I actually have proof of that? No, I think I think we would have to like go into, like a microwave museum to find the answer. Like the microwave wing of the Smithsonian or like the small appliance wing of the Smithsonian, where they would have like the first toaster, the first microwave, your dad's old fax machine?

Molly 6:28

Yeah. Yes. This all reminds me of how like nutrasweet used to send out gumballs Do you remember that?

Matthew Amster-Burton 6:37

Oh, I Oh, that makes sense.

Molly 6:40

Yeah, when like artificial sweeteners first came on the market. I remember, you know, excitedly like seeing in the mail one day, this pack of like multicolored gumballs that had come in the mail from I think it was nutrasweet. And it was to get people interested in their product. And I was so pumped about these gumballs and so bummed that I couldn't just like go into the store and buy them somewhere. Really? Oh, like, they

Matthew Amster-Burton 7:05

hooked you on the gumball. They were trying to hook you on the sweetener itself, but you're just like, I want more gumballs Exactly. gumballs Exactly.

Molly 7:13

Anyway, so yeah, I wonder if you know, when, when microwaves were first invented, if like Panasonic or whoever made the first microwave sent out a bunch of mug cakes in the mail. And so in houses all across the world, children were like, Oh, this new device can make these special cakes for me.

Matthew Amster-Burton 7:34

I don't I think this is like a like a Philip K Dick alternate history version of the story because I don't think this happened. But it would be great if like, just one day ding dong. The the mail carrier is here and and they brought a mug with some with some powder in it.

Molly 7:49

Yeah, that sounds

Matthew Amster-Burton 7:52

cool. To open the door and like I brought you a mug with some powder in it.

Molly 7:58

Yeah. And meanwhile, like, you know, every child's mother is rushing to get between the child and the mailman. Anyway, okay, so I have no memory lane for this cake. It sounds like your memory lane dates back a couple of weeks ago.

Matthew Amster-Burton 8:13

I was just gonna say exactly that. So my memory ladies two weeks ago, teenager the show I said I want to make a mug cake.

Molly 8:19

Okay, great. Well, since then, I've

Matthew Amster-Burton 8:21

tried three different mug cakes.

Molly 8:23

Oh, really? Yeah. I was wondering because you you recommended this one particular one, which is the one I made. We'll talk about in just a second. But you've made multiple ones.

Matthew Amster-Burton 8:31

Well, I made the one you were interested in that you put on the agenda. And then I also Well, I didn't make it but teenager the show Iris made the ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman one with Manta extract, which was fine.

Molly 8:44

Ah, okay. Oh my god. Well, then let's get right down to it. Because I'm very excited to hear that you made the other one I'm curious about Hmm. Okay, hold on Matthew. So,

Matthew Amster-Burton 8:54

alright, let's get right into this. Hold on.

Molly 8:57

Okay. So when would you make a mug cake? Like, who does this kind of thing? Okay, so

Matthew Amster-Burton 9:03

I think there was an article about this on eater from like, last year about like, what kind of emotional need does the mug cake fulfill are like emotional and cultural. Kind of skim the article? So I don't know the answer to that question. But I think the answer is your home. As we are, you have run out of like things that you can just snack on directly out of the root cellar, and you're like, Okay, I'm taking it to the next step. I want no more.

Molly 9:29

No more raw potatoes,

Matthew Amster-Burton 9:30

no more raw potatoes, no more turnips, no more parsnips no more rutabagas. No more sunchokes. And so you've got it. You got to make something from scratch, but you want it to be individual sized. And you don't want to spend more than like two minutes on the whole process. And so a mud cake is a way of just combining a few ingredients that you probably have on hand in a mug, which you probably also have on hand and putting them into the microwave and then you can have your snack or dessert.

Molly 9:59

This jibes with I read which is that, you know, people tend to feel like I feel like I'm reporting on some super dumb psychological study, okay? People quote, need a chocolate fix. And so they make a monkey, okay? Or people and this one makes me feel a little sad for humanity. People want dessert without the quote unquote decadence of the whole cake. Yeah. Like as like as though they were just going to make a single serving so they wouldn't like you know, fly off the handle and eat the whole cake. Okay, made a nice cake. Which makes me feel sad for people that that

Matthew Amster-Burton 10:42

well, it is so easy to make a second or third mug cake. So

Molly 10:47

Right, right, anyway. Okay, but uh, so I say go go for the whole cake. Everybody go for the whole cake. Oh, wait, wait. So

Matthew Amster-Burton 10:55

on the mud cake episode. I mean, I guess I've been doing this on every episode recently. You You just seems like you just announced that you're anti mug cake. Oh,

Molly 11:02

I just feel a little bit like, I almost always have some sort of a cake. Or like, like muffin or cookie or something in the works

Matthew Amster-Burton 11:13

must be nice. Marie Antoinette.

Molly 11:17

No, just because I like to bake. I guess this already makes me not a great maybe mug cake candidate. I like to bake. I don't mind taking the time to do it. And the results are so worth it to me. So I don't know. I feel like I'm definitely the kind of person who thinks that it is a totally normal thing to always have some sort of simple cake sitting on your counter.

Matthew Amster-Burton 11:44

Okay, yeah, I mean, that's fair. I don't always have a simple cake sitting on the counter. But we I mean, we usually have some sort of cookie around. Like right now there's some sesame shortbread cookies. quite tasty.

Molly 11:54

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I just feel like, I'm glad mug cakes exist. I mean, I love my microwave oven. Don't get me wrong, use it multiple times a day. But I I have no problem with throwing down the time to bake a full cake and I am sticking to it.

Matthew Amster-Burton 12:12

Okay, so I have a different reason that I don't like mug cakes. Okay, this is not gonna be they're not very good that that was the reason? Yeah, like I haven't I haven't had one that I thought was really worth the effort, which is not much effort.

Molly 12:27

Okay, well, let's, let's get down to it here. So how do these things work? anyway? Can we talk for just a second about what actually goes on in here? But

Matthew Amster-Burton 12:34

yeah, please, because I was curious about that. Like, I feel like I've had like the are you gonna explain how a microwave works?

Molly 12:40

I'm gonna explain how a microwave works. And then I want to see if we can sort of try to figure out from that like, why it is that the texture of mug cakes is what it is. Oh, that's

Matthew Amster-Burton 12:51

interesting. Now is it true that you wrote like the the display card copy for the microwave wing of the of the Smithsonian?

Molly 13:00

I did. Okay, I did. And here we go. I'm going to read it straight from the Popular Science website. Yeah, cuz I found that surprisingly moving. Okay, alright. So inside the average microwave, inside any microwave, there is a device called a magnetron. Okay, and it's usually on the side of the oven box that has you know, like the the keypad on it right? So you can't see this thing it's behind a plastic panel but it uses electricity from the electrical outlet to generate microwaves which are a type of radio wave. Okay. The oven channels these waves into the box where they penetrate any food that's in there. So the way that these waves work to heat food is that they excite the water molecules in the food they make the water molecules vibrate faster if you get here the water molecules they be saying exactly and and that heats up the food it does your microwave have a turntable

Matthew Amster-Burton 14:00

does Yeah, I kind of hate it because like if you bump it slightly it gets off track and then you have to take the turntable out and take out the little thing with the wheels underneath and put it all back together.

Molly 14:12

So my microwave is from goodwill was like a few years ago and not long after we got it. We broke the glass turntable inside and I have never replaced it nor have I done anything else to fabricate a turntable and so all that is in the microwave is the like base that the turntable sits

Matthew Amster-Burton 14:33

on with the wheels three wheels. Yeah, yes.

Molly 14:36

And so anything we put in the microwave, we balance right in the center of the the turntable thing. Wow, you really hope hope it doesn't tip over.

Matthew Amster-Burton 14:47

Is this what they called work life balance.

Molly 14:50

Yes, exactly. Exactly. Anyway, so the turntable inside a microwave continually rotates the dish. So it's really funny. I

Matthew Amster-Burton 14:59

don't know why. It's so funny but just imagining balancing things on on the works of the former turntable is.

Molly 15:10

Kind of now wonder why I have never just gone online and like ordered from the manufacturer a new glass turntable thing?

Matthew Amster-Burton 15:18

I don't know. I mean, if you did, like it's gonna be like you're $26 that you probably paid $8 for the microwave.

Molly 15:25

The microwave still has like a 499 price tag on it. Anyway. So the turntable rotates the dish which evenly distributes the microwave energy through the food. So this is in general how microwaves work. Now, I don't really understand why so here's the thing with with microwave cakes, right? So they're very easy to overcook very

Matthew Amster-Burton 15:48

easy like the first time I made a mug cake I definitely overcooked it.

Molly 15:52

So these things only quote unquote Bake for 60 to 90 seconds about right so when you over bake chores did it become dry? What happened to

Matthew Amster-Burton 16:03

it? Like dry and kind of gummy? Like not gummy? Exactly. But like, like, you know, like when you try and reheat like bread or a sandwich in the microwave, and the bread gets like spongy and really, like tough and chewy.

Molly 16:16

Why? Why does the microwave make things gummy?

Matthew Amster-Burton 16:21

I don't know the answer. Like it has something to do with with its effect on like the strands of protein in a bread or a cake. But like why that happens in the microwave, but not in the regular oven. Even if you overcook the cake. I'm not sure. I mean actually, I don't know. Like if you like severely overcooked a cake in the regular oven, would it have that kind of texture? No, I

Molly 16:44

think it just gets dry. Sorry. It's not like dry and springy, spongy. Yes. springy. In this Popular Science article, they go on to talk about like, what makes a mug cake work and what makes it not work. And I found this kind of leg. Like they were totally missing the point here they were just talking about in general, like how do cakes work? Oh, so this particular article was saying that the eggs are a key component especially the yolk because the yolk emulsifies the fats and the liquids in the cake, right? So the oil and the butter which whichever one you're using in your particular cake, plus any other liquid in the cake, right milk or most of these mug cakes have some milk, right?

Matthew Amster-Burton 17:31

Yes,

Molly 17:32

they were saying that that if you use the egg white, it can make your cake more moist, but the whites can also D nature you know when exposed to the microwaves and make the texture funky.

Matthew Amster-Burton 17:46

This is I mean this is a hard problem. And now I think about it I believe I have purchased a commercial like ghiradelli mug cake. We also used to have a mug cake as an advertiser, they're probably not coming back after this. The the ghiradelli mug cake like it was better than homemade probably because it has some sort of you know, like dough flour conditioners in it like gums and emulsifiers and stuff. It still wasn't very good. It was like not nearly as good as like a box of ghiradelli brownies. Would you bake in the regular oven? I think just making a cake in the microwave is a is a difficult problem

Molly 18:19

well, so some recipes that I found intentionally leave out the egg saying that like the egg can make it like rubbery and also that so you know usually when you're making a cake you're using one maybe two eggs in it right for a whole cake whereas if you're making a mug cake and it has a egg in it like what are you going to put one whole egg in your mug kit

Matthew Amster-Burton 18:42

seems like a lot I mean you'd be better off making like a fried egg and just putting it on top.

Molly 18:46

Exactly. Exactly. Yes.

So you tried two different Mug Cake Recipe Yes, I did one without egg and one with egg will you tell me about so you did the one on the New York Times cooking site that uses a gray Okay, so

Matthew Amster-Burton 19:07

this one is a controversial recipe because not only does it use egg but it doesn't have flour in it and so you melt a little butter in the mug before you add the rest of the ingredients which seemed like a good sign to me. But then I hated the texture.

Molly 19:23

The texture

Matthew Amster-Burton 19:24

like I mean it was like if you could imagine like eating a like a scrubber sponge but more tender

Molly 19:32

wait a minute like the rough side of a sponge

Matthew Amster-Burton 19:34

oh no sorry not a scrubber sponge like a regular cellulose sponge. Okay like like you know it it didn't have like the spring of a sponge but it's like it had like, like lots and lots of air bubbles in a bad way.

Molly 19:47

Where did the air bubbles come from from the egg? Yeah, I

Matthew Amster-Burton 19:50

mean from you know you'd like you whiskey. You and you so you get a bunch of, of tiny tiny air bubbles into it and then when the egg cooks it preserves them as they expand And kind of I think,

Molly 20:01

okay, so so this was gross. Yeah, I

Matthew Amster-Burton 20:03

hate it. It's one of the one of the only times recently that I can think of we were like I had a chocolate thing and I'm like this talk, I don't like this chocolate thing. I'm gonna throw it out on the plus side. It was the whole cake removed, like detached from the mug very smoothly. And so I was able to just like chunk the whole thing into the compost.

Molly 20:20

What that is very much unlike the other one that we write, which is read Drummond's chocolate cake in a mug. That's the recipe for it from the Food Network website. I like that it is it was in two episodes, dorm room, dining, and best of chocolate lovers. But so this one does not use a bag. This one does have flour. This one uses oil, not butter, and it sticks the fuck all over the inside of the mirror dies.

Matthew Amster-Burton 20:48

Yeah, it's

Molly 20:49

like I had to soak my mug overnight.

Matthew Amster-Burton 20:52

Like if you have a mug that you hate, and you do something mean to make this cake.

Molly 20:58

Yeah, if somebody gives you like one of those really ugly mugs or somebody goes on a trip and they like bring you back a quote unquote, gift from the trip, but it's really just one of those mugs from Starbucks. And you're just feeling mad. You should make a mug cake in it.

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:14

You know, you should do that harsh it is or if you're mad at your dad, you you get his like number one dad blog you make you eat it yourself. And then you basically like Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 21:28

yeah.

Molly 21:30

Yeah. Richard amster

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:35

That's right. Okay.

Molly 21:36

My my dad's not around, so I can't do this to

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:39

him. So you can't like stick it to him with a with a crusty mug.

Molly 21:42

Yeah, that's the number one reason why I'm sad that my dad's not around.

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:46

Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, boy.

Molly 21:49

Okay, anyway, hold on. Wait. So let's talk about this. redrum and one.

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:52

Okay, so I don't have the recipe up in front of Rachel. Okay,

Molly 21:57

I do. So this is very, very easy. So one thing I hold on one thing I noticed about the one you just talked about the new york times one is it did have like a couple different steps like you you warmed up the butter, you beat something into the butter, then you added other things right. Then you microwaved it again,

Matthew Amster-Burton 22:13

yeah, it was still very easy.

Molly 22:14

Okay, well, so this one basically has you mix up the dry ingredients. So that's flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in your mug, okay, you you blend it thoroughly with a fork, then you add your wet ingredients. So that's milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Then you stir in some chocolate chips, then you microwave it on high for 90 seconds, and it says do not overcook or the cake will be dry. Let cool for two to three minutes before eating. Boom, you're done. dry ingredients, wet ingredients. Cook it boom.

Matthew Amster-Burton 22:47

Yeah, and I would say this, this is the best mug cake that I've had. Like, I still don't think it's as good as any cake or brownie you would make in the oven. But because it has a bunch of chocolate chips in it and therefore a bunch of melted chocolate when you're done. I liked it.

Molly 23:02

So we made this. June was very excited about this. Mug cakes are the true demographic for mug cakes. I think it's children because it's magical. You mix up these things in a mug, put them in the microwave, and you can watch it rise before your eyes in it in a time period that suits a young person's attention span, right? And like you can you can get your kid to make it themselves

Matthew Amster-Burton 23:28

like you're by a pretty young age. You can like entertain me, let's do something together. And you're like no, like, you know, go make a mug cake kid.

Molly 23:35

Yes, that's exactly what I did. No, not really.

Matthew Amster-Burton 23:39

I could work for years.

Molly 23:40

It could it could it could work for I'm going to try to see how many years I can get to work now. No, but so we June and I decided to make two of these for the three of us in our household because I felt like you're supposed to make this in a 12 ounce mug. So I figured you know if you wound up with even remotely close to 12 ounces of cake that was a pretty good sized cake. And yeah, it's quite a bit of cake and I was pretty sure that it might be gross. So I was like I'm not going to make three of these. Yeah, let's only make two of them. So we made two we mixed up the dry ingredients before dinner and then after dinner June and ash did the wet ingredients and put them in the microwave.

Matthew Amster-Burton 24:21

Thank you We're the only person ever to do prep for a mud cake in advance.

Molly 24:28

Wow, yeah, you're probably right. I could tell that ash was a little bit peeved that we had only made two of these sure feeling a little bit like left out.

Matthew Amster-Burton 24:37

They were feeling a little bit like like my dad felt after I tried to give him that crusty mug.

Molly 24:42

Yes however by the time we sat down to eat our two of these we all agreed the two was plenty for three of us because this cake Don't you think this cake is so sweet. It kind of made your mouth hurt.

Matthew Amster-Burton 24:55

I yeah, I would probably reduce the sugar but I think this is He's kind of like the the devil's deal with a bad case. Either it's going to be like this and overly rich, but moist or it's going to be dry.

Molly 25:09

I think that the only thing it's hard to say, Okay, I've got two issues with this cake. And I know that like I should not, I should not be expecting anything of a mug cake. But here's the deal. Yeah, I thought it was a little bit too sweet. I think I would cut back the sugar God, maybe even by one full tablespoon. It had three tablespoons of sugar. I think I would cut it back to two. The other thing is, I couldn't tell when it came out whether it was under baked because it has so many chocolate chips in it. It's got a lot of chocolate chips. whether this was whether it was just covered with melted chocolate from the chocolate chips, or whether I was actually just eating raw cake batter. I couldn't tell the difference. So I felt like I was eating a big mug of raw cake batter with a few like crumbs of cake. Yeah, do you feel that way about yours? No,

Matthew Amster-Burton 26:01

I don't think so. Like there definitely is that like it does have like that skeezy uncanny valley quality to it. But I think I convinced myself that it was cooked.

Molly 26:11

Okay.

Matthew Amster-Burton 26:11

I mean, like if you want to make if you want to make a mug cake habit, like I think you have to decide figure out like for your microwave with your missing turntable. Like, what, how many seconds? Do I microwave this recipe? And like, just stick with that?

Molly 26:27

Do you think that I should maybe try it for 100 seconds next time?

Matthew Amster-Burton 26:31

I think maybe you should and maybe maybe I've reduced the sugar a little try 100 seconds and also just make a regular cake instead. Okay.

Molly 26:40

Great. Okay, Matthew, have you in your your all your two weeks of experience with mug cakes? Have you tried making one that's not chocolaty?

Matthew Amster-Burton 26:50

I have not. I know, like, to be honest, like, two weeks ago was not really my first mug cake experience because I remember making one A while back that had like a Reese's Peanut Butter copy or something in the middle of caramel, which is a good idea. You know, trying to figure out like what what is really the right way to think about these because like, when you're talking about it, like I want to desert and I have cocoa powder, and I can't just eat cocoa powder directly. Although I've definitely thought about it. Like what is the what are the fewest steps I can take to turn that cocoa powder and sugar into something chocolatey that I can eat and like I think the best answer to that is hot cocoa. Yeah, but it's not something you can spoon up so it maybe feeds a slightly different appetite.

Molly 27:37

I think for me a lot of what I want in a desert is textural.

Matthew Amster-Burton 27:42

Yeah, so go probably isn't going to deliver

Unknown Speaker 27:45

No.

Matthew Amster-Burton 27:46

So I think like the the fastest route from A to B then I think is the mug cake.

Molly 27:52

I think you're probably right and they're gonna

Matthew Amster-Burton 27:54

be compromises whenever you're taking the fastest route. You know, think about what you're giving up.

Molly 27:59

Wow. life lessons.

Matthew Amster-Burton 28:01

Like I walked out I took a walk this morning. Yeah. And like there was one to lip like in just a patch of like, like, eroded planting strip where everyone's been walking. There was one beautiful red two lip sticking up out of the dirt. And it was like sort of leaning toward a parked car in a way that suggested to me that it was maybe thinking about stealing that car if it could just grow a little taller. Yeah. inspiring.

Molly 28:26

Never give up to like, wait, what does this have to do with monkey? I'm

Matthew Amster-Burton 28:29

not sure I can't remember.

Molly 28:31

Have you been holding on to that story for the past couple hours?

Matthew Amster-Burton 28:34

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I just was reminded of I took a picture and we can post that picture on our Instagram. I'm gonna post a picture of a tulip trying to steal a car at spilled milk podcast.

Molly 28:43

Okay, okay, well, so hold on. I want to say that so I looked at a lot of pictures of mud cakes in in doing my quote unquote, research. I

Matthew Amster-Burton 28:51

just remember what my point. My point was, if I had been trying to take the fastest route from A to B, where b is the duckling pond where I was headed. I would have missed this beautiful Grand Theft tulip.

Molly 29:01

Yes, yes. Okay, so the message here is you can bake a cake, a regular cake in the oven and you might watch a tulip steal a car at the same time.

Matthew Amster-Burton 29:13

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Thank you. Okay, okay, sorry. I interrupted you.

Molly 29:17

So I looked at a lot of pictures of mud cakes. I mean, mug cakes.

Matthew Amster-Burton 29:21

Oh, right. They were a Pinterest thing. Maybe,

Molly 29:24

well, maybe maybe that too, but it was mostly just like, every every recipe on the internet usually has a photo with it. Matthew, you're sure and so people work really hard to make mug cakes look good because you know how like a regular cake. If it's a kind of plain cake that's unfrosted at least it's gonna be like golden brown on top or something. Well, mug cakes remain pasty and shiny like sweaty

Unknown Speaker 29:53

skin.

Molly 29:54

Oh no matter what you do to them, they don't Brown.

Matthew Amster-Burton 29:57

Why you have to make chocolate right? That

Molly 30:00

Well, you have to make chocolate because the white ones just look like I don't know, like liquefying flesh. Like right, like my liquefying flash.

Matthew Amster-Burton 30:09

Yeah, specifically

Molly 30:11

well I'm very pale like a mug cake. Anyway but so like it has a sweaty sheen on the top like use of tidy sheen. And like large pores. Yeah. So people really Gussy these things up surrounding them by flowers by tulip steelix car anything so you won't notice how ugly This cake is. People cover him with sprinkles. So it does seem like there are a number of recipes out there for vanilla mug cakes but far and away the most popular ones seem to be chocolate because at least melted chocolate has a sheen that we can all agree is appealing

Matthew Amster-Burton 30:48

you know like what what do you think are the most appealing Sheen's I'm getting? I think Martin probably right yeah, I'm

Molly 30:55

gonna go Martin over Charlie. Yeah, right now. Okay. Yeah. Are there other sheets? is at least not really a sheet. No. Okay. Well, I mean, he's a partial sheet. Okay. Yeah. The other sheets who spell their names differently?

Matthew Amster-Burton 31:10

Oh, yeah. Well, I mean there's there's there's another actor is like Michael Sheen who I think is not related to the other machines but his machine. I think he's an appealing seeing. I don't remember who he is.

Molly 31:19

The more we say Sheen, the more the word is like absolutely disintegrating in front of my ears.

Matthew Amster-Burton 31:27

Like, like a slightly undercooked mug cake.

Molly 31:30

Yes, Matthew. I am a little bit curious to try one of the many recipes that calls for adding a spoonful of peanut butter into the middle before baking.

Matthew Amster-Burton 31:39

That sounds good. Okay, right. That's a nice project.

Molly 31:43

I found a number of different chocolate mug cake recipes that have you add a spoonful of peanut butter into the middle before baking. So what you wind up with then is a chocolate cake that is set. And then the peanut butter kind of liquefies like a molten center.

Matthew Amster-Burton 31:59

Oh, that sounds really good. So it's like a chocolate lava cake. But with peanut butter lava.

Molly 32:03

Yes.

Matthew Amster-Burton 32:04

Oh, I love that idea. I think it's going to be disappointing, but I believe my expectations are low enough, then they will be exceeded.

Molly 32:11

Yes. Other things that people like to put in the middle of a mug cake before microwaving Nutella jam. Or I think you mentioned this to caramel sauce. Yeah, or Oh,

Matthew Amster-Burton 32:23

you know what? You know what I remember now the one that I did in the past it had like a couple of Kraft caramels stuck down in there. I was probably fine. I don't really remember at one way or the other. Speaking of peanut butter. I have been snacking on peanut butter maybe more often than usual. And teenager the show Iris thinks is this is like an unacceptable snack.

Unknown Speaker 32:44

Really? Yeah.

Molly 32:45

Oh man. It's it teenager the show Iris It is time to get your own apartment.

Matthew Amster-Burton 32:49

It Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Molly 32:52

I mean, Matthew, would you like to go on? No. Okay. What kind of peanut butter you snacking on these Jeff creamy Jeff creamy. Okay. And always

Matthew Amster-Burton 33:01

on a knife always on unless there are no knives clean or the dishes or I haven't emptied the dishwasher yet. And then a spoon.

Molly 33:06

Does your knife have a lightly serrated edge? Okay, it does. Yeah. And how do you feel it when it grazes your tongue does it give you a little free song of peanut butter? pleasure? It does and like just just like the tiniest hint of danger. Yes, right all you need that's all you need. In this this era of staying at home quarantine just a free sort of dinner knife. Yeah,

Matthew Amster-Burton 33:30

I can't I the amusement park is closed. And you know, I usually go on on the roller coaster once a day. Just to satisfy my need for for that

Unknown Speaker 33:39

adrenalin.

Matthew Amster-Burton 33:40

Yeah, so now Okay, watch roller coaster videos and eat peanut butter. I'm gonna I'm gonna graduate. I'm gonna move up to a slightly sharper knife. Oh, wow. Not not a very sharp knife. But like, like one of it. Like we have these target steak knives that we've had forever and uses like paring knives. Maybe I'll try that. Yeah, maybe just to live just to feel alive

Molly 33:59

halfway through the show. Laurie practice her suturing technique beforehand.

Matthew Amster-Burton 34:03

Okay. And so

Molly 34:05

Oh, perfect. Cut. That's it's perfect. You guys are gonna be great. Yeah. And I can't wait to hear next week. How you're telling us?

Matthew Amster-Burton 34:12

Yeah, it was such a beautiful relationship from the very beginning. I you know, I'm the one who cuts my tongue and a peanut butter accident and she says it up.

Molly 34:21

Oh, wow. That is? That is marriage in a nutshell. Alright, so

Matthew Amster-Burton 34:28

check out our new band peanut butter accident. We're going to be playing down at the abandoned amusement park. Yep. And find us online at spilled milk podcast calm and facebook.com slash build mouth podcast where obviously we want to hear like what what's a good mug cake recipe is there one

Molly 34:44

also cut Be on the lookout in your neighborhood for any flowers that might be stealing cars.

Matthew Amster-Burton 34:50

That's right.

Molly 34:50

I mean, you know, I imagine the crime is down in some ways with all of us staying indoors but flowers are out of control.

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:00

Absolutely I know nature nature is taking back what it deserves and and it wants your car

Molly 35:06

soon. It's gonna be like that talking head song. Nothing but flowers and I'm gonna love it.

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:11

Yep, it's definitely gonna be like, hey, you mentioned a song that I don't know.

Molly 35:15

Oh my god Really? This

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:16

is great. We just brought this around full circle that was beautiful. Is it a good time? Gosh,

Molly 35:20

oh, it's Oh, it is I don't know

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:22

any fucking hit songs other than the hits that they play on class. We

Molly 35:25

have so many listeners right now who are freaking out that you don't know nothing but flowers.

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:30

Not as many as the old town road thing. I would put money on it.

Molly 35:35

Okay, fine. All right. Well, um, so yeah, you can find us at those places Matthew mentioned. And stay tuned for our exciting announcement, which has nothing to do with anyone's pregnancy because none of us is pregnant.

Matthew Amster-Burton 35:47

So excited. By the way, that's the same joke we use when we announced failed malloc like 11 years ago. So. Yeah, so it's great that we have not grown up at all.

Molly 35:56

Oh, perfect. Okay. Is there anything else we need to tell the listener?

Matthew Amster-Burton 36:00

Gosh, I don't think so. I mean, okay, no, I was gonna say Watch. Watch out for flowers steal your card. We already warned them about that. We don't we did. I think I got across it. Also, probably they've been seeing all those psats

Molly 36:13

Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. So

Matthew Amster-Burton 36:15

until next time, thank you for listening to spill Belk the show that it's like we baked a cake in your in your ear and and left the crusty residue. You're welcome.

Yeah, you ever wondered where earwax comes from now, you know, science.

Molly 36:34

I'm Molly weissenberg. And

Matthew Amster-Burton 36:36

I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.

Things weren't going so well for

Molly 36:46

us. Let's check again.