My Guilty Pleasure...

Disclaimer: There is nothing diet about this recipe, but it's incredibly tasty and your taste buds will thank you for trying it! :)

I'm trying to be more healthy in my eating habits now (as the cartoon shows, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change!) and while most of the time I do a great job with this, occasionally my sweet tooth gets the best of me and I cave and make something yummy to enjoy after dinner. Instead of baking an entire cake (read: blowing my diet with over an entire day's worth of calories), I adapted my favorite vanilla sheet cake recipe into a single serve portion that I can have ready in about 5 minutes. Yep, it's that easy!

So in honor of my nephew's birthday today, go ahead and enjoy some cake. That works as an excuse, right? ;)

Single Serve Vanilla Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 Tbsp stick butter (I use Blue Bonnet Light)
• 1/6 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 (heaping) cup all-purpose flour
• Small dash of salt
• Small dash of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Splash of milk (enough to give it a good batter consistency)

Directions:

Microwave the butter on 50% power until it is melted (usually around 30 seconds) in a small microwave-safe dish/bowl/mug. Add the water. Stir in the sugar, flour, salt and baking soda. Mix this with a spoon until blended well. Add in the vanilla extract and milk and stir again until blended well. Microwave the batter for 45 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes, depending on how gooey you like your cake. :) I tend to go with less rather than more time, as I like my cake super gooey (think vanilla lava cake). By not using any egg, it's completely safe to eat this way! :)

Additional variations of the recipe:

Reduced-Fat Cake

I have actually tried quite a few variations on this basic recipe, mostly to make "healthier" versions. While not "healthy" by any standards, they do offer less calories/fat, so I feel slightly better about indulging in them. ;) For myself, I normally use 1-2 Tbsp butter and reduce the sugar to 1/6 cup. Sometimes I use brown sugar, or natural cane sugar, instead of white. I also like to use 1/6 (heaping) cup whole wheat flour with 1/6 cup all-purpose flour, instead of 1/3 cup all-purpose flour. All of these variations taste great to me, as the original recipe is very sweet and rich, so it's easy to reduce the sugar and butter without loss of flavor. I have actually started to prefer the whole wheat version to the white version. I love the flavor that the whole wheat flour gives the cake.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Reese Cake

If you want something irresistible and you aren't counting calories, I suggest my chocolate peanut butter version! :) Prepare as directed above with the addition of 2 tsp cocoa powder when you add the dry ingredients. You can make it like this for a plain chocolate cake. If you want something super delicious, start the baking process by microwaving the cake for 30 to 45 seconds, then drop a spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkle of semi-sweet chocolate chips on top. Continue to microwave for another 30 to 45 seconds. The peanut butter and chocolate will disappear inside, but leave you with some incredible bites of cake! This is super, super rich, so I recommend cutting the recipe in half or sharing with a loved one! ;)

This cake is definitely one of my biggest guilty pleasures and I have even managed to get my hubby addicted to it too. What's your go to item to satisfy your sweet tooth?