Review: Dr.Oetker Mug Cake Mix

I was doing some shopping the other night and I always have a nosey in the baking section y’know, to see what’s new…, baking is what I do after all! I noticed some new Dr.Oetker products, lemon & chocolate cupcake centers and then there was the Mug Cakes. Now, I know the trend at the moment for mug cakes, there are loads of them on social media, every different shape and style. I’m normally a bit of a food snob and cannot abide anything that comes ready made in a sachet where you “just
add milk”- apart from cereal or porridge that is! Curiosity definitely got the better of me and I had to buy the three flavours they came in Rich Chocolate, Lemon and Chocolate Chip.

So home I went, looking as smug as the cat that got the cream, all the while, not expecting too much.. yesterday, on my day off, the weather was miserable, a torrent of rain saturated the country and so I thought I’d seize the opportunity, pop on a Netflix movie and cozy up with a tasteless mug cake.I had grand ideas as to how I’d decorate them, it never materialized!

I got out my microwave safe china mugs and I started! First up, I divided the lemon cake into two, the batter was runny, smelling like lemon but artificial, I added some vanilla extract, two frozen raspberries  and lemon zest to the second portion so I could compare the two, at least adding some
genuine flavouring.

The cake came away from the sides and resembled a dish sponge, tough and with the consistency of a crepe, it rose alright, but the consistency was all wrong, quite unpleasant..I’d be embarrassed to hand it to anyone.

I then made the Rich chocolate one and it did look slightly more impressive, I added a pinch of coffee granules and a dash of vanilla extract before microwaving it, on digging my fork in, once again, it was
the consistency of a dish sponge, it tasted a bit better than the lemon, I added a dash of cream to see would that improve it… nope. When it came to the final trial, the chocolate chip…I’m sorry but it
looked a little like vomit! I couldn’t bring myself to try it.. I’m so sorry Dr.Oetker, you just didn’t nail this one!

Does that, or does it not look like vomit?

There is certainly a lot to be said for making batter from scratch, it smells amazing, you KNOW what’s in it, you baked it, poured love into it and no amount of pre-mixed sachet cakes can substitute that! I do think Dr.Oetker is generally a great brand, offering supermarket shoppers things that normally are only found in specialist stores. However you DON’T need skill to bake a cake in a mug. Roll up your sleeves, be inventive and crack some eggs! How bad could it be-really!?

I did film myself making them, I’m not yet brave enough to post it, I might scare you with my look of horror at the ‘baked’ result..