Eggless Microwave Chocolate Carrot Cake

One minute microwave chocolate mug cakes are very famous at my home. Most of the time, I prepare them while watching movies during Sunday evenings.

One day, I wanted to eat something with chocolate and immediately thought of preparing the chocolate mug cake. Rushed into the kitchen, opened the pantry to see the available ingredients. I saw half a can of condensed milk left in my pantry after preparing the coconut ladoos. At the same time, I noticed my mom was grating carrot for preparing lunch. Remembered a bookmarked recipe from Tarla dalal's site and prepared this Egg less Microwave Chocolate Carrot Cake. It came out super moist and soft. I added more walnuts to get extra crunchiness while enjoying the chocolate.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 3 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 minute + 5 minutes cooling time
Serves: 5 persons

Ingredients:

Butter - 1/2 cup, melted
Condensed milk - 1/2 cup
Honey - 2 teaspoons
Castor Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

Baking Soda - 1/4 teaspoon
Baking Powder - 1/4 teaspoon

All purpose flour / Plain Flour / Maida - 3/4 cup

Cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons

Grated Carrot - 3/4 cup
Walnuts - 2 tablespoons, roughly chopped

Method:

1) Grease the microwave safe bowl with butter and dust it with flour. Keep aside.
2) Take a mixing bowl, mix all the wet ingredients one by one.

3) Then, slowly add the dry ingredients and make a batter.
4) Finally add the grated carrot and walnuts. Mix again. Transfer this batter to the prepared microwave safe bowl. You can either use paper cups to prepare muffins.

5) Microwave it in HIGH mode for 1 minute. Allow it to stand for 5 minutes.

6) Cut into slices and enjoy.

Notes:
1) If you notice the cake hasn't cooked well, you can cook it again for few more minutes. This step might vary depending on the type of the microwave used.
2) It is important to allow the cake to cool for at least 5 minutes as the heat retained within the cake will gradually continue to cook the cake.

Hello Winter!

Winter is here. Maybe not officially but the outside temps have us relying on our heating systems daily again.  Here in Minnesota we tend to have the heat turned on for about 6-8 months. This results in an enormous strain  on the heating equipment in many homes. And while many people prefer not to bother with HVAC preventative maintenance on their home heating systems. Perhaps the old saying “out of sight and out of mind” prevails.  There are those too, who choose to have their heating systems serviced religiously. In either case breakdowns occur, combustion inducers or ignitors fail, pumps seize leading to a loss of heat, hot water or both. It is highly recommended to have all heating equipment serviced on a reqular basis. Small problems noticed during these annual service times help cut down on system operating costs, increase overall system efficiency and increase home heating system longevity.

Toilet Talk

We know you can NEVER know too much about toilets. So, here you go...

• The average person spends 3 years of his or her life on the toilet.
• "Psycho" was the first film to show a flushing toilet. This generated many indecency complaints.
• The first toilet stall in a row is almost always the last used, and therefore the cleanest.
• Toilets around the nation are flushed more times during the Super Bowl halftime than any other time of the year.
• You have a 1 in 1,000 chance of being injured by a toilet. 
• 72.4% of people place their toilet paper to be pulled from over the roll, rather than under.
• Toilets use more water than any other household appliance. 
• 33% of people flush the toilet while still sitting on it.
• Most women wad toilet paper and most men fold it. 
• Only a handful of people from around the world actually wrap their whole toilet in christmas wrapping paper during the holiday season.  (not statistically proven)