Day 81: 3, 2, 1 cake

Headed back to work today after a 4 day weekend. As much as I enjoy my time off, I really enjoy being in my regular schedule also! After work, I headed to the gym for a much needed run. Having not run or worked out since last Thursday, it went really well and felt great. Looking forward to going to weight training tomorrow night to get back in the groove.

Today, I was looking for something simple and relatively healthy to try. Several weeks ago, an elderly lady from church e-mailed me a recipe for 3,2,1 cake. She knows that I like to bake and thought I might want to give it a try. This recipe is called 3, 2, 1 Cake because all you need to remember is "3 tablespoons mix, 2 tablespoons water, and 1 minute in the microwave!" It is basically a cake in a mug that you heat in the microwave. That seemed like the perfect dessert for Thomas and I to enjoy tonight, since it is just the two of us at home.

The recipe calls for 1 box of angel food cake mix, 1 box of any other flavor cake mix, and water. I chose to use Red Velvet cake mix. It turned out surprisingly well. I topped it with a dollop of whipped cream and it was the perfect little snack weighing in at only 150 calories. Perfect for the sweet tooth when you don't want to bake a big cake. The red velvet is a more mild flavored cake, so it needed the whipped cream on top, but using a chocolate fudge cake would be even more tasty in my opinion.

3,2,1 Cake

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
• 1 box Cake Mix - Any Flavor
• 2 Tbsp Water

Directions:

1. In a ziploc bag, combine the two cake mixes together and mix well.
2. For each individual cake serving, take out 3 Tablespoons of the cake mix combination and mix it with 2 Tablespoons of water in a small microwave-safe mug or container. 
3. Microwave on high for 1 minute, and you have your own instant individual little cake!
4. KEEP remaining cake mixture stored in the ziploc bag and use whenever you feel like a treat! You can top each cake with a dollop of fat free whipped topping and/or some fresh fruit.

Helpful Tips:

• TRY various flavors of cake mix like carrot, red velvet, pineapple, lemon, orange, chocolate, strawberry, etc. The flavor possibilities are endless.
• The best thing is, you open both cake mixes into a gallon storage bag, one that 'zip locks' or 'self-seals', or a container that seals tightly, shake the two cake mixes to blend and then make the recipe. Storage of mix is simple, put it on a shelf. No need to refrigerate, since the mix is dry.
• Always remember, that one of the cake mixes MUST be Angel Food. The other can be any flavor. The Angel Food is the cake mix that has the eggs whites in it. So, if, anyone is allergic to egg whites, do NOT serve this recipe.

Sharla's variation:

Instead of mixing the 2 cake mixes together, I scooped 1-1/2 tbsp of angel food cake mix and 1-1/2 tbsp of the other cake mix, combined with the water and then heated in the microwave. I have used those mixes that you combine and keep in the counter, and found that they don't always turn out. You may get more of one mix than the other at different times that you make it, so this way guarantees that I am getting the same amount of each mix in the cake. Then just seal up the remaining cake mixes for use next time.