Lucky Leprechaun Surprise Chocolate Mint Mug Cake

You remember that mug cake I made the other day? Well, I can't seem to get them out of my mind. I've been making different flavors, and thought I'd better share this one with you before Saturday.

Mint-flavored chocolate cake with a hidden green creamy surprise inside - all in a lucky 7 minutes. (Had to add a couple of minutes in there to make the creamy goodness!) You'll want to try this any time of year, but it also serves as a nice green treat for St. Patrick's Day. (So does a salad and other veggie greens - be sure to get some of those in!)

If you are looking for other gluten-free St. Patrick's Day goodies, I do have an Irish "Spotted Dog" soda bread and these fantastic clover cookies from last year. I've had my eye on some of the other gluten-free soda breads in the food blog world, though, and they do look amazing. Some of them are even vegan, so I'll have to give them a try at some point!

I'm also thinking I may give Stephanie's dijon corned beef a try in the crockpot this year - she says it's not slimy and I believe her. You can't beat the ease of a crockpot meal!

Projected time, start to finish: 7 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

Cake:
1 large egg
4 Tbsp. Pamela's baking mix (not bread flour blend)
3 1/2 Tbsp. pure organic cane sugar
3 Tbsp. milk
2 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil (tip: warm to above room temp to make it liquid)
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure mint extract (I used mint in this case, not peppermint, but peppermint would probably work fine)

Cream filling:
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
3 tsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. egg white (from egg in mug)
1 drop green food coloring

Grease inside of large microwaveable mug. Crack egg into mug first because you'll need 1 tsp. of the egg white for the cream filling.

In a separate small bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg white and green coloring until smooth. Set aside.

Add remaining cake ingredients to mug and mix with a fork until everything is incorporated very well.

Drop cream cheese mixture into middle of cake batter.

Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Enjoy!

This morning the girls and I had some excitement about our birds - not one but TWO chipping sparrows were flitting about under the feeders and among the branches outside our dining room windows. We hadn't seen chipping sparrows (house sparrows are what usually visit us) since last year, and we don't see them very often when they are around. I guess spring brought them back for a while.

I hope you have found beauty in your day today.

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html