Some mug cake recipes involve most of the steps needed to make a real, normal-sized cake, just on a smaller scale: mix flour, sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, etc. What’s the deal with these little cakes, and why won’t they go away?

We’ve taken one of the most iconic foods that traditionally brings people together - whether to celebrate a birthday, a wedding, or just a random get-together - and turned it into a single-serving item to enjoy quickly and often alone. And in October, Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi released a book called All About Cake, featuring a recipe for an oatmeal-apple-brown sugar mug cake. In September, Trader Joe’s released a chocolate mug cake mix with salted caramels to be added midway through the cooking process, while Betty Crocker set the world record for the largest mosaic ever made with mug cakes (19,600 of them, to be exact). In May 2018, Starbucks stores began selling mug cake mixes alongside its coffee mugs. In the spring of 2017, Duncan Hines launched 18 flavors of mug cake mixes, including pineapple, apple cinnamon muffin, cookies and cream, and carrot cake. All of a sudden, mug cakes - those single-serving cakes mixed and cooked inside a mug - are everywhere.

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