Unbirthday Mug Cake

When (almost) every day is your unbirthday, you have reason to celebrate, as Alice learns in Through the Looking Glass. This Unbirthday Mug Cake recipe makes a personal-sized cake that cooks in under 5 minutes in the microwave, so you can enjoy it 364 days per year.

Ask anyone to name the most famous children's books of all time, and Alice is guaranteed to be on the list. (Number two, in fact, according to the BBC.) It even inspired the name of my very favorite children's bookstore, Alice, Ever After Books.

I have fond memories of reading the wildly imaginative, sometimes utterly incomprehensible Alice tales from a large illustrated edition when I was about eight years old. If I close my eyes, I can see myself lying on the rug with it open in front of me, feet kicked up behind me, puzzled but enthralled expression on my face.

While Alice's world may be just as puzzling to readers of any age today, two things are sure: a little nonsense can do us all some good, and a mysterious drink or snack every now and then can unlock an entirely new perspective.

About Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

In the world of children's literature, few stories are as iconic, instantly recognizable, or bizarre as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's held the world's collective fascination since it was first published in 1866—almost 160 years ago!—and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. The book's tropes and imagery have transcended pop culture—everyone knows what "down the rabbit hole" or "through the looking glass" means, or can instantly picture a Mad Hatter's tea party, a grinning Cheshire cat, or an imperious Queen of Hearts.

Alice and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, published in 1871, have never been out of print. The stories in these books have been adapted into plays, ballets, operas, musicals, and movies, including the 1951 Disney animated classic.

Though he reportedly originally wrote the story to entertain a child named Alice Liddell, Carroll broke the mold of children's books of the era by making it appeal to adults, too. John Tenniel created the iconic illustrations for the Alice books, drawing on his many years of experience creating political cartoons for Punch magazine. The puns, clever language, dark humor, and hint of the macabre throughout the books are decidedly adult, while the fantastical and silly events are enchanting for kids.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you the details of Alice's story (nor do I have the time), but in a nutshell: An endlessly curious little girl named Alice falls into a new world, meets a whole host of strange characters, takes on a series of nonsensical tasks to help them along the way, and eventually makes her way home with a new sense of self and a tiny bit of wisdom about the world.

Recipe Inspiration

'They gave it me — for an unbirthday present.'
'I beg your pardon?' Alice said with a puzzled air.
'I'm not offended,' said Humpty Dumpty.
'I mean, what is an unbirthday present?'
'A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course.'
— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

There is a notable presence of eating and drinking in the Alice stories, from mysterious potions and cakes labeled "Drink Me" and "Eat Me" that cause Alice to grow and shrink, to the famous tea party scene, to an elaborate banquet hosted by the Red Queen featuring feisty food that talks back.

But what captured my imagination here was not a direct description of any food from the text, but a moment that happens between Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass. When she encounters him, Humpty Dumpty explains the concept of an "unbirthday" to Alice—the 364 days per year when it's not your birthday, but when you should receive presents. This idea was clearly so delightful to the folks at Disney that they worked it into a song in the Mad Hatter tea party scene in the movie, despite it happening in an entirely different book.

I love the idea of an unbirthday, too, and think we all deserve a little daily treat. But, though I love to bake, a full layer cake is not something I have the energy to make very often. I decided that a perfect unbirthday cake would be a single serving mug cake that you can make any time in just a few minutes, with no oven or mixer required. It's a nod to the "Eat Me" cakes in the story, and I love that the vessel echoes the tea party, too.

I decided to give this mug cake classic birthday cake flavors with a vanilla cake base, bright and colorful rainbow sprinkles, and a swirl of white chocolate chips. I'm not usually a white chocolate fan, but their sweetness and hint of vanilla flavor were a perfect fit here. I was delighted to find that no egg was needed for this batter, which means there's no danger posed by undercooking the cake slightly, which can happen more easily in the microwave since models vary quite a bit. A dollop of whipped cream and some extra sprinkles on top bring a perfect finishing touch to this ridiculously easy, unbirthday-worthy treat.

Ingredients You'll Need

To make this Unbirthday Mug Cake, you'll need:

• Butter: I tested both butter and oil in this cake, and butter gave the best flavor. You can use a tablespoon of neutral oil, though, if you prefer to keep this treat vegan.
• All-purpose flour
• Milk: I tested with 2% milk, but any fat percentage or non-dairy milk should work here.
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Sprinkles: I like the classic rod-shaped kind in rainbow colors, but you could swap in any other favorite sprinkle.
• White chocolate chips: These are optional, but they really underscore the "birthday cake" flavor. You can use any other chips of your choice here, too—semisweet, milk, mini, or butterscotch would all work well—or skip them entirely.
• Whipped cream: This is also optional, but a fun and festive add. All you need is a dollop, so a squeeze of the canned stuff is perfect for this cake!
• A microwave-safe mug: Double check that your mug can go in the microwave (it usually says so on the bottom), and aim for one that holds 10 to 12 ounces. If you’re not sure what size your mug is, fill it with water, then pour the water into a liquid measuring cup to see how many ounces it holds.

As with every recipe, before you start cooking, make sure to measure out and prepare your ingredients ahead of time. Then, you'll have everything you need when you need it! For all of the ingredient measurements and details, see the recipe card below.

How to Make an Unbirthday Mug Cake

The full recipe with detailed timing and instructions for this mug cake is below, but here are some key moments to look out for along the way:

• This recipe comes together in just 15 minutes from start to finish, making it an easy treat to enjoy any time.
• There's no mixer, stove, or oven required in this recipe, and all you need to make it is a mug, a couple of utensils, and a microwave.
• Kids can practice independence by using the microwave by themselves and making a cake that serves one.
• There's lots of room for creativity here! Kids can try using different sprinkles and/or chocolate chips to make their mug cake just the way they like it.

Conversation Starters

As you sit down to enjoy your mug cake, talk about what it was like to make the recipe and the themes in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. You can help young readers make connections to the book and share your own answers, ideas, and stories with them with the following prompts:

• If you were in a magical, fantastical world like Alice and encountered a mysterious cake labeled "Eat Me," would you eat it? Why or why not?
• Which do you like better: your birthday, or your unbirthday? Why is that?
• Do you think there are other worlds we can be transported to like the ones that Alice finds by falling down the rabbit hole and passing through the looking glass? What do you imagine they're like, and how might you get there?