Caramel Fleur de Sel Mug Cake

I've made a couple of other mug recipes, and they have all been successful.  This one has been especially popular among my family, and has been requested quite a few times since I first made it earlier this week.  It is a very spongy cake with a contrasting taste between the salt and caramel, and it's all the better for being a 10-minute recipe.  Plus, it has caramel in it.  Of course it is going to be delicious.  If you're lazy and love eating great desserts with very little effort, this recipe is for you.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon caramel sauce

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel

4 caramel squares

Instructions

1.  With a fork, 'beat' the butter and sugar together.  It helps if the butter is room temperature, then you can actually work with it.

2.  Add the egg, vanilla extract, milk, and caramel sauce.  Stir until mostly smooth, there will still be lumps unless you want to go above and beyond (I didn't.)

3.  Add the flour and continue stirring until smooth, lumps should be minimal, if not absent.  Add the salt and stir again.

4.  Pour half of the mix into a mug, then microwave it for 30 or 45 seconds, then drop the caramels into the mug.  If you want the caramels to be right on top of the cake, then do 45 seconds, if you want the caramels mixed into the cake, then do 30 seconds.  I made one of each and both were equally good.

The cake should look similar to this halfway through.

5.  After dropping in the caramels, microwave for another 45 seconds to 1 minute.  I usually added about 10 to 15 seconds on the end of the time to ensure they were fully done.

Notes:

~ The batter rises to about twice the original height, so don't overfill the mug.  This recipe actually makes two mugs, unless you have a huge mug, in which case this is a single serving recipe.

~ If you would like more salt, you can sprinkle some on before or after microwaving, I prefer not to, but I'm sure it would still taste just as good.
~  If you refrigerate your caramel sauce like you should, then pop it in the microwave a bit to thin it out.  This way you don't add more caramel than you were expecting to, and it does not overpower the taste of the cake.