Men’s Valentines Day Gift Guide 2025

Struggling to find the perfect gift for the man in your life? This Valentine’s Day, surprise him with a thoughtful present that’s both personal and practical. Our Men’s Valentines Day Gift Guide for 2025 includes some of Cade’s favorite items that he’s tried and loved!

Peanut Butter Mug Cake

This Peanut Butter Mug Cake is moist, indulgent, and only takes 5 minutes to throw together. Even better, this easy mug cake is a kid-friendly recipe! 

Peanut Butter Cake in a Mug

Peanut butter cake in a mug! Now that I have your attention, I have a delightful little recipe for you, for those days when you are craving a cozy dessert but you forgot to prepare anything.

Who doesn’t love a cute mug dessert — aka a delicious miniature cake for one made in just minutes, perfectly portioned so that all you need to do is find a spoon and a comfy space on the couch to satisfy that sweet tooth?

I used to think my One-Bowl Chocolate Cake was easy, but then I created this microwave cake recipe and now I’m hooked. I’m so hooked that I’ve created protein mug cake recipe too that you totally need to try! Made from scratch, fluffy, and flavorful, I bet you have all the ingredients you need for this recipe on hand right now.

Plus, peanut butter and chocolate chips — like in these Peanut Butter Muffins or this gorgeous Peanut Butter Cheesecake Dip — are just the best of friends.  Is there a more perfect couple? You just can’t beat the taste of those two together!

What’s in This Peanut Butter Mug Cake?

Now, microwave mug cakes are small and we’re trusting the microwave to cook it perfectly, so it’s important to get the right balance of ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make this best mug cake:

• Peanut butter and chocolate are of course the main flavor components here.
• Vegetable oil helps to keep the cake moist – no dry mug cakes here.
• Egg white gives the cake structure and helps it to be light and fluffy.
• This cake in a mug recipe uses brown sugar for enhanced flavor and also moisture.
• Finally, cake regulars, flour and baking powder do the job of structure and lift.

Can I Make a Cake in a Mug Without an Egg?

Yes, you can make this eggless and use milk instead, but the texture is much better using the egg white. I should note here that this recipe is dairy-free and you can make it gluten free by swapping the all purpose flour with gluten-free flour.

How to Make a Mug Cake

Mug desserts are as easy as it gets. Here are the basic steps to making this microwave cake in a cup:

1. Start by combining the wet ingredients and sugar in a large microwave-safe mug. Give it a good whisk with a fork.
2. Add the dry ingredients and stir the cake b

Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

If an 8 year old can make Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes, you certainly can do it! Moist chocolate cupcakes are a must for Valentine’s Day!

Are you familiar with how cooking happens in our house? It’s not just a mom thing, and it’s certainly not just an adult thing, the whole family is involved. I’ll tell you all about how our family created the tradition of kids cooking, plus a few tips for making it work in your home, but first, let’s chat about these Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes, very similar to our Milk Chocolate Cupcakes.

Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

I love the look of chocolate and fluffy, pink anything, yes, even pink pancakes. I’m not really a pink girl, I think I have one or two pink shirts in my closet and that’s probably it. Now don’t panic, I have nothing against pink, I’m just not drawn to it like I am blue or white for example. I should move to Santorini, Greece. That seems like a good choice.

Ahhh but chocolate and pink, there’s something about that just makes me want to take a big ol’ bite. And these Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes are the perfect example.

A moist chocolate cupcake, stuffed with totally lickable Nutella and topped off with strawberry buttercream that is silky like those old school 90’s silk pajamas. Nothing short of a dream.

Why Coffee in Chocolate Cake

You all know us well enough by now to know that we don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea and while yes, alcohol usually cooks out of things, we don’t keep it in the house so it just doesn’t happen.

When it comes to chocolate cake I’ve had to embrace that it does in fact make a difference. I bought this, Espresso Powder  used for baking and I merely add a little to any liquid in chocolate baking and it enhances the chocolate flavor without adding any coffee flavor. I honestly still skip it all the time, but really, it does make a difference and you’re probably eating it most of the time you buy a chocolate anything out and about.

Boiling Water in Chocolate Cake

Have you noticed how many chocolate recipes include boiling water? Especially a chocolate cake or cupcake. So what’s the deal with boiling water in chocolate cake?

It seems like it would be something with the hot water making the cake more moist or tender, but it’s actually about the cocoa. When making anything chocolate you should mix cocoa with hot water then let it sit for a few minutes. What you’re actually doing is blooming the chocolate, or in other words, the cocoa dissolves and the flavor particles are released leading to a more powerful chocolate flavor.

Chocolate brownies are a little different, you’ll want to bloom the chocolate in hot oil. Not like, fry you up some fried chicken oil, just warmed up so