Microwave Coffee Cake

I believe this recipe originated in an old cookbook on microwave cooking (likely titled Microwave Cooking). From what I remember of it, I believe the book must have come out when microwaves were first becoming popular and its whole thrust seemed to be to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a microwave can cook anything better. Period. This is the only recipe that I thought was good enough to write down but I think it was worth looking through the book to find it. I think, at least in this recipe, it made a pretty good effort towards serving a microwave's strong-points while hiding its short-comings. One major problem with baking in a microwave, to me, is in the final appearance of the baked goods. Because of the manner of its heat-source there is no lovely golden-brown crust formed. The cookbook in this recipe at least overcomes this aesthetic difficulty by compensating with a delicious sugar and cinnamon (and cocao. mmm) crumble topping. I wouldn't say that this is the greatest coffee cake recipe out there but it does work well when I want to make a passable one quickly and conveniently. For the past few months our oven has not been working. However, when the urge to bake came over me a few days ago I thankfully remembered this recipe and decided to try it out again. I actually halved the recipe and baked it in a margarine container and it turned out pretty well. I think I should have reduced the cooking time a little more than I did because the middle was a little over-done but it was still quite enjoyable and satisfied my cravings. Sorry the picture and presentation are both sub-par but I will assure you that my over-all rating of the recipe is rather high.

Microwave Coffee Cake: Mix: 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients. Mix 2 eggs (beaten), 1/2 cup cooking oil, 1/2 cup milk. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until moist. Pour into greased 8" dish (not metal!). Mix 2 Tablespoons flour, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon cocao, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter and sprinkle on top of batter. Microwave high 5-7 minutes (turning half-way if you have no turn-table). Cool 15 minutes (it's molten hot when it comes out and also needs to sit to finish cooking through). (optionally) Mix 3/4 cup icing sugar and 1 Tablespoon milk and drizzle over the top. Enjoy!