In theory you can microwave an instant chocolate cake in a coffee mug.

But as the experimenter said, it was “well, not the best cake I’ve ever had”. Some things aren’t worth taking shortcuts with and some are. I find that in most cases where a shortcut may save you something in the short term it almost always costs you more ultimately. So what you save has to be worth more than what you lose.
Shortcuts are almost always about saving time, which when you really look at it, is usually not as valuable as it’s made out to be. Making a cake this way surely took very little time, but I’d rather make a cake the regular way and enjoy the process than end up with a rubbery mess.
What’s the best shortcut you’ve ever taken and what’s the worst?