Cozy 2 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

This easy chocolate mug cake is a cozy single-serving chocolate cake made with no eggs. Best of all, it’s ready in just two minutes in the microwave.

Mug cake is just so incredibly cozy! What could be better than curling up on the couch with a warm chocolate cake in a mug in your hands? It is the pinnacle of being. Do you love cake? Do you love mugs? If you answered yes to either question then you know in your heart that mug cake is for you.

Food confession time: when I was a kid, I LOVED those frozen chocolate cakes you got at the grocery store. Deep‘n Delicious is the chocolate cake that has all my warm and fuzzy nostalgic childhood memories. Think Sara Lee but way better. I’m pretty sure it’s a Canadian thing, so if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I don’t blame you. Basically, DND (as it shall now be known) is a frozen chocolate cake with star shaped chocolate frosting piped on top. This is almost as easy as pulling a pre-made cake out of the freezer, but it has the bonus of being warm, so mug cake is my new favorite thing!

What is mug cake?

Mug cake is a single serving cake that’s made in a mug. It bakes up in just a minute in the microwave and is a warm and chocolate-y treat that will satisfy any chocolate sweet tooth. Mug cake is perfect for when you just want a single serving of cake and don’t want to bust out all your baking equipment.

How to make chocolate mug cake

1. Whisk. Whisk together the milk and oil in a mug.
2. Mix. In a bowl (or you can do this straight in the mug) mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
3. Stir. Stir everything together then add the chocolate.
4. Microwave. Bake your mug cake in the microwave on a plate (in case of overflow), let cool slightly and dig in!

Tip: The kind of mug you use matters! One that has straight sides is best and bigger is better. Use a mug that holds at least 1 and 3/4 cups. If you use a smaller mug, you should put the mug on a plate so you can catch the overflow, which will make clean up easier.

What does it taste like?

Heaven! Seriously, I’m not joking guys, this cake is SO GOOD. It’s moist, chocolatey, and light and fluffy. I love the melty chocolate parts that essentially make it like molten chocolate lava cake. I like it plain, with a little bit of powdered sugar, with whipped cream, with ice cream, oh my gosh, I feel like I need one right now. The best part is that it comes together so quickly. Bonus points for the fact that I almost always have everything right at home.

Chocolate mug cake ingredients

For this mug cake, you need:

• Milk. I use whatever milk I have in the fridge, usually 2% or almond.
• Oil. Try to use a neutral oil that doesn’t have any flavor like canola oil.
• Flour.
• Cocoa powder. For cocoa powder, we need the unsweetened kind, not hot chocolate milk.
• Baking powder.
• Sugar. You can adjust the sugar to your liking, or use a sugar alternative.
• Chocolate chips. The chocolate gets melty and gooey and is the best part! I usually just chop up a bit of a chocolate bar/baking chocolate if I don’t have chocolate chips in the pantry.

No eggs in this mug cake?

Yep, that’s right. This recipe has been updated and there are now no eggs in this mug cake. Eggs tend to make mug cakes have a bit of a rubbery texture, so bye-bye eggs and hello tender, fluffy cake. As a bonus, it’s now vegetarian and can easily be made vegan too. I developed this recipe from wacky cake, a cake that has no eggs in it. I kept it pretty similar but switched out the water for milk.

Can I make vegan mug cake?

Yes! This can absolutely be made vegan. Just substitute a milk alternative for the milk: oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, rice milk, cashew milk, macadamia milk.

Can I use alternative sweeteners?

You can definitely make a mug cake by using sugar alternatives like honey, agave, maple syrup, coconut sugar, or even sweeteners. If you’re using sweeteners, don’t swap out the sugar one-to-one, adjust as per the sweetener.

Tips and tricks

Each microwave is different in strength so the very first time you make this recipe try experimenting a bit. I find that 1 minute plus 10 seconds in my microwave works best, but you might need a bit extra. Because this recipe doesn’t have any eggs in it, you can have it on the gooey side if you love cake batter (but please no raw flour/batter, which is still a lil dangerous to eat).

Variations

• Cream cheese: add in a nugget of cream cheese when you add the chocolate.
• Nutella: add a spoonful of nutella instead of the chocolate.
• Peanut butter: add a spoonful of peanut butter instead of the chocolate.
• Coconut: use coconut milk and and stir in a tablespoon or two of shredded coconut into the batter.
• Biscoff: add a spoonful of biscoff cookie spread instead of the chocolate and top with crushed biscoff cookies.

If you want to bake a whole cake, here are some of my favorite cake recipes:

• Oreo Mug Cake
• Chocolate loaf cake
• Cinnamon streusel coffee cake
• Yogurt lemon cake
• Chocolate birthday cake
• Carrot cake
• Coconut cake