Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
A quick and easy microwavable chocolate cake, for whenever that chocolate craving hits.
I can’t decide if this is the worst or greatest idea I have stumbled upon— a chocolate cake, baked in a mug, in a microwave, in under two minutes.
You can go from hankering to satisfaction in a matter of mere minutes. It’s dangerously wonderful.
This recipe was originally posted in March of 2012. I wanted to update the photos, as well as address some of the issues a few of you had with the recipe. I’ve changed a few ingredient ratios, and made it into two mug cakes instead of one. The result is a chocolate cake that is lighter, tender and more moist, and still with a layer of gooey melted chocolate at the bottom that makes a wonderful stand in for frosting.
And now there’s cake enough to share!
baking tip:What is self-rising flour?
Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour that has a leavening agent— baking powder— and salt added to it. I don’t often bake with it, but it is perfect for recipes like this where so little amounts of each ingredient are required.
If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can substitute 1 cup of self-rising flour with 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
Two-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup whole milk (60 ml)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup self-rising flour (40 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (10 grams)
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (43 grams)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, milk, egg and vanilla. Add the flour, sugar, and cocoa and whisk to combine.
- Divide the chocolate chips between two medium microwave-safe mugs. Pour batter into the mugs over the chocolate chips.
- Microwave on "high" for 90 seconds. Check to see if the cakes are puffed and bounce back after being lightly touched. If not, microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Serve immediately.
NOTES
- If you don't have self-rising flour, you can substitute for 1/3 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt.
- Recipe inspired by The Lucky Peach Magazine.
Note: This recipe was originally posted in March 2012. Slight changes have been made to the recipe.
128 Comments on “Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake”
When I was in college, my roommates and I *always* used to make these on late study nights–I’m so glad to see them get their I-need-dessert-now place in the sun!!
When I saw this (or a similar recipe), I got hooked instantly for all the reasons you cited. It was so quick and easy. Because I wanted additional flavor options, I just forged ahead and created them. You can find some sample recipes for free at my web site, http://www.microwavemugcakes.com. I also penned a book called “101 Recipes for Microwave Mug Cakes” that might be of interest to you. I’d be glad to send you a copy for potential review in exchange for your address. Best, Stacey Miller
I would love to review your recipe book.
I have a feeling you are going to make this for your little one over and over again through the years and you are going to be considered “the best mum ever”. Such a fun idea!
I crave cake way too often – so this is super dangerous!!
Smudge is going to love this, and I might love it even more because she can make it herself!
Wow, this is going to be a problem for me. In the best way ever.
Hey, they were saying that it was a good cake and that it was so easy that they would make it a lot. That does not make them 600lb, a bully, or rude. They were not making fun of anybody. There is literally no evidence for your comment. They were actually being nice to the author of this blog. You have no right to tell them to get a day job or to go for a jog. Your comment was entirely rude and uncalled for.
Yum! I too have seen these recipes on a lot of fod blogs but haven’t tried it yet. It DOES seem like such a lovely way to eat cake quickly!
could it get any easier than this? Looks SO easy and I love the quick “bake” time. 🙂
Mmmm! A few months back I tried making a truly single serve version of one of these beauties. It was too small for me! I should definitely try this 1 or 2 serving version. 😉 I love your measure, mix, enjoy pictures.
I JUST made it! It worked! fluffy and moist. I didn’t have any chocolate chips, but I think it would have been tastier with them. It was also a little egg-y for my taste..not undercooked, what I mean is it tastes vaguely egg-y..like one of those egg doughnuts you can buy…all in all, my brother, dad, and I approve! 😀
Perhaps next time only use half of the beaten egg and see if that’s more to your liking. So glad you tried it, it’s a dangerous dessert, isn’t it?
By my calculation, the Nutrition Facts for this one mug cake are:
782 calories and 50 g fat.
Im eating this amazing cake as i type. A-mu-ha-ZING! Luuuurv it 😀
I just made 2 of these for my chocolate-loving son & husband! I added cream cheese frosting, too, which I always keep on hand. Mmmmm! Side note, my elderly father has many medical conditions, can’t eat much through the day, and usually only sweets appeal to him. I gave my mother this recipe & she will make it daily for my father. The calories will be good for him! Yum! 🙂
Legit the best chocolate cake I have ever had. I added a smidge of instant coffee and hazelnut syrup only 3 sugar and just egg whites. Was fab
Just made this and it came out wonderfully! Substituted skim milk for whole milk and it was great, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. I split it between two teacups and it was the perfect amount for two people! I used mini chocolate chips and it was a good call for the smaller portions. Delicious!
How did the cooking time change when you split the recipe?
Honestly, I rarely comment on recipes. But this cake was the best mug cake I’ve ever tried and I’ve tried many. The powdered sugar on top makes it even better.
Only had almond milk on hand so I used that instead of whole milk. Found this recipe last night…made it twice since! This is dangerous
So glad you liked it! And thanks for coming back to tell me about it.
Pretty good, I see what they mean about “eggy” it is a bit spongey, but it isn’t bad. Next time I’ll take the advice and use half an egg, maybe only a yolk or white to see what happens. But for those of us who like eating brownie batter, heck, just eat it without cooking it, it tastes like box brownie batter!
I do like how this one uses less flour, so the dessert doesn’t get as dry and hard.
I halved the egg and it still tasted egg-y to me. But I also am sensitive to the taste of eggs. All in all, maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons more cocoa and allllll good.
This was the easiest recipe ever!
I made it at home just after dinner , it barely took ten minutes including prep and microwaving time! It came out awesome!
I used a small portion of a chopped hazelnut chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips.it was so yummy!
Thankyou so much for this awesome recipe!
I love the pics you put up!
Any advice abt cooking times & microwave power?
I just made them and can tell you that 2 minutes in a 1450W microwave is too long… sadly, there was no sauce… 🙁
Thanks for this post. I made this tonight – first time microwave cake making adventure. I only used one tablespoon of oil, used skim milk, and flip-flopped the amounts of dark cocoa and sugar (so 4 tblsp cocoa and 2 tblsp sugar). I microwaved for 2 minutes @ 80% power and needed to do about 40 seconds more on high power. It turned out great for me but I would probably stay closer to the recipe if making for the adorable husband or others. Fun recipe to play with though – thanks again!
it turned out real rubbery and yuck i would not make it again
well i wold make it again but this time i didn’t use all the ingredients we didn’t have chocolate and coco but i tried to make vanilla but it turned to rubber but still eatable it didn’t eat it all but my dad did lol well i will try ti next time but with all the ingredients if i remember.
Thanks for the comments. The mug cake recipe as I’ve listed here (I haven’t tried any substitutions or variations, sorry) isn’t a perfect cake, but it definitely will fix a chocolate craving in a hurry. For me it’s a perfect last-minute weeknight treat.
tried this..came out delicious,soft and spongy..thanks a lot dear..
it looks nice in a way
This was really good. I used butterscotch chips because that was what I had. They didn’t sink to the bottom, though. I also used a taller drinking glass. It was easy and fast and satisfied my chocolate craving!
Glad you enjoyed it, love the idea of using butterscotch chips!
This recipe is so good! My friend gave me all of the dry ingredients in a jar for Christmas with a list of the wet ingredients to throw in and it was literally one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. It was just like a lava cake; moist chocolate cake with a fudgey sauce inside. Bliss!
What a fun gift idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
This was delicious…but when I did the nutritional facts for it I was really shocked! 841 calories and 42 were from fat. Luckily I split it with my daughter. Good for a once in a blue moon splurge…but be careful with these. They are addicting. 🙂
So good! Any idea if this recipe would work in the oven?
Someone shared this in #foodfeed yesterday and I was reminded of this yummy post. Might come in handy when I need a sweet fix after the baby comes 🙂
It was awesome. I made it dark chocolate by adding a half tbsp of cocoa, and I used skim milk.But I didn’t mix the egg whites enough and I ended up with chunks of egg white in it. It was fine, but kinda weird. But I’ll definitely try it again. And I’m 13 if you wanna know how easy this is.
What a great suggestion! Thanks for sharing, so glad you liked the recipe!
The flavor was that of chocolate cake, but the texture was not. It was very spongy, and not enjoyable. It was like eating undercooked (chocolate tasting) French toast. I would not make it again.
This is even better if you substitute buttermilk for the whole milk.
Great suggestion!
Can I use the self-raising flour instead of all-purpose flour?
It looks yummy,I’m gonna try it soon ! 🙂
My family liked it wayyy more than me, probably since I have a slight aversion to eggs. Could you tell me something to use in place of the egg?
Smashed banana
Hi,
My sister was recommended this recipe from a colleague. We tried it tonight and it was delicious. THANK YOU!
I tried this yesterday, but I didn’t mix it well enough so it didn’t taste right!! Make sure to mix really well!!
Thanks Anna, made this quick and wonderful cake to surprise my sweet daughter for valentines day. She loveddddddddd it. THANKS
Annalise,
This looks delicious. Pinned.
Annamaria
Found your recipe doing a google search and I just had to say that this is the BEST tasting chocolate mug cake recipe I’ve tried yet! Mmmm! Thank you!
Not sure where I went wrong. Had no powdered cocoa so I substituted for chopped baking chocolate and took out 1 tbsp of oil. It came out of but was the texture of bread pudding which is odd considering it should be chocolate cake lol any advice? I will definitely try again with proper ingredients. All the reviews are too great not to!
Oh my goodness, yum!
Oh these are devine!! I used cake flour and a pinch of baking powder in mine though. Perfect light fluffy texture.
Excellent recipe. I expected nothing and I got a great cake! I used a small egg, I think a larger egg would have been fine for me. Next time I will add more chocolate chips because I love chocolate!!! Thanks for sharing.
This is the best mug cake recipe I’ve tried. I used skim milk and a splash of hazelnut syrup. Didn’t have chocolate chips, so I dropped a marshmallow in the bottom of each cup, and that made a great upside down frosting effect.
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this for my husband n myself on a rainy evening.. Rain n warm quick chocoalte was just amaaaaziiinngg..!! Loved it..
I made this for hubby and I ….but I put a scoop of Nutella on top of cake mix instead of choc chips on the bottom and omg it was awesome 🙂 thanks for such a great easy n quick recipe
Thanks for the comment! Love the idea of adding Nutella, I’ll definitely be trying that!
I have an ancient microwave and cooked two mugs for 99 secs, then 20 and then 20 again to get them fully set. They were a bit oovercooked and rubbery by that point 🙁 But still delicious! Then I realised that I forgot to add the oil! Oops. I am tempted to get some powdered milk and eggs and make up emergency cake packets that only require a bit of oil and water, a mug and a microwave. As another commenter mentioned, they would make great gifts!
Cool but It’s just a cake. I thought the chocolate is moist
I omitted the egg, lessened the sugar and oil (did 1.5tbsp sugar, 1.5tbsp oil) an it was soo good 😀
The cake was moist for me. Will definitely make again
made this two nights in a row 🙂
Used skim milk because that’s all we have, and used butter and chocolate chips instead of oil and cocoa powder (since we didn’t have any in the house).
I nuked the butter and 2tbsp of choc chips in the microwave to melt them then followed the recipe- I did add a dash of salt and cinnamon, and did not put any whole choc chips because I don’t like things too sweet. It was perfect 🙂 No eggy taste- maybe because I used butter? I used two mugs and it was perfect for my and my daughter 🙂
Just adding my 2 cents in case someone has limited ingredients like me, and wants to know if it’s worth trying.
Just tried it and I’m in love!! Amazing recipe! 🙂 xx
Tried it twice .. it was awesome… 🙂
I made a few changes 2nd time i made it… Do try and let me know how it is. 🙂
INGREDIENTS:
Whole wheat flour / oats flour – 2tbsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Nesquik powder – 2 tbsp
Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
Instant coffee granules – 1/2 tsp
Egg – 1
Milk – 3 tbsp
Olive Oil/ Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence – 2-3 drops (Optional)
Chocolate chips / Nutella – 1 tbsp (Optional)
PREPARATION:
Mix all the wet ingredients and add all the dry ingredients and combine well till no lumps are found. Microwave on high for 1 min 10 sec.
An healthier and more chocolatey mug cake is ready. Serve it with a scoop of vanilla icecream or garnish it with chocolate flakes… Yummyyyyyyy !!!!!!!!!!!
This is what I’m looking for, a 2-minute microwave cake. YUM!
Mine was rubbery, like pancake in a cup. What did I do wrong?
Well this is a very suprisingly good recipe I had all the things at home and I am sure that there have been lots of remakes on YouTube using this recipe POPSUGAR does use this recipe except using a vanilla version of this.
Yeah well a dah there is gonna be remakes of it all over YouTube
Hey
I made this with my kids and they loved it it tasted sooooo good I would definetly try this recipe again for a cake that can be baked in the microwave. I made this recipe to try out for the Christmas dessert at my Sisters house for a Little suprise. I would also make this for any regular dessert at anyone’s house even my own house and for birthdays. You can do so many things with this and just do anything you like with this
This looks really good when that chocolate jones kicks in….I really want to make this tonight after seeing those awesome pictures…oh, the heck with it, who am I kidding? I’ll just jam 2 big gobs of Nutella in my face and call it a night!!
This chocolate mug cake looks absolutely fantastic. Beautiful photos, too. I look forward to trying this. Thanks a lot for sharing Annalise!
Absolutely love your creative idea with chocolate mug cake! Never seen something like this! Definitely, I will try to make it too! Thx for sharing!
Thanks, I hope you love it!
That chocolate mug cake just looks so incredibly delicious, and I am so craving a slice right now! Definitely, I will make it on the weekend for my family.
This chocolate mug cake looks so zesty and tasty! Absolutely love your creative idea! Thanks for sharing!
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What a creative idea for a chocolate mug cake. How festive looking! Thanks!
I LIKE THIS FOOD, THANK YOU PROVIDING A BEST KNOWLEDGE
Easy to make and delicious now that’s a combination I’d welcome any day, good work!
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I tried this cake , but missed out on the egg ( i mean i forgot to add it ) , it turned out more fudgier . Enjoyed it , next time will add the egg and give it a try . Can I add some coffee to it ?
wow wonderful first recipe that’s ready in 2-minute and very tasty, healthy. i like this post.its Ingredients are useful and healthy no side effect.
Nice content thanks for help
thanks for help
This chocolate mug cake looks so zesty and tasty!
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Very good, easy to follow, and a great end result. I look forward to making this again very soon
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Great article nice pictures and different concept for me i didn’t know about this way of making wish.
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Amazing recipe thanks for sharing
This looks really delicious i will try this sooner or later but im wondering if you can use a oven for this.
Very nice I love it. 🙂
Amazing recipe thanks for sharing, love it.
Yummy Very good recipe.
Yep that took care of it alright! Perfect in every respect.
Best so far !!
Best best recipe
Easy to did it! Thanks you much for sharing!
A quick and easy microwavable chocolate cake
easy to cook this cake
Wow I am a very lazy person this is so easy and delicious
Delicious spongy but I really like sugar so next time I’m probably going to add a bit more
Oh my! This chocolate mug cake was delicious – and so easy to make! Will have to try this for my family. Thanks so much!
ohhh my God, it must be tasty, i LOVE chocolates …. must try it today
i am 40 years old, and a diabetic patient, I love chocolate, can I eat these kinds of cakes?
Hi! I am just a recipe developer, not a doctor, and cannot offer you medical advice.
By vanilla extract, you mean liquid or powder extract? Otherwise, it looks very delicious! 🙂
All of my recipes use liquid vanilla extract, unless stated otherwise. 🙂
It worked so well I wish I could send you a pic
You can always email me at completelydelicious@gmail.com, or DM me on Instagram @completelydelicious. So glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
ok
Hi, can I bake it in the oven? What would be baking time and temperature ? Great idea, I just don’t do microwave… Thanks for ur help.
Sorry, this is a microwavable cake! So I don’t have baking time and temperature.
This cake is so good , and that’s coming from someone who knows her cakes. Thank you!