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The Moistest Chocolate Mug Cake

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This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you’ll ever make and you’ll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you'll ever make and you'll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

Holy bananas, you guys. This chocolate mug cake recipe is one of your all’s favorite desserts to make.

The simplest chocolate dessert yet incredibly moist, easy, and the best single-serving dessert out there (to share or not to share)!

Mug cake for one or two!

You likely have ALL the ingredients in your pantry already. When you get that late night craving? Or want a small batch dessert (and not whip out a giant baking pan to make brownies to nip that craving)? This chocolate mug cake IS FOR YOU!! If you haven’t made this yet; you are 100% missing out.

This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you'll ever make and you'll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

The BEST Chocolate Mug Cake recipe out there!

Seriously though, you’re probably so over mug cakes and you’re probably rolling your eyes at me right now but STOP! I promise you this isn’t like any other mug cake out there.

I’ve tried a bunch of mug cakes and I hated them.

I thought they were a really neat concept for a quick dessert fix but nothing would ever beat baking an entire cake or cupcake. I hated that all the mug cakes came out SPONGY and they had the grossest texture.

Last week, I was CRAVING chocolate like none other. It was a pretty dire situation. We didn’t have any desserts in the house because I hadn’t been baking and I didn’t want to run out to get anything so I thought I’d give a mug cake a shot.

It ended up turning into a recipe development hour because the first batch came out horrible. Like, I threw it in the trash can and it was just one lumpy sponge thing.

The second one was slightly better but still really bad. The third, I switched out some ingredients and added a little bit more of some and it came out how I wanted but I knew it could’ve been better so on the fourth try, I finally got it to work and the exact texture I wanted.

This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you'll ever make and you'll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

What is a mug cake?

I still seem to get this question a lot and a mug cake is literally as it sounds. A cake that is made in a mug!

It’s great because you don’t need to whip out a bunch of tools to make this simple mug cake.

This chocolate mug cake is made without eggs. Why?

Okay, I get asked this a lot too and the reason why this mug cake is made without any eggs is because that is what makes it have a spongey texture!

If you think about it, it makes sense. Why would you put an entire egg into a mug cake when a regular full-sized cake often asks for one or two eggs?

This isn’t a full-sized cake. And of course I’m not going to ask you to divide an egg in half.

Just omit it! Best texture, ever!

This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you'll ever make and you'll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

Can I make this with self-raising flour?

You can, but I tested it with self-raising flour and it just came out spongey and not the texture I wanted.

I like my cakes light, fluffy, and moist and with the self-raising flour, it just didn’t yield the results I wanted.

There have been many people who have used self-raising flour in this recipe and didn’t notice a difference so if you’re up for the challenge, I say go for it.

Can this mug cake be made in the oven?

No, this was solely developed for the microwave. I have had readers who have baked this but I honestly recall how it turned out and/or what temperature or time.

This chocolate mug cake recipe has no eggs and can be made for one or two (if you like to share). It is one of the easiest dessert recipes you'll ever make and you'll never make another mug cake again after you try my recipe!

Are you a visual person? Watch this video below to see how easy it is to make this chocolate mug cake at home!

If you love mug cakes, you may like these different variations on my chocolate mug cake:

It’s basically chocolate cake in a mug! Grab your mug and recipe below!

The Moistest Chocolate Mug Cake

This best and moistest chocolate mug cake you will ever have. It’s not spongey or dry like other mug cakes! You will never use another chocolate mug cake recipe again!
4.49 from 714 votes
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 1 minute
Total Time: 2 minutes
Servings: 1
Author: Julie Chiou
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Ingredients 

  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, (you can add 1 tbsp. more if you like it a bit sweeter)
  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon hazelnut chocolate spread or mini chocolate chips

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
  • Whisk in the milk and vegetable oil until all ingredients are combined and batter has no clumps.
  • Pour batter into a microwave-safe mug. Mine was a 14-ounce mug. You want enough head space for the cake to rise without pouring over.
  • Add hazelnut chocolate spread in the middle of the batter or mini chocolate chips. Just drop it in the middle, no need to push it down and sink it in the batter. It does that on its own when it cooks! :)
  • Place a paper towel into the microwave and set the mug on top (this is to catch any batter if your mug cake overflows).
  • Microwave mug cake for 70 seconds on high (PLEASE READ NOTES CAREFULLY BELOW)
  • Carefully remove from microwave and enjoy!

Video

Recipe Notes

Please note that ALL microwaves are different therefore can yield different results and can overcook this mug cake if you aren’t careful. My microwave is 950 watts and I cooked mine on 100% power for 70 seconds*. Knowing this information, it may help you better judge how long to cook yours for and at what power.
*When this recipe was developed, we were in another house. That microwave in that house took 70 seconds for me to cook the mug cake. When the video was filmed, we were in a new home. In our current microwave, it takes 90 seconds…which is why there are two different times. The fact still remains: all microwaves are different and can yield different cook times, which proves to be true with my two different microwaves in two different homes.
You can totally omit the tablespoon of chocolate hazelnut spread if you want or use a different spread of your choice (peanut butter, biscoff, etc.) or even chocolate chips like I used in the video. I just thought it made the cake even more moist but the cake itself is moist enough without it!
**This recipe is specifically made for the microwave. I developed it for the microwave. I don’t know cook time or temperature for an oven…I’d imagine it’d be a very quick cook time at a low temp., but since I didn’t test the recipe for an oven, I cannot give specifics. Sorry!
No eggs? Correct. There are NO EGGS in this recipe. Why? Egg is what makes the mug cake spongy. If you think about it, when you bake a full-sized cake, you typically use 1 or 2 eggs…for a mug cake to use 1 egg is A LOT!
Self-rising flour? I have tested this with self-rising and it does NOT work. At least I felt it didn’t work because it was too spongy for me. You are more than welcome to use it, however, please keep in mind that I don’t recommend this method.
Salty? What kind of salt did you use? Kosher salt and table salt ≠ the same thing. Here’s a great post on different kinds of salt and its densities.
If you’re looking for a VANILLA version, here is the link to The Moistest Vanilla Mug Cake recipe!

YOUR NOTES

Click here to add your own notes about this recipe that only you can see!

NUTRITION FACTS

Calories: 606 kcal | Carbohydrates: 55 g | Protein: 10 g | Fat: 42 g | Saturated Fat: 16 g | Fiber: 7 g | Sugar: 21 g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake in a mug, cake recipe, chocolate, dessert, mug cake
Recipe Rating




Cher

Saturday 15th of January 2022

I was sat here working and craving something sweet, googled mug cake and chose this one. So good. Fair point about the eggs, you don't need them. Didn't have cocoa powder so used cadburys option, which worked. 10 minutes later I am a happy camper (that included eating it). Pinch of salt in genius.

This is a keeper of a recipe

V

Saturday 15th of January 2022

I forgot to vote with my comment but it’s an easy 5 stars from me

V

Saturday 15th of January 2022

I’ve made this recipe countless times over the years since i’ve found and and it’s never done me wrong, meeting the criteria of not too sweet, not too rich while being chocolatey (a difficult balance that i sometimes fail, but always always due to the nutella I add…sometimes i’m too generous).

Today i made it again for the first time in a year or two and was wayyy too overconfident for 2am cravings so i eyeballed the measurements, used my usual substitutions, and added a little too much baking powder…

when i mixed in the liquid ingredients i realized i’ve done terribly wrong as the consistency was more dough-like than i recalled so tried to aim for the proper consistency with more liquid ingredients, upped the cooking time, and prayed for the best.

You know what? It held up. It’s pretty close to the original i think of fondly, and the texture pretty good even though i nearly botched it irreparably. This experience gave me a whole new level of respect for this recipe and it’s author because it’s so reliable and forgiving of mistakes. Pair this with strawberry preserves instead of dark chocolate and it tastes phenomenal.

Edwige

Friday 14th of January 2022

A great mug cake to cure those cravings on a Friday night! The individual portion is great for sharing and no worries of leftovers. Soooo good!

MugCakeLover

Friday 14th of January 2022

Great! After It got dry it had the texture of a brownie. Good recipe.