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This easy 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 and it is eggless and all made in the microwave!
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.
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 in a cup! It’s great because you don’t need to whip out a bunch of tools to make this easy chocolate mug cake.
Why is this the BEST Easy Chocolate Mug Cake recipe out there!
Seriously though, you’re probably so over mug cake recipes 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.
Ingredients you’ll need
For the exact measurements, please scroll down to the recipe card.
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder – make sure to check the “best by” date for this. It’s an important factor.
- Sugar
- Salt
- Milk
- Oil
- Chocolate hazelnut spread
Substitutions and variations
- You can use dark cocoa powder if you desire but I actually have a dark chocolate mug cake recipe for that!
- I’ve heard of so many variations that folks have used for the chocolate hazelnut spread. Here are a few ideas:
- Mini chocolate chips
- Lindt truffle in the center
- Mini M&M’s or your favorite mini candy bar
- Caramel sauce
How to make chocolate mug cake
For complete instructions, visit the recipe card below.
Whisk together dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
Add the liquids. Next, add the liquids into the bowl and whisk until a batter-like consistency forms and there are no remaining dry ingredient lumps.
Pour into a mug. As it’s a microwave mug cake, make sure you are pouring the batter into a microwave-safe mug!
Time for add-ins! If you’re using the chocolate hazelnut spread, go ahead and add that right into the center! Same for other add-ins. You don’t have to push it down, the batter will cook around it and sink it down.
Microwave! Time cook it! Place the mug in the microwave and cook for 70 seconds (please see important notes below).
Tips for success
- 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.
- Mug size makes a huge difference! If you’re using a larger mug that is taller then it will take longer to cook. If you’re using a larger but wider mug, it may take less time to cook. There isn’t a one size fits all for this, sadly. The cooking time is a general cook time that works best for most. Unfortunately, there are so many factors that can contribute to your particular mug cake.
Common questions
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!
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 don’t recall how it turned out and/or what temperature or time.
If you love mug cakes, you may like these different variations on my chocolate mug cake:
- Dark chocolate mug cake
- Very vanilla mug cake
- Peanut butter chocolate mug cake
- Espresso chocolate mug cake
- Pumpkin spice mug cake
- Salted caramel apple spice mug cake
The Best Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (31 g) 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 (59 ml) + 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.1/4 cup (31 g) all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) baking powder, 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1/8 teaspoon (⅛ teaspoon) kosher salt
- Whisk in the milk and vegetable oil until all ingredients are combined and batter has no clumps.1/4 cup (59 ml) + 1 tbsp. milk, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 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! :)1 tablespoon hazelnut chocolate spread or mini chocolate chips
- 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!
This was delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I’ll need to add about 5 seconds for my microwave the next time I make it. There was a small bit not cooked at the very bottom, but that didn’t stop me from eating it anyway. :) I put a tablespoon of organic peanut butter in the middle of mine and it was soooo good!
making this i was so excited. a recipe that could work for me . sadly i was mistaken, i’ve cooked this cake for 6 minutes and it’s still just straight batter. the chacolate taste was delightful, but it could’ve been better with a real cake not batter .
could you please give more details on what you did, what you substituted, what you changed to the recipe, etc.? there is just no way if you made this recipe as is that after 6 minutes it would still be batter. i’m curious as to what you did.
Cake was okay I don’t think it tasted like nothing as some people have commented. It took longer to cook approximately 3 minutes in my old microwave. I can’t believe this comment section with people being super mean and the author getting super defensive. People take modifications from recipes and comment them all the time. Maybe you should get a moderator because reading your defensive replies was a huge turn off. I’m sure now I’ll get one.
lol, you sure will because i’m not one to just sit here and let people walk all over me. you said “people being super mean and the author getting super defensive.” so are you saying that when someone is being super mean to you, you wouldn’t talk back? it’s the internet. people feel a sense of boldness hiding behind a computer screen and keyboard so they feel they can be mean without any consequence. i agree with you that my responses are defensive but partly because they come at me attacking me b/c they feel they can. i understand how recipes work…i modify them all the time, but what i’m saying is…if someone doesn’t know how to properly sub or modify and then come at me saying the recipe sucked or the recipe was terrible and give a 1 star rating b/c of THEIR modifications/substitutions…i can’t see how this is my fault at all and it definitely doesn’t warrant 1 star reviews. that is when i get defensive. when you’re a recipe developer and take time to develop recipes and someone comes in and changes it all up and comes at you saying “wow that was terrible, i don’t understand the great reviews on this…” that’s basically like someone putting diesel in their car instead of gasoline and saying, “wow this car doesn’t run like it’s supposed to”
works brilliantly! as this is a recipe of convenience, i did make some substitutions: margarine instead of oil, self raising flour instead of flour and baking powder, hot chocolate powder and half sugar instead of cocoa powder. it seems like a lot written down, but i’m confident the variations didn’t effect the outcome at all. this is my first time baking a mug cake, and i was very pleased with it.
I have made this recipe and it was just amazing. I did not put it all the way to a minute in the microwave and maybe because the power varies. It was amazing. Just the right texture and gooeyness that i like and once it was ready i topped it off with crunchy crushed chocolate chip cookies and it was just amazing. 💜💜
Update from my last review:
I decided to give it a second shot and made it again.
It turned out delicious :)
I added an extra tbsp of sugar and a bit of espresso powder into the batter, sprinkled some powdered sugar on top, and allowed it to completely cool down before eating it.
The flavour was way more pronounced and the moist texture is definitely there!
The flavour wasn’t that great, batter was too watery :(
It tasted bitter. All the ingredients werent expired for me.
This recipe wasnt very good for me. It may eb because i didnt have baking powder or vegstable oil but i subsatuted the vegstable oil for coconut oil and i used baking soda instead of powder.
well yeah, of course it’s not going to be very good for you when you change out the main ingredients that make the recipe work like it was intended to. the 1 star rating is totally uncalled for since you subbed ingredients.
@Sanai, you can sub butter or margarine, but coconut oil will make it greasy and oily, and tastes very strong. baking soda will not work in this recipe, as it is not acidic enough, so it will be dense and bitter. these 4 major issues are your fault, not the recipe’s. if you don’t have baking powder, you can use self raising flour. i made both of these substitutions and it turned out perfectly first try.
Loved this! Just made a couple for my husband & I and we both loved how they came out. We did not experience a spongey texture at all, it tasted really good. We whipped up some cream to top it off. He already requested I make it again soon 😊.