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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 is the best mug cake recipe! Quick easy dessert. Delicious!
I’ve tried many chocolate mug cake recipes over the years, most were just “ok” until this recipe- Table for two – is the BEST yet! I’ve made this chocolate mug cake many times- it’s my absolute favorite!! So delicious- I don’t always have hazelnut spread on hand – I’ve substituted with peanut butter or chocolate chips! It’s very rich & delicious- love-love this recipe- add a scoop of ice cream- WOW!!
This was simple and turned out so good!! It fulfilled my craving and I didn’t have to go to the store, I had all the ingredients. I did have to double the time but besides that it was perfect! Topped with whipped cream and caramel sauce!
This was the best mug cake. When we have a craving, this will now be my go to recipe! I topped it with whipped cream!
Just give me the bloody recipe, I don’t want to read so much crap!!!
then click the bloody button that says JUMP TO RECIPE!!! good lord. if i got a free recipe from a website, i sure as hell wouldn’t be complaining especially since there’s an easy solution to a “problem.” it’s also called paying content creators…it doesn’t cost you anything to scroll (which you did since you found the comments section). content on the internet isn’t free. there is always someone behind the scenes paying for it to be on the internet…we gotta pay ourselves somehow, you know. please think about this.
@Kassandra, You don’t have to be a bloody _____ 🤬 (insert word of your choice) about it! It’s a free recipe that you didn’t come up with, obviously since you’re here like the rest of us, and there’s a button all the way at the top that says JUMP TO RECIPE so you don’t have to read all the “crap” if you don’t want to. Yes sweetie, reading is hard…for some people.
@Kassandra, I don’t know what you read, but it say JUMP TO RECIPE!!! So there, no more scrolling. But you also have to understand that Julie put time into making the notes and all the other things. But Julie, I tried the recipe today, and it came out perfect! Thank you so much!
This cake was susrpisingly good. Moist but not dense, surprisingly spongy and not overpoweringly rich. It was perfect with a little scoop of icecream on top. An oven caked baked cake will always be better but this version absolutely soothes those sweet cravings when nothing else will do and is ready in less than 5 mins.
I’ve tried lots of mug cake recipes, and they’re usually disappointing and make me regret everything. But this one had the best texture out of all of them. It’s not very similar to how an actual cake tastes imo, but it’s sufficient enough to satisfy a craving. I added 1/2 tbsp extra sugar, more chocolate chips, a lil bit of vanilla extract + chocolate syrup drizzled. Alternatively, I feel like just using a little bit of frosting would make this taste more like an actual cake.
Overall, better than majority of mug cake recipes; at least it doesn’t overwhelmingly taste like flour
I made this recipe with Bobs red mill gluten free flour and coconut sugar because it was all I had on hand and my kids were BEGGING for a mug cake. Turned out amazing. We will be using this recipe exclusively from now on! Can’t wait to try the vanilla version.
This recipe is so freakin’ good! I’ve made it a couple of times now, most recently substituting butterscotch chips for the chocolate chips. YUM!!!
I also really like the texture. It’s not spongy or dry like a cake, but reminds me more of a fresh-out-of-the-oven brownie. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Really nice if you like chocolate gloop. Rank. Not a mug cake at all!! 3 minutes in the microwave and still gloop!
sorry to hear that. i see that you’re in the UK – perhaps the wattage on the microwave might be slightly different than ours here in the States and perhaps the mixture, when converted over to metric, was slightly off too, resulting in a more liquidy batter that seems to might need to take a bit longer to cook. in any case, i’m sorry you were disappointed in this
@Mia Grace,
Had the same problem. Gave up after 5+ minutes in our microwave. A new microwave, might I add!! Liquid, pure liquid, and oily. Poor grand kids didn’t get cake tonight.