This Best Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake will be your favorite go-to recipe when you need a quick, simple, moist, gooey and chocolaty treat for one person in only 3 minutes! The microwave cake can be made with simple ingredients (even in the oven) and is a great, versatile and most importantly delicious basic recipe!
The Best Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe
These single-size cakes are conveniently easy to make and are considerably quicker to bake than classic cakes! It’s the ultimate no-fuss; dorm-style cake that you can ever make that is still incredibly tasty and satisfying. Since this dessert is also very popular with you, it was now highest time to update the basic recipe. Here I have now added step-by-step pictures, a recipe video and many helpful tips and variations, so that everyone can make this quick 3-minute cake in no time!
You’d better keep this recipe in your back pocket for those hectic midweek dessert needs, middle-of-the-night sweet cravings, or lazy weekend chocolate urges.
What is a mug cake?
It is literally a cake baked in a mug using a microwave instead of a regular oven. Imagine a classic round cake made in miniature version. Basically, any type of batter can baked as a mug cake, even a small portion of Carrot Cake, Banana Bread, Brownie or Cupcake batter. However, be sure to adjust the recipe, because the consistency of the dough should not be too runny.
This Vegan Mug Cake has become famous not only because of how quick and easy it is to make but also because of the simplicity of ingredients used. A quick rummage in your pantry will surely produce the plant-based ingredients needed to make this one. All that you have to do is mix them all together, place the batter in a greased mug, pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes and then serve.
Tips when making the best Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
- Always confirm first if the mug you are using is microwave-safe. Do not use mugs with metal gilding or glazed designs for safety reasons.
- The cooking time may vary, depending on the size of the mug and the power of the microwave you are using. Check if the middle of the cake is cooked by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out slightly clean, it should be good to go.
- Do not overcook the cake though. It’s better if you pull it out of the microwave slightly under-baked as it’ll continue baking for a while as it cools. This way, you will have a moist and gooey cake to enjoy.
- Don’t forget to let it cool down for a few minutes before delving in!
Can I Bake it in the Oven?
Yes, you can. First things first! Find an oven-safe mug or use ramekins instead. Or you can also use a small mini cake pan. I recommend baking the cake for about 20 minutes. Afterward, do the toothpick test to check for doneness. It should come out slightly clean. If you prefer it moister, reduce the baking time further.
Ingredients used and alternatives
- Flour: aside from regular all-purpose or spelt or gluten-free flour, you can also use oat flour, whole-grain flour or any type of flour you have on hand. Always remember to check for the flour to liquid ratio and make the necessary adjustments. Also keep in mind that if you use heavy flours, the cake will be denser and less fluffy.
- Cocoa Powder: I always use natural unsweetened baking cocoa powder for baking. However, you can also use Dutch processed cocoa powder as substitute.
- Nut Butter: such as almond, cashew, hazelnut or peanut butter. If you are allergic to nuts, you can use sunflower seed butter as a alternative.
- Egg Replacement: you can sub the mashed banana with apple sauce or flax eggs. If you love my pumpkin cake, you can also sub pumpkin puree!
- Dairy-free milk: any type of plant-based milk will do!
- Baking powder: helps the cake to rise.
- Sweetener: agave nectar or maple syrup will do.
- Vanilla: replace with cinnamon for a bit of citrusy and spicy flavor.
- Coconut oil: or vegan butter to grease the cup.
How to make the Best Vegan Chocolate Mugcake
As always, I recommend checking out the recipe video and this step-by-step instruction first. Then you’ll find the full recipe with exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Start by mashing the banana. Then add it to a measuring cup along with the dairy-free milk, nut butter and vanilla extract and stir together. Now add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar and mix until just combined. Fill the batter in a lightly greased a microwave-safe mug and microwave for about 3 minutes. Done!
Choose your Toppings
Now for the fun part! I always like to decorate my mug cakes a little differently, but usually with some melted chocolate, fresh berries, granola or sprinkles. You can try using raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberry, and strawberries or any other berry you can get your hands into. Fresh fruits like bananas, mangoes, kiwi, apricots, plums, grapes or whatever is in season would be great too!
If you want to add frozen or watery fruits into the batter, it’s always a good idea to toss them in a bit of cornstarch beforehand to prevent them from making the cake soggy.
Place vegan whipped cream or ice cream on top and sprinkle with chopped nuts such as almond, hazelnut and cashew, shredded coconut or, crushed candies. A drizzle of melted dark or white vegan chocolate or vegan caramel sauce makes it into a real winner!
Mug Cake Flavor Variations
You can double up on the chocolaty-ness by adding some chocolate chips or chocolate shavings to the batter before baking. Adding peanut butter to the mix will give your cake a different flavor dimension that you will love!
Make a Vanilla Mug cake by skipping the cacao powder and adding 1 tbsp. more flour instead plus a pinch of ground vanilla or vanilla extract. Use less non-dairy milk if using lemon or fruit juice. Add some poppy seeds if you like a mini version of my Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.
This Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe is:
- Eggless
- Dairy-free
- Quick and easy to make
- Conveniently baked using a microwave
- Super chocolaty
- Moist
- Gooey
- Totally tasty!
More Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipes to try
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Best Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Vegan Snickers Cake
- Vegan Mole Cake with Bananas and Cherries
- Easy Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Banana Pancakes
- Best Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies
- Chocolate Mousse Pie
- Vegan Marble Cake
If you try this easy vegan chocolate mug cake recipe, please leave me a comment and a star rating because I always love to hear your feedback! And if you take a photo of your single sized cake and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka to make sure I don’t miss your post! Enjoy!
Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
- 1 small mashed banana or another egg substitute
- 3 tbsp (40 ml) dairy-free milk or less/more as needed
- 1 tbsp nut butter or melted vegan butter/margarine
- ⅓ cup (50 g) all-purpose, spelt, or gluten-free flour
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder or 1 tbsp more flour for a vanilla mug cake
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp sugar or syrup of choice
- ½ tsp ground vanilla or vanilla extract or/and 1 tsp. cinnamon optional
- coconut oil for greasing
Toppings (optional)
- vegan chocolate melted
- granola or sprinkles
- berries
Instructions
*Note: Be sure to watch the recipe video + step-by-step photos in the blog post above. Also, I recommend measuring the flour in grams.
- Mash the banana. Then add to a measuring cup along with the dairy-free milk, nut butter and vanilla and stir together.
- Now add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar. Mix until just combined.
- Lightly grease a microwave-safe mug with coconut oil and fill in the batter.
- Bake the mug cake for about 3 minutes in the microwave on the highest setting.
- Decorate with vegan melted chocolate, sprinkles and berries or other toppings of your choice. Enjoy!
Notes
- Flour: Instead of all-purpose or spelt flour, you can use a gluten-free flour blend.
- Dairy-free milk: Soy milk works best for vegan baking. However, you can also use another plant-based milk, such as almond, soy, cashew or oat milk.
- Egg substitute: Instead of banana you can use another egg substitute such as 1/3 cup (80 g) applesauce (read the text above for more suggestions).
- More helpful tips and information as well as recipe variations are at the top of the blog post!
- The nutritional information is calculated for one mug cake without toppings.
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I’ve made a lot of mug cakes and they’re usually cooked for 50-80 or so seconds, so I was surprised when I saw you said to do 3 minutes. I liked the taste of the batter and didn’t want to ruin it, so I opted to put it in for just 1 minute. Unfortunately that was already too much! I can’t imagine what 3 minutes does to it…
I think the cooking time depends on the power and setting of your microwave and the size of your cup. Anyway, thanks for your helpful feedback! 😉
Looks delicious !
You mentioned that carrot cake / banana bread / brownie could be made as mug cake too – how much of the recipe would I use ?
Thanks
Similar to this recipe with around 50 g flour! 😉
thank you very nice website article
Thank you! 😍