Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe in 5 minutes: a super quick and easy method to make chocolate cake in a mug in your microwave. Perfect for odd hour chocolate cake cravings!
Making cake in a microwave, that too a microwave chocolate cake, is a no-brainer to me. Most of my childhood stories that my parents relate revolve around chocolate in some form.
So yeah, I am a chocolate-lover and this microwave mug cake is a really dangerous thing to enter my life. Throw some ingredients you already have in your pantry into a mug, microwave for a minute on high, and there you go – mug cake!
Sugar cravings are real and while it’s advisable to ignore it most of the time, sometime’s a girl’s gotta have her chocolate cake!
When 5-min chocolate mug cake recipes did their rounds in the Internet, I turned a blind eye. I told myself it can’t actually be chocolate cake if it’s made in a mug in the microwave for 2 minutes, can it?
Well, it is. I recently caved and made the darn thing one night when I had to have something with chocolate in it. It took all of 5 mins to whip one up for myself and it was good. Like, really good.
This chocolate mug cake is springy and fudge-y and tastes just like regular cake, trust me. All you need are basic ingredients which you probably already have in your pantry. Even an occasional baker or complete beginner can whip up a mug cake.
So what type if microwave is needed to make cake? For this mug cake, a generic microwave that has heating functionality is good enough. Isn’t it a delightfully scary thought that now there’s nothing (much) standing between you and a mug of delicious chocolate cake?
Also check out this microwave chocolate cake ready in 7 minutes, and this chocolate chip cookie in a cup recipe. Want to make cake without an oven? Here you go – pressure cooker chocolate cake recipe that turns out perfect!
Print
5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe
- Prep Time: 3 mins
- Cook Time: 2 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Cake
- Cuisine: International
Description
A chocolate cake you can make in the microwave in a mug in 5 minutes. Dangerously delicious and perfect to take care of those cravings that hit at the oddest hours.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon flour
- 5 tablespoon sugar (white or brown)
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons milk (any milk will do)
- 3 tablespoons butter (or any neutral oil)
- A pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 2 drops of vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Grab two microwave-safe coffee mugs that can hold about 250 ml liquid
- Halve the quantity of flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and sugar and add into each mug.
- Mix well with a fork.
- Then halve the quantity of milk, butter, and vanilla and add into each mug.
- Break egg into another small bowl, whisk with a fork, and add half of it into each mug.
- Stir well until all the ingredients mix well. Make sure there is no flour stuck to the bottom of the mug.
- Add one mug at a time to the microwave and cook on medium heat for 2 mins.
- Every microwave acts differently and mine is a very basic one with just two knobs, one for heat level (low, medium, high) and one for time. I kept mine on medium and set each mug at 2 minutes. The cake turned out perfect.
- If your microwave can show power levels, etc, keep it at medium and start with 2 minutes.
- You can adjust it once you take a look at your cooked cake.
Important Notes for Making Mug Cake in a Microwave:
- Bake mug cakes in regular heating mode, not convection mode on your microwave.
- Stop cooking the cake when its still a bit fudge-y and goo-ey around the edges. The cake cooks a bit more while cooling down (yes you will have to wait a while after it cooks!).
- For an eggless chocolate mug cake, replace the egg with 3 tbsp plain yogurt (1.5 tbsp for each mug).
- If you make this without eggs, it won’t be as airy as the version with eggs. Still, if you don’t eat eggs, it’s absolutely acceptable to go the eggless route.
- You can add chopped nuts, chocolate chips or sprinkles on the cake to jazz it up.
- Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream for an extra special touch. Works great if you are hosting and want a quick dessert idea
- Almost all ceramic mugs can take 2-3 mins in the microwave but be mindful of what you choose. Ceramic or glass works best. Avoid plastic mugs (not just for microwave use but in general, if possible).
For chocolate mug cake recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
so easy to make this chocolate mug cake. thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Nags, thanks for sharing this recipe, just tried it and its very uplifting. Thank you so much.
★★★★★
Hey Nags
Asha here from Bangalore. When i was goggling for Paneer Butter Masala Reccipe yesterday I/We (my 14 year old daughter) stumbled upon your food blog. Amazingly restauranty it turned out…
I shared the easiest, tastiest aromatic flavorful dish with my friend n family. Am back today for baked garlic potatoes. I adore your style of writing and simplicity… i jus read the 2 min Choclate mug cake recipe. have tried many of these dishes earlier but i like the way u bring the zing n zang giving life to cooking. (Im a homemaker who tries to balance with my in laws and my two kids n hubby)Thanks a Zillion for your motivational recipes n blog. Keep going!!
★★★★★
thank you so much for your super sweet and kind words asha 🙂 keep cooking!
What is the amount of chocolate to be added? Please add the same
it is already mentioned in the list of ingredients – 2 tbsp cocoa powder
I have tried this recipes many times and did many variations to it. Never disappoints. Its quick and easy when you need something quick and chocolate.Thanks Nags. You are such an inspiration 🙂
★★★★★
aww thanks sravanthi, really appreciate the kind words
awesome recipe….tried and it came out well…hats off to you for ur wonderful tips…
Hiii there!! I tried this yesterday….the look was perfect…but while adding the egg, the entire egg got poured in one cup instead of the half…there was no way to recover it. I heated it for more than 2 mins (3.5 mins) to ensure the egg would get cooked…it didn't help..any remedies if such a thing happens again?? or should I just restart???
Would sincerely appreciate your advice here….:)
you could just add more of the other ingredients and mix it up and THEN divide the entire batter into two cups. that's what i would have done. one egg is too much for half the ingredients, will make the cake weird
Thanks a ton…will keep this in mind…The Paneer chilly turned out terrific and so did the Veg Pulao. Very grateful to you for the recipes and all the useful info that you keep posting. God Bless the work of your hands!!!
thank you ally! really glad the recipes are helping 🙂
OMG I am eating this cake right now and it is still unbelievable that I just baked an ACTUAL cake in 2 minutes! I just love this!! Your blog is a blessing Nags.
Hi
Tried this recipe with my two boys last night, it was super quick and tasty. In fact the boys did it themselves, I was just there supervising them. They were so thrilled that they could do it themselves! It was a real treat for them, so thanks for this recipe.
I am hooked to your blog since last 7-8 months, I must say I really enjoy reading and trying your recipes. This is the first time ever leaving a comment. Keep up your great work.
Ramya
Thank you Ramya 🙂
Hi
I use vinegar and baking soda to replace the egg. According to the measurements in this receipe, I added 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp baking soda. I avoided the baking powder. Result – a very moist and yummylicious 5 min cake!!
that's a great tip for making eggless 5-min mug cake. thanks divya
I love the fact that you give so many details beyond just the ingredients and method; review every comment on each of your recipes. It shows your dedication and inspires me and I am sure many others. Keep up the great work Nags.
Hey Nags,
Came across this 5-min-choc-mug-cake recipe of yours (Confession: Stumbled upon is the actual truth).
Honestly was very impressed with the amount of work that you have put together and since you touched the 2 important aspects i love – Cooking & Photography, i knew THIS 5-min thingy was my calling 🙂 & heck, you cannot go wrong with chocolate!
Saw the recipe at about 530PM eastern (yaa…live in the usual suspect location – Greater NY area!)…went home and while cooking a quick egg scramble for wifey, did this alongside as a surprise! — Ya, i am a man & man enough to say that i love my wife, love cooking, love baking, love cooking/baking for my wife! 🙂
Back to the crux of the matter — this thing, this dark devil, this pure magic — darn it, it was one of the most delicious choco-dreams that i baked in 5 mins flat. THANKS A TON for the recipe, i am sure i would more try more of where this one came from!!
Take care & keep the great work on….
-A
Hi! I just tried the cake (eggless) and its beautiful! and so easy!! And it satisfied my chocolate craving to the letter. Thank you!!!!!
Just to let you know, some of us use applesauce to replace the egg in this recipe. About 1/4 cup should do it. Delicious!
Hii nags..
I have tried the eggless verion today..
Although it was airy ,, fluffy and nice bt it was bit bitter at the end..
I have used coco powder in correct measurement..
Can u plz tell me wat must have went wrong???
that's very hard to tell without telling how you went about making it
Hai…
my mugs can hold 350ml liquid. whereas ur recipe calls 4r two mugs of 250 ml capacity. mine r slightly bigger ones… but MW safe. so can i bake the above mentioned quantity, as mentioned in ur recipe, in a single mug without distributing equally between two mugs?? i wonder how the time factor would vary? can u give me some clues?? i'm new 2 baking but would love to bake for my little son who loves cakes.
i still recommend dividing and baking for even distribution of heat in the microwave.
i haven't tried that but yes, it should work
thanx so much…. then i better get some smaller mugs from the market… i would anyway love to own a few of these mugs.
i've one more doubt… many cake recipes list APF and BP… can v replace these two with SRF??? i mean just omit BP and replace APF with SRF??? afterall SRF is a uniform mixture of two…
btw…i enjoy visiting your blog… planning 2 try the mug version and a few other eggless cakes…have marked your recipes as reference for me…
thanx…
valli.
Any replacement for eggs in this recipe?
yes, the eggless option is mentioned at the bottom of the post. please read through 🙂
Honestly this recipe is such a life saver. I am just now going to bake it. Yes I do mean NOW. I will let you know the result. There are so many times when I just want something maybe for breakfast or just when I am hungry late at night. This will do perfectly. Satisfy me to the core.
This is my 1st encounter of making cake in microware. I made this today. 1st time i forgot to add yogurt so it came out bit hard and i also made a mistake of keeping for 2 1/2 mins. 2nd time i forgot baking powder so it came out sticky. Third time it came out perfectly. Thanks a lot of this recipe. i can make it when ever my daughter ask for it.
Can it be cooked not in microwave but in rice cooker? rice cooker can cook cake too rh?
yes you can bake cakes in rice cooker but i am not sure how this recipe will turn out
not sure, i haven't baked cake in a rice cooker before. but why don't you let it cook until the timer goes off?
oh k then im gonna try it 🙂 how long do u think it shud be in ricecooker?/
Hi Naga,
I made this today , result of a chocolate craving after dinner, so arnd 9pm I made this…. 🙂 was extremely good. It was a bit low on sugar for my hus, but I really loved it, soft n springy….I will make this again and mayb even post it soon on my blog ! 🙂
Thanks for this one.
Regards,
Manju
http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com
I had never ever countered any easy tips to make like this one, I am a disaster at cook but I love drooling over your site and I am definitely making this one tomorrow for sure. 🙂 Your photos are so b'ful. just picture perfect..
I tried this, and for the first time, my cake cooked just perfect!! 😀
I am so delighted, I served it hot with vanilla ice cream.
I tried it and loved it!! I'm a vegetarian so I used the yogurt(as there's loads of it coz guess what! I'm a Tam-Bharm!) instead and it turned out just fine.. I cheated a little though(I used milk powder with water as I was out of milk!) but it was still awesome!!
I'm in love with it.
Bookmarked the chocolate yogurt cake will try that soon. 🙂
Do I need to add baking powder?
yes it's mentioned in the recipe
I have tried one other recipe and I can tell you it was absolutely disgusting, but this one was actually kind of good…. in a pinch it will do! Thanks!
hi there – I stumbled upon your site very recently (well my husband actually did, while searching of a paneer recipe) and I love your blog, specially the baking section. After a sudden choco craving last night, I tried out this recipe very sceptically – afterall, what cake-cake gets baked in 2 min! But it was totally awsome – thanks!
Just one thing, the sugar was still crunching in our mouths…is that how it should be or did I miss anything?
no the sugar should melt in the cake. i have never had it crunchy.. not sure what went wrong. maybe you can try adding powdered suger next time?
maybe u should stir until the usgar metls and then put it in the microwave.. 🙂
I just made this for a Sunday treat 🙂 was much much loved!
I just made this and needless to say, it's DELICIOUS! I microwaved for 2 mins too, and I'm making two more cakes in a while to bring to school… I'll be making them in small lock&lock boxes! (It's a perfect way to carry microwave-ready cakes btw!) Yum 😀
you are right, that IS a lovely idea! thanks for trying the 5-min dangerous microwave chocolate mug cake 🙂
WOW~~ so simple to make 😀
kinda rare finding this simple recipe.
Surely will try it 😀
Thanks~
HI
glad to have found your site…
Its great…
I was looking for a microwave chocolate recipe and found this.. THANKS..
A SURE TRY FOR ME… will let you know…
so glad to hear that gayatri. i use this 5-min chocolate mug cake recipe to lift up my spirits sometimes too 🙂
Hi Nags, I was reading ur kerala plum cake recipe and there was a link to this at the end of the post. I tried it immediately and I loved it..I just added choco chips on top…I was feeling low for today and this lifted my spirits up..thank you…
i must admit, this truly is wonderfully easy to make! and it was delicious! thanks a lot for your awesome recipes! 🙂
Tried this. Loved it! Add one more to your fan club, Nags 🙂
Thank you Arshara 🙂
I've tried it and it turns out greatttt…
thanks
I want to skip this page – and you know why..and I want to forget forget forget..no no no..not anymore..no no ..
Hey Nags,
Tried it and loved every spoon of it!
This has now become like a quick dessert after a nice lunch on weekends…looks like we r addicted 🙂
i tried the eggless version and it turned out to be amazing!! and its so very easy!:)
Wonderful photos.I have used the same recipe quite a number of times with great results. There are loads of 5 minute cake recipes on the net, and not all come out good. But this one has always worked like a charm for me.
I have a lot of chocolate powder here and I don't know what to do with them. I tried this a while ago, they are not that sweet but already good enough for my three little kids.
I was waiting for this recipe. I will print it and stick it to my refrigerator.
I just made this using self raising flour, and it really is pretty good 🙂 Thanks for the recipe – I foresee this being part of many more late night snacks to come!
this is a query…..
if u use SRF in the place of APF/maida do u need 2 add the BP mentioned in the recipe above??? 'coz SRF has BP mixed in it. since u have tried with SRF can u plz share your experience???
Thnx for sharing this !!!!
Now I can eat chocolate cake in small portions !!!!! 🙂 🙂
By neutral oil, do you mean vegetable oil ?
– Desimom
Very delicious! Thanks. I think you'll like some of the recipes found on http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes
wow nags i always loved all ur choco cake recipes since i dont have a baking oven i missed it…now i jus love this recipe…gonna try it now
This looks so delicious and your pictures are gorgeous!! SO glad I found your blog, new follower! xoxo
OMG it looks heaven, chocolate and that too in 5 minutes…… I hope I can remember the theory of moderation…..
good you put up an eggless version ! yayy 😀
I have seen this cake a few times before, but never got around to trying it. Ur pics look so tempting, will surely try it soon.
I've already bookmarked a recipe,but never got around to making one.Can't wait to try this.Nice clicks….
looks fab. I am going to try this one too.
WOW! THIS IS AMAZING! I LOVED IT! It's so fast and easy. 🙂 Perfect!!!
Thanks!!Definitely going to try this SOON!! Love Simplicity <3
I made the eggless version of this a few weeks ago- and it was so good. This cake is really awesome for a quick chocolate fix!
perfect treat for choc lovers and sure will be hit in parties
Wow it's really tempting,clicks are excellent asusual…
Wow!! I should try this sometime.. Love chocolate!
Lovely pics nags. have tried several MW versions. This looks so appealing. On my next to-do list!
o wow….looks deadly…am drooling over it for sure…if you can tell me the setting in Oven/OTG? I dont have MW…but would love to try this quick recipe for my lil one who loves cakes!!So simple & quick…pics are awesome!!
This looks amazing!..I'm trying this pronto!
I just baked some awesome bran muffins last night! They taste so good, you'd forget they're healthy! I think you'd like them! http://eatsimplylivehealthy.blogspot.com/
This looks great! Loved the photos, as usual. I made them some time ago, but with Nutella, and they turned out great too. Perfect when you want to impress sudden guests, na?
Cake looks delicious,super click,
You said:
"Isn't it a delightfully scary thought that now there's nothing standing between you and a mug-ful of delicious chocolate cake?!"
Yes! Yes, it is girlie!
Looks super yum and easy. Honestly, when you really want some chocolate, this is much easier and better for you than buying or making a whole cake. Less temptation!
simple n easy to make!!
Who wont like such an easy and 2-min chocolate cake…
I have this bookmarked for another day
Im in chocolate heaven!!! Off to give it try NOW!!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
Naga! I have been waiting for this recipe! Now, I am scared to use the ceramic mugs I have. But I guess they should be sage in convection mode? Who can tell me after trying!:P I do not have glass mugs:( And yes, I'll try the egg version if I do try in the ceramic one. If it says MW safe at the bottom I guess that will help me..Shreya
Absolutely! I made this recipe in ceramic mugs and all went fine. I doubled the quantity though, but only filled half of each of the four mugs because the cake will rise above the mug's rim during cooking. I loved it, a little dense but that's how I love it 🙂 Noura-Syria
I haven't tried this in the oven. I'm guessing it will need to cook longer. You can experiment if you'd like.
oh wow! I have found another easy recipe of my love of my life-chocolate. This seems easy and also that choco delight looks so delicious that right now I wish I could reach my hand inside my laptop screen and grab it. thanks for the wonderful recipe.
OTG may not work. I haven't tried baking this to be honest. May need more than 2 mins. Try na Sharmilee 🙂
Can this be tried in OTG? Yummy looking, I'm going straight to the kitchen after I see ur reply 🙂
Great treat when we have that chocolate craving all of a sudden… Lovely clicks 🙂