Moist, fudgy and mega chocolatey vegan mug cake that is ready in minutes! Perfect to satisfy that late night chocolate cake craving!
So how’s this… you’re sitting at home watching Netflix on a Sunday night and you get a craving for chocolate cake. But you are not going to go and make a whole cake right now, I mean… who has time. You need to get back to binge watching that show!
Enter the vegan mug cake. The cake you can bake in 90 seconds, in a mug, in the microwave. In a perfect one serving portion. And it tastes every bit as good as the best chocolate cake! Can it get any better?
Well yes, if you put a little vegan cream on top of it, then it gets even better.
And if you prefer vanilla to chocolate then you’ll LOVE our vegan vanilla mug cake.
How To Make Vegan Mug Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add all purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt to a coffee mug.
- Mix it up.
- Add non-dairy milk, canola oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix it up into a smooth batter.
- Add vegan chocolate chips.
- Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Bake in the microwave on high for 90 seconds.
- Add a few more vegan chocolate chips to the top.
- Add a dollop of vegan cream (optional) and serve!
Ingredient Notes
We used regular white granulated sugar but if you want to use coconut sugar instead you can definitely do so.
You can use any non-dairy milk. We used soy milk, but almond milk or really any non-dairy milk will work here.
Canola oil. We used canola oil, but any vegetable oil will work fine.
Vegan chocolate chips. These are optional, but recommended! This a dream dessert for chocoholics, and the chocolate chips add all the gooey melted chocolate deliciousness you want.
Pro Tips for the Best Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
Make sure you mix it well without over-mixing. You can use a small whisk (called a whiskette, such a cute name!) to mix the batter, but definitely also stir with a teaspoon making sure you get all the flour from the bottom mixed in.
It’s a common thing to get to the bottom of your mug cake and find a bunch of dry flour that didn’t mix in properly before you baked it. You could also mix the ingredients separately and then add it to your mug, but that just creates an extra dish to wash and this mug cake is all about getting your dessert fix with minimal effort. So just make sure you mix it well but also not too much, or your cake can become rubbery.
Let it cool for a few minutes before eating it. It’s wonderful to eat it hot, but not nuclear. It takes a few minutes to cool down to an edible temperature.
Recipe Q&A
Yes you can! If you prefer to be oil-free, you can switch the oil for applesauce. The cake will be less rich, but still good.
Yes you can. Just switch the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend. Everything else remains the same.
I have not tested this recipe in any way other than the microwave. But I think if you wanted to try it in the oven, you could do so.
My best guess would be to bake it at 350°F (180°C) for 12-15 minutes. Keep a watch on it, as this is just a guess. You would need to make sure to use an oven safe mug or ramekin to bake it in. If you do try it like this, let us know how it goes!
Serving Suggestions
A few extra vegan chocolate chips sprinkled on top are really all you need. This way it tastes great AND looks great.
If you want to really jazz it up then a dollop of vegan cream takes this next level. The same applies to a dollop of vegan ice cream.
Let it cool for a few minutes before serving and then get out a spoon and enjoy it warm.
More Vegan Chocolate
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Brownies
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Hot Chocolate
- Homemade Vegan Chocolate
- Vegan Chocolate Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder Unsweetened
- 3 Tbsp White Granulated Sugar
- ¼ tsp Baking Powder
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 4 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- 2 Tbsp Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil
- ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Chocolate Chips
For Serving (Optional):
Instructions
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt to a coffee mug and mix together.
- Add the soy milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix it up into a smooth batter. Stir well, making sure the flour at the bottom of the mug is properly mixed in, but don't overmix.
- Add the vegan chocolate chips and fold them into the batter.
- Bake in the microwave on high for 90 seconds.* (See Notes)
- Let it cool for a few minutes and then add a few more vegan chocolate chips to the top and a dollop of vegan whipped cream (optional).
Notes
- Gluten-free. If you want to make this mug cake gluten-free you can use gluten-free all purpose flour instead of the regular flour, in the same quantity.
- Cooking times. Microwaves vary and if you have a much more powerful microwave than mine, you might be able to cook it for a shorter time. We made this in a 900 watt microwave and 90 seconds was perfect. However, if your microwave is more powerful it will be ready in a shorter time and if it’s less powerful it will need longer. This microwave calculator can help you figure it out based on the watts of your microwave.
- Under-baking is better than over-baking. It’s best to err on the side of under-baking rather than over-baking this mug cake. If it’s under-baked you can always put it back in for a little longer.
- Nutritional information is for the mug cake only and doesn’t include any vegan cream or ice cream that you may serve it with.
Just made the cake it was awesome and soft, tastes great xx thank you for all the amazing recipes
Thanks Rubina!
Tried this recipe with exact measurements but didn’t add cocoa powder because I didn’t have it. The taste was amazing although it was a bit underbaked. Used peanut oil. Baked for 90 seconds.
Delicious recipe but this is really 2 portions rather than 1!
Hahaha, you can eat it in stages! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
THIS. WAS. DELICIOUS.!! If you’re craving something sweet but don’t need to bake a whole cake….this is PERFECT. So easy, so good. Period. Nothing else to say. Lol!! ♡♡♡
Thanks so much Melissa! 🙂
I use this recipe without cocoa powder and I make it cinnamon and pumpkin spice instead, but the texture is amazing!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This was great! My microwave is 1200 Watts so I cooked it for 90 seconds at 80% power and it was perfect.
Do you think you need to increase the cook time if you do two mugs?
Hi Robin, so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for the great review. I would probably still do them one by one if making two of them because I’m not sure how it would affect the cook time. 🙂
I ditched the cocoa powder and added pumpkin spice, but the cake had an amazing texture.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi, can this be made with whole wheat pastry flour??
Thanks!
Dave
Hi Dave! I haven’t tried it but I think so! Let us know how it works out if you try it. All the best! 🙂
Just made this for a late night sweet treat for my fiance and myself. Definitely so easy! Very good and quick to make. AND I can see this with easy additions/edits to make other varieties/flavors! So. Good. Thank you for this recipe and however much testing you had to do to get there! We appreciate it! (He wants seconds haha) (:
So happy to hear you both enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful rating! 🙂
I’m not a big fan of chocolate, but this looks tasty. Is there anyway I could make it a different flavor?
Hi Pearl, hmmm, if I was going to try this as a vanilla mug cake, I would probably try just leaving out the cocoa powder and dropping the soy milk by 1 Tbsp and the oil by 1 Tbsp and then see from there if it needs any other adjustment (if too dry then add back either some more soy milk or some more oil). All the best! 🙂
Just made this vegan mug cake and was amazed at how delicious it was.
It was a hit with my grandkids and will definitely make it again 10/10 ????????
Awesome Sue, so happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
As soon as I got an email from you I quickly made this and yet again you’re a genius. Thank you so much it’s so tasty and so easy it should be called the no fail vegan mug cake. God bless you. ????????????????????????????????????????????????
Thanks so much Simrit! 🙂
Dear Loving it Vegan … do you think I can bake this in the oven or even in an Airfryer ?
Will it work ? …….. we dont use a microwave oven in our home anymore.
Thanks for helping.
Hi there! I think you could try it in the oven. I have updated the blog post with a note about it. Make sure to use an oven safe mug or ramekin, and I would try it at 350°F for 12-15 minutes and see how that works. Keep a check on the time as it might bake faster than that. All the best! 🙂
Can you mix all the dry ingredients into a canister like a cake mix and just spoon out a serving and add the rest (wet)
Hi Bob, sorry I’m not entirely sure what you mean.
Consolidate all the dry ingredients for say 6 portions and measure out 1 portion at a time and add the wet ingredients per portion.
Oh I see! Yes, that should work fine! Just make sure it’s very well mixed (the dry ingredients) so that you would be getting even amount of everything, but I think that would be a great idea. 🙂
We don’t have a micro-wave. Has anyone made this recipe in a regular or toaster oven? What temperature did you set it at and how long did you bake it?
Hi Rich, I added a note to the blog post about making it in an oven. I think it could work at 350°F for around 12-15 mins in an oven safe mug or ramekin. 🙂