The Best Chocolate Mug Cake

$0.30 each
by Beth Moncel
4.55 from 170 votes
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There comes a time in every girl’s life when she needs a chocolate mug cake.

Perhaps it’s one of those days where you just want to curl up on the couch all day and watch bad Lifetime movies about stolen babies (ladies, you know what I’m talking about).

Or maybe you just ran four miles for the first time in your entire life and unless you counteract it immediately with a dessert, the universe will be thrown out of balance and implode, and the entire 2012 apocalypse will be all your fault.

Or maybe it’s your birthday and everyone forgot so there was no cake. Okay, sorry, that last one was kind of depressing. Anyway, my point is, sometimes you just need a bite of cake to make things right. Just a bite.

Chocolate cake being lifted out of the mug by a spoon.

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Love peanut butter and chocolate? Check out my No-Bake Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars or Peanut Butter Fluff Cups.

What Makes This Mug Cake The Best?

I was never a fan of mug cakes because all of the versions I’ve tried have turned out rubbery and just not at all delightful. Until I found this recipe, which for me is the one. This is why I like it:

  • It’s not overly sweet. (If you want it sweeter, add more sugar or some chocolate chips.)
  • It’s small. Other recipes I’ve tried have just been too big and they make me feel like I just over indulged. This one is just a few, rich, delightful bites.
  • There is no egg. I find that eggs make mug cakes rubbery or spongey and they also mean that you can’t scale the recipe in size. If you want a small cake, you can’t just split an egg in half, right?
  • There are a lot of variations. Add chocolate chips, use nutella, jam, or caramel sauce in place of the peanut butter, vegan-ize it by using soy milk in place of cow’s milk… lots of options.

Don’t be tempted to leave out the peanut butter (or jam, or whatever you drop in the center) because it helps keep the cake moist and rich. It simply wouldn’t be the same without it.

Make it a Vegan (Dairy-Free Mug Cake)

With one simple swap, this Chocolate Mug Cake can be made vegan. Simply swap the milk with your favorite non-dairy milk and you’re good to go! Life is good.

So, shout out to Jessie at Made From Scratch for experimenting with mug cakes until finding this perfect mix. You just saved the universe from imploding!

Overhead view of a chocolate mug cake with a spoon in the center.
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“The One” Chocolate Mug Cake

4.55 from 170 votes
In just two minutes you can have this perfect single serving chocolate mug cake to quiet that sweet tooth. 
Chocolate cake being lifted out of the mug with a spoon.
Servings 1
Prep 3 minutes
Cook 1 minute
Total 4 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ($0.03)
  • 2 tsp sugar ($0.01)
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
  • a pinch salt ($0.01)
  • 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
  • 2 Tbsp milk ($0.04)
  • 1 Tbsp peanut butter ($0.13)
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Instructions 

  • In your mug, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and a pinch of salt). Make sure there are no clumps.
  • Stir in the vegetable oil and milk until the mixture is smooth. Drop a tablespoon of peanut butter into the center and push it down into the batter.
  • Microwave on high for one minute and then enjoy!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.


Notes

Microwave power varies slightly, so you may want to experiment with the cooking time, give or take 5-10 seconds. One minute is a good place to start.

Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 344.9kcalCarbohydrates: 28.4gProtein: 7.3gFat: 23.5gSodium: 569mgFiber: 1.5g
Read our full nutrition disclaimer here.
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Video

Love microwave mug cakes? Check out my Funfetti Mug Cake, or Cinnamon Nut Swirl Mug Cake!

Close up of a spoonful of chocolate cake with the mug in the background.

How to Make a Chocolate Mug Cake – Step By Step Photos

Dry ingredients for the mug cake in the mug.

Add 2 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt to a microwave-safe mug. Stir them together very well.

Chocolate cake batter in the mug.

Add 2 Tbsp milk and 1 Tbsp oil, then stir until it forms a batter.

Peanut butter added to the center of the cake batter in the mug.

Drop a dollop of peanut butter (about 1 Tbsp) down into the center of the batter.

mug cake after microwaving, from the side.

Microwave on high for one minute and you’ve got yourself a cake with a melty, peanut butter center! The cake turns out extra light and fluffy and the peanut butter kind of sinks in as the cake rises up around it. So magical!

Chocolate cake being lifted out of the mug with a spoon.

Every bite has a light cake and a gooey, rich bit of melty peanut butter. Absolutely perfect.

half eaten mug cake with a spoon resting in the middle.

And then five or six delightful bites later, you’re done and you don’t feel like you do when you “accidentally” eat a whole pint of ice cream. …not that that ever happens. 👀

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  1. This really is “The One”! Absolutely delicious on its own! However, I don’t like PB, so I subbed strawberry cream cheese as a dollop in the middle. I also added a tablespoon of chocolate chips and a dollop of strawberry cream cheese mixed in. So delicious and flavorful! Thanks for this <3

  2. Long-time reader and I make this mug cake recipe ALL the time. SO good — I’ve recommended it to several friends and they love it too! I’ve made it with non-dairy milk, ww flour, and/or coconut sugar (or other sugars) and it still works great. Pro tip: Tonight I made it with Nutella for the first time. Oh. Em. Gee. Life changing. I’m a choco-peanut butter freak, but Nutella brought it to a whole ‘nother level.

  3. I was really craving a chocolatey treat during a late study session and found I had all these ingredients and gave it a shot. YUMMMM!! Exactly what I was craving and way better than I imagined 3 minutes of my time and a microwave could create!! The small portion makes it easy to indulge without feeling terrible about it. Highly recommend.

  4. Great recipe – when I last did exams I made this so often I suspect I could have just made a full sized cake tbh. ย But great to have something smaller to play with. ย So much better than all the floury omelettes that other mug cakes give you! ย It can be pretty dependent on your microwave so worth experimenting. ย It helps that in New Zealand we are lucky enough to get chocolate peanut butter from one of the best producers in the country, so that’s a huge plus :) ย 

  5. So glad I found this! I’ve had a couple mug cakes and they’re always super rubbery and just kinda oddly textured. This was amazing! Nothing quite like sitting with your own delicious chocolate and peanut butter cake at the end of a rough day. Keeping this recipe for sure.

  6. I really didn’t care for this and probably won’t make it again. Then again, I’ve never made a mug cake before and wasn’t sure what to expect so it could’ve just been that I don’t care for mug cakes.

  7. Ughhhh this is TOO GOOD. So glad I found it at the END of my maternity leave and not sooner. :) Perfect remedy when you need a warm sweet treat!!! Also, instead of milk, I subbed my leftover coffee with milk from this morning (I’m notorious for taking an entire day to drink a cup…) and it added just a hint of coffee and was perfect! Will make this one again and again.

  8. I really like this. I probably eat it once or twice a week. I got tired of mixing it all up every time, so I made a x16 batch (with some added powdered sugar because I like it a bit sweeter). Mostly easy measurements with some simple math. once I had it mixed up, it was just 3tbs mix, 2tbs milk, 1tbs oil, and whatever mix-in you like. I personally use peanut butter mostly, but cream cheese works surprisingly well. Caramel made the whole thing a bit too heavy however.

  9. I don’t own a microwave, could I make this in the oven using a small loaf tin? What temperature/time would you recommend?

    1. I don’t think this one will work quite the same in the oven. I haven’t experimented with it, but I think it needs that fast zap of heat to work right.

  10. EXCELLENT!!! As a single man who is cooking-illiterate and who loves chocolate cake, this is perfect for me. When I go to the grocery store, I pass through the bakery section eying the chocolate cakes. I somehow manage to resist buying any of them, but I am left wanting. After all, a single person with a whole chocolate cake is a bad thing – at least for me it is; it wouldn’t last very long.
    Enter “The One” Chocolate Mug Cake! This is so easy even I can make it! One of the best things about it is the size; it is enough to satisfy my chocolate cake cravings, yet not so big as to overload with a lot of nutritionally bad things. As I am also a huge fan of peanut butter, it’s like “the icing on the cake”!

  11. Totally didn’t expect this to work! Just too easy! I used Splenda and 2% milk to keep the calories down. My doctor says I’m allergic to peanut butter, so I used almond butter instead. I also used a gluten free flour – as I have a gluten intollorance. I’ll use more Splenda next time to make it a little sweeter, but overall, I’m impressed!

  12. This is the best by far microwave cake I’ve made. I used melted butter instead of oil as I just don’t like oil in cakes (healthier I know, but too bad). Then instead of peanut butter, I added Nutella. Delicious! Yes less healthy than peanut butter but very yummy and in the UK, we’re generally less keen on peanut butter in sweet stuff. Served with a dollop of natural yogurt to give it a healthy twist!

  13. Orange marmalade works beautifully in this (I made the chicken in peanut sauce and was a little peanuted out).

    I also am super lazy and decided to scale the dry recipe up into a mix that I could just measure out, add the wet stuff, and go (instead of dragging out half my pantry ever time I want a tiny cake). If anyone is interested:

    1 cup all-purpose flour
    1/4 cup + 4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
    1/4 cup + 4 tsp sugar
    2 tsp baking powder
    Approx 1/3 – 2/5 tsp salt (as a pinch is somewhere between 20-24 tsp, this one I admit is a little awkward. You could always just omit the salt from the mix and add it in when you go to make each serving, before adding the wet stuff.)

    To every 3.5 Tbsp of mix, add the 1 Tbsp oil, 2 Tbsp milk, and 1 Tbsp center filling of your choice.

    Store in air tight container. (Probably shelf stable, but I’m keeping mine I’m the freezer anyway.)