Eggless Chocolate Cake in a Mug

I have tried many a chocolate cake in a mug recipe. It is a quick fix when you crave for chocolate cake as all you need are basic cake ingredients, a mug and few minutes.

The first recipe I tried used an egg and I felt that the taste of egg dominated the cake. The texture was also not great. Later on I tried various other egg-less versions, all came out yummy but the texture resembled a brownie or fudge and not that of a cake.

So my search continued. Whenever I felt like making a chocolate mug cake, I would search for a recipe and then try the one that looks most promising to me that day. That is how I came across this recipe last week. The recipe included a tablespoon of chocolate hazelnut spread aka Nutella in the middle. It is optional and you can omit it if you are not a fan, but I should admit that is the sole reason why I picked this one to try that day. I love Nutella!

Chocolate Mug Cake

Recipe from Table for Two

Ingredients

¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
⅛ tsp. salt
¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil ( I used olive oil)
1 tbsp. hazelnut chocolate spread

Method

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
2. Whisk in the milk and vegetable oil until all ingredients are combined and batter has no lumps.
3. Pour batter into a microwave-safe mug. Use a mug large enough to have some space for the cake to rise without overflowing.
4. Add 1 tbsp. of hazelnut chocolate spread in the middle of the batter. Just drop it in the middle. There is no need to push it down and sink it in the batter.
5. Place a paper towel into the microwave and set the mug on top. This is to catch any batter if it overflows.
6. Microwave mug cake for 70 seconds on high.
7. Carefully remove from microwave and enjoy, and if you feel indulgent add a scoop of ice cream to the mug.

Notes:

All microwaves are different therefore can yield different results and can overcook or sometimes undercook this mug cake if you aren’t careful. My microwave is 1000 watts and I cooked for 70 seconds. The cake got cooked perfectly in that time. You might have to try a couple of times to figure out the exact time needed in your microwave.

You can totally omit the tablespoon of chocolate hazelnut spread if you want or use a different spread of your choice like peanut butter. The cake itself is moist enough without it.

If you are lazy to wash a bowl and a whisk and feel it kind of defeats the purpose of making a mug cake, you can make this directly in a mug. I tried that myself. But you need to make sure you mix everything well. I used a fork and mixed the dry ingredients first. If you don't mix it thoroughly, lumps of flour or any other dry ingredient can makes its way to the cake. So first mix the dry ingredients very well with a fork and again mix well after adding the wet ingredients. If you don't mix well, you might end up with a bad textured cake.

Now the verdict. This came out to be a very soft chocolate cake and yes it had the texture of a real cake. The Nutella in the middle elevated it to a new level. I would never do a random search for a chocolate mug cake from now on. Yes I am done with my search. I don't think I would find a better recipe than this. If you are a chocolate cake fan this is a must try.