5-minute Chocolate Cake

There are a lot of 5-minute cake-in-a-mug recipes out there, but I've taken the time to experiment with eight variations on a a recipe to come up with the best, tastiest, and most reliable 5-minute chocolate cake on the web.  This quick and easy chocolate cake recipe will change your life! Now you can have a rich, chocolate dessert in an instant.  So grab a big mug (I link to my favorite in the next step) and get ready to make new kind of cupcake - the cake in a cup!

Step 1: Supplies

TOOLS:

• Mug
• Digital Scale
• Microwave

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right - or the cake is a lie!
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
• 2 tablespoons whisked egg - 1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tblsp is just right!
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips
• splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

For a fudgier version, omit egg!

Step 2: Mix your ingredients

• Add all of the dry ingredients to the mug and mix.
• Add the egg and combine well. It gets pretty pasty at the point.
• Stir in milk and oil.
• Add chocolate chips* and splash of vanilla. Stir well.

*if you don't have chocolate chips, try a broken up candy bar - I can't stress how much this amps the awesomeness of your cake

Step 3: Nuke It!

• Microwave for 3 minutes in a 1000w oven, or 4 minutes in a 700w oven.

It will start to crown over the top of the mug. Don't panic! It will collapse once the heat stops.

Step 4: Experiment!

Some people have had mixed results with the final texture of this cake.  

This cake is tricky mostly because of people's microwaves all being different.  I experimented a lot with the amounts of different ingredients. 

I think if it's something you're going to make quite a lot in the future, it's worth fussing around with!  Try just a bit less time in the microwave (you can always put it back in for more).  If that doesn't help, try a little less egg, or a little less flour. 

Keep notes on what you're trying each time, and eventually you'll find the cake that's perfect for both you and your microwave!

Comments

[Chucky46]

There are so many bad versions of this recipe everywhere but yours really works Thankyou :D

[scoochmaroo]

Thank you!
I actually experimented with about 6 different variations of the recipe before I decided that this one was the best.

[TechNerd1012]

love this instructable, turns out awesome cake

i made one yesterday that rose to almost double the height of the mug, but was deflated by the time i got a camera. turned out nice and fluffy though

I experimented with this, and found that pudding mix works great! just substitute any pudding mix for the chocolate powder (and eliminate the chips, unless you want them in there). So far Ive tried strawberry, vanilla, and white chocolate. They tasted great

[warrnie7]

My masterpiece I made 5 min ago! ta* da*

Enjoy!

[scoochmaroo]

That is truly a thing of beauty.

[P3T376]

bOOm! Or like the romans say: veni vedi vici - a total winner that lil' cupcake! Even I could do it - and that's nothing short of miraculous ;) I was able to use the microwave w/o causing radiationburns on the better part of northern europe AND got a super tasty result. I used 600 watts for approx. 4 mns - and YES - I will do it again... and again...and...

Cheers from germany,

Pete

[milothefultz]

Tried it and it was excellent. Kudos for taking some very shady looking recipes from online and making it a sure bet!

[TheMightyBeagle]

I'm eating this right now... and I LOVE IT! I noticed someone else mentioned using a mashed bananna instead of oil so I tried it that way and used white chocolate chips... all I can think though is "this would be awesome with nuts". Not sure how well nuts would do being nuked. I also noticed other people mentioning the bottom of theirs being burnt and the top not being done. To make sure I didn't run into this problem I put mine in for 1 minute, then stirred it to bring the already cooked pieces up to the top so half of the cake wouldn't be burned. I also nuked it in short intervals (1 minute check and stir, another minute check, 30 seconds etc) to make sure it wasn't burning and also because i'm not sure how powerful my nuker is. When it was done I let it sit in the microwave for as long as I could stand (so the ambient heat would help cook anything that wasn't yet done without burning the rest). Mine didn't puff up out of the mug, but that could either be from the mug or stirring it after a minute of cooking. I think i'm going to try this again tomorrow and instead of a mug use a small glass microwave safe pyrex dish, I think that will help it cook evenly without having to stir halfway. Either way I can't wait to tell my mom-in-law about this she's gonna love it.

[suayres]

I'm playing with your recipe, for one very important reason: I'm a Weight Watchers member, and the recipe as you wrote it is 20 points (I have an allowance of 29 points per day + 49 extra discretionary points to use per week). That's more than I want to spend in one place. BUT the recipe is SO good, that I really want to fit it in to my program. So. A major portion of those points come from the oil (9) & the chocolate chips (3). I didn't want to completely eliminate the chips, but I could cut back to 1 Tbsp (1pt). And I cut the oil to 2 tsps, because I am required to have 2 tsps of oil daily. For the rest of the oil, I subbed--ta da! applesauce! Surprisingly, there was no difference in flavor, and the texture was still good! This knocked the points count down to 11, which I find a comfortable splurge evey now and again. Oh, and one other amendment? I a changed the 3Tbs of milk to 3Tbs of fresh-brewed coffee, for a nice mocha note. All in all, a happy dance for me! It also occurs to me that, for a nice nutty note, you could used toasted sesame seed oil.

[cattibalistic]

I made this recipe using 6 tablespoons of hot cocoa powder in place of the unsweetened cocoa and sugar. IT TURNED OUT GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mishoo]

Oh, this is terribly dangerously DANGEROUS to know. :-) My mugs are pretty small, so I made this in a bowl, which required reducing the cooking time to about 1: 45. I omitted the egg for a fudgier result, and it's a wonderful cake/brownie hybrid. I chopped up 3 tablespoons' worth of Hershey with Almond bar, since it's all I had; I also made a glaze with about 3 tbsp. confectioner's sugar and just a few drops of milk. DAN. GER. OUS. It's incredibly rich and I'm not sure I'll be able to eat the whole thing, but dangit, I'm trying.

[jakebaldwin]

After some instant microwave cake disasters, this recipe came out great! I've tried a few microwave treats, and this was the only one that came out on the first try. It was delicious! It also looked like it needed frosting. We didn't have any, so I used chocolate sauce.
Thanks!

[lakins1]

yum! This recipe has come out great all three times I've used it. I love to add cinnamon, chili powder, nutmeg... whatever I have around.

I mix the batter in a small bowl and then pour it into two smaller oiled mugs and cook for about a minute.

In the picture below I added semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. Then melted a bit of the white chocolate and decorated the tops.

[Tarita]

for a first timer with zero baking experience, it worked like magic! thank you.

[pollya]

I love this cake!! I put some cocoa powder mixed with some sugar on top, and then pour on some hot water before it goes in the microwave and it makes an awesome sauce at the bottom :)

[Dragonrider103]

This is delious looking! I must try it!

[mely123]

do you use plain flour or self raising flour

[Butterflydiva20]

Okay, this is my second time making this. The first time it was awesome, but this time I added a tbsp. of peanut butter and added more milk. Looks great. Once it cools, I'll see if it tastes great. i just discovered after I put it in the microwave that we don't have any Vanilla.

[Butterflydiva20]

I tried this for the first time today, and it was very tasty! The only problem I ran into was it came out really hard on the top. I microwaved for 2-1/2 minutes in an 1100 watt microwave. Too much? I think I'll just do 2 minutes next time.

[Raitis]

Well, I have actually done this following a recipe with no oil, but 1 whole egg, didn't have any issues with the egg and the thing turned out great more than once (~3min @ 800+ watt). Will try this one too, though, maybe it's better. :)
Oh and by the way, try adding nuts or frozen berries to this, it works too.

[lovebirdkitchen]

I just made this! It's awesome. Thanks for posting such easy instructions!

[arubarb]

My cake became a bit hard... its not fluffy... Why is it?

[LILLIAN-R]

I've made this too, but I found the recipe on another site! I've tried the chocolate cake and I also tried a coffeecake version! Both are sooooo good!

[LILLIAN-R]

I've made this too, but I found the recipe on another site! I've tried the chocolate cake and I also tried a coffeecake version! Both are sooooo good!

[Kidpregosbaker]

could you just like multiply the recipe by like 10 and make anormal size cake

[Angry Customer]

The only one who enjoyed the cake was the whole inside of the microwave.
We want the reimburse of:

4 tablespoons of flour;

4 tablespoons of sugar;

1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa;

2 tablespoons whisked egg - 1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tblsp is not right!

3 tablespoons of milk;

3 tablespoons of oil;

3 tablespoons of chocolate chips;

Splash vanilla or other flavoring;

And a new microwave. Because it's impossible to clean this one.

[nmax2]

Need help to remove some rubbery feeling n porous look ... rest was good but at 2min baking

[nmax2]

N I 4got to add.... I had to give 2min time only to get soft cup cake.3 min made it too hard

[nmax2]

My cup cake

[nmax2]

Mine was good at 3rd attempt only when I added whole egg,but it seemed bit eggy so I used half egg n beated it well for about half a minute to ensure smoothness.it turned out to b a soft n fully baked one but don't know y it looked porous from inside(same in previous 3 attempts) n felt a bit rubbery

[nmax2]

Need suggestion...

[iayu]

Can I use Wheat Flour instead?

[SwedishBaker]

Go for it! I used Wheat and it turned out amazing.

[SwedishBaker]

This was amazing. And I have tried changing the recipe and I think that you should use
5 Tablespoons of Sugar
2½ Tablespoons of Cocoa
and 3 tablespoons of butter instead of oil. That is the things I changed to make it perfect.

[Boppylop]

Tried it LOVED IT, made it at least 5 more times. But 2 questions. 1, how do you keep the chocolate chips from sinking, and, 2, how do you get it to pop out of the mug? i just eat it from the mug itself.

[the kidd from school]

this is an amazing recipe i made it and loved it. also check out my channel if you feel like you have time to waste

[pogoman12345]

I was really bored so i decided to make one of these and it turned out really great! I'll defiantly be making them in the future thanks a bunch!

[scrossing]

Incredible recipe! I omitted the egg, used 4 tbsp of milk and only 2 tbsp of oil, and substituted the chocolate chips with Skor bits (didn't have any chocolate on hand). It took only 2:30 min in my microwave.

[davidapark2009]

We made this for fun at home it was so good but it's even better with some hot fudge on top and a scoop of vanilla ice cream yum

[Picturerazzi]

I wonder how scrumptious it would be to add caramel?? :)