5-minute Chocolate Cake

There are a lot of 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.  Give it a try - you won't be disappointed! 

Step 1 Supplies

microwave!

• coffee mug
• 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right - or the cake is a lie!
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons 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!

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.

[crenor]

hae hw menny dose it feed

[TZero]

Great recipe, I find that it's less gooey and more like a real cake than other recipe. Instead of vanilla I added some lemon zest which worked great.

[MissBBD]

This is an amazing recipe! I've made it multiple times now and I can't get enough! I used it for a school project and I got an A! Thank u soooo much! Haha.... It's sooo simple.... I've made it 4 lots of ppl and they have never said anything bad about it:)

[jerives]

cake burned....being treated for smoke inhalation... ill try again once i get out of the hospital x.x i think i cooked it to long though i did it for 5 mins... damn micro waves... the batter tasted Yummy though

[Zelda and stuff]

Does splenda work?

[soso2]

Can i use sweetened cocoa?

[Renatuh]

Can you also use olive oil instead of canola oil?

[icual]

Hello. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I don't think substituting olive oil for canola oil is a good idea. Olive oil has its own flavor, more suitable for salty foods.

[Renatuh]

I didn't use any oil but I still liked the taste. The only thing that happened was that it burned while the inside was still dough kind of so next time I will put it in the microwave longer on a lower wattage

[jhenry3]

i followed the recipe swapping measurements to English...3 tablespoon = 1/3 cup.
took out the egg
the mix
makes 1 mug or 4 muffins
i nuked them each for 1 minute and got the perfect consistancy

thanks

[uramli]

mine didn't work out... it was burnt... then i realised i forgot to put vanilla essence.... it is wrong not to put it?

[Mermaids_R_Real]

Hey peoples. I'm 10. Made this. Easy. LOVE IT!!! I made 3 servings by myself it was SO EAST I LOVE IT!!! I HAVE NO BAKING EXPERIENCE THIS IS SORT OF WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE:

[Double P Pals]

I didn't have any cocoa so i did what someone else in the comments did, used 6 tablespoons of hot cocoa mix in place of it and sugar, i added a bit more then a "splash" of vanilla ha ha so it was bubbling and i had to wipe up the microwave but it tasted great! my Dad decided we should go above and beyond and ate it with mint chocolate chip ice cream whipped cream and some fudge like you get in a bottle to make chocolate milk. It tasted great! the cake was a bit harder then i was hoping for but my 700 calorie cake (estimate) was great! since sharing is caring me and my dad ate half of it with all the good stuff piled on and my mom and sister ate the ther half by itself and one serving was enough for all of us! over all in case you skipped to the bottem of this its a great recipe

[Double P Pals]

Calories Carbohydrates Protein Fat cals. per gram
1111 110 13 71 4

Is the nutrion facts fro one serving of the cake without adding anything like i did (good thing i only ate a quarter of it)

[sbajwa1]

It was absolutely fab and quick !! Just need to adjust my time as put 3 cups in together ..was over by 30 secs ..still was very delicious and edible ;)

[chubbybunnyzz]

i followed your recipe on youtube but you didnt say how many minutes so i thought it was 5 minutes
i burned my cake and smoke surrounded my house
my microwave is also broken THANKS ALOT!

[Katnapper1966]

I just made this, doubled the basic recipe, using 1 egg instead of measuring it, and micowaved it in a smallish round Pyrex bowl for 5 minutes. It came out perfect! I was wondering about icing... but it didn't need it; the chocolate chips throughout serves and acts as icing. Quick, easy, and sooo tasty... using ingredients I always have on hand anyway! Thank you very much for posting the recipe!!!

[utkarshsinghal]

i made this cake today.it was so quick and so tasty,it was AMAZING!!!also, i added chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips.BEST CAKE EVER!!!!!!!!!

[vincentstockdale]

Mine turned out incredible and delicious! I love it! Im 13 and havent baked before so this was great!

[GOHOKIES!]

Someone please tell me if I should use all purpose or self-rising flour? Text doesn't specify & video shows all purpose bag so thats what I used. Gotta say it didn't rise at all and was quite blah. I really, really, really want this recipe to work for me. I'm tired of searching for a good cup recipe. Thanks!

[gavox]

DO NOT use self raising with this recipe. It will go EVERYWHERE

[brittier]

This recipe didn't work for me at all. I omitted the egg and cooked it for 2.5 minutes in my 800 watt microwave. Basically, the batter caught on fire and the kitchen filled up with smoke. Ruined my favorite mug and now there is an awful smell in my house that I cannot get rid of. Probably won't make this again...

[HannahLegutki]

Would there be a way of doing a brownie version? :O

[shwets]

Luvd d idea.. just tried it.. bt mine was a big blunder :( nt sure wat was wrong.. i used baking soda, no eggs. maybe soda should be less.. will try again.. really want this to work!

[flumble]

Hello,

I didn't have a tablespoon so used the coffee grounds scoup that came with my coffee machine.

It yielded a larger batch (probably double) so used a large deep soup bowl to cook it in... and a 700w microwave and 4 minutes on the timer.

It was delicious and the most cakelike microwave cake I have ever made.

I couldn't be bothered with the egg combinations - so left that out.

Scrumptuous!

:0)

[Blue Mist]

im going to try this yet im gonna use white chocolate cocoa powder, peppermint flavouring and dark chocolate chips. then im gonna melt some dark chocolate on top to decorate it.

[scoochmaroo]

That sounds brilliant. Be sure to let us know how it is!