5-minute Chocolate Cake

Intro: 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.

[SunainaK]

these things are optional

• splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

For a fudgier version, omit egg.

[Tarita]

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

[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.

[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.

[cattibalistic]

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

[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.

[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.

[milothefultz]

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

[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

[warrnie7]

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

Enjoy!

[scoochmaroo]

That is truly a thing of beauty.

[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

[thatguysam]

I have been making this a few times a year for going on ten years now! In last few I have gotten creative adding different flavorings and chips. A few winners:
Maple flavoring and butterscotch chips
Orange flavoring and white chocolate chips
Also subbing flour for the cocoa upping the flavoring has had mixed results. When it works its wonderful when it does not its bad!!

[Storm_Watcher_69]

Hi, would this work if I doubled the recipe in a bowl for 2 servings? Thanks :)

[LynneL11]

I have done this and just poured it into mugs before cooking. Just mix it really well.

[loganhudson]

Most likely not, because it would not cook all the way through. Beleave me I have tried this before does not taste good.

[LynneL11]

What is the scale for? All of your measurements are in TBSP. Also to make it a lot less fattening but still tasting great substitute unsweetened applesauce for the oil, sugarfree hot cocoa mix for the cocoa and sugar and dark chocolate chips for the semisweet or milk chocolate ones. I have also used cashews for the nuts if you want them in it.

[CharlesD82]

Made it yesterday, and it came out WONDERFUL!

I substituted 2 Tbsp of applesauce instead of oil, and it was perfect!