A guilt-free, 5 minute chocolate mug cake recipe?
IMPOSSIBLE I hear you say.
This bad-boy came about from a VERY dangerous recipe that my wife picked up whilst at a bridal shower. It was basically the recipe for a 3 minute chocolate cake.
No matter where you were – at any place, at any time that had BASIC cooking ingredients, you were 3 minutes away from chocolate indulgence.
Making a chocolate mug cake healthy
Unlike most recipes – If you strip away the naughtiness from it, the end result will be dull, tasteless and pointless.
This is where, with a few tweaks, the chocolate mug cake really shines.
Thankfully, the ingredients are so simple and easy to substitute with healthier options, that the end results are WAY better than anticipated.
The ingredients are your ‘basic’ house-hold items but with a scoop of protein powder. (note: the coffee is sh*t – don’t use the pictured brand if you can help it).
Trial and error
I’ve been through so MANY variations of this beloved recipe before unleashing it on the internet today.
I reckon I’ve ‘NAILED IT’ to the point where it’s ‘almost’ as good as the original (naughty) variant.
To add to the awesome™, this recipe only uses ONE measuring device! – and it’s a tablespoon! It just doesn’t get any easier. (Just make sure you add the dry/wet ingredients in the correct order)
Ingredients for guilt-free chocolate mug cake
Dry ingredients
3 tbs Oats
1/2 Scoop chocolate protein powder (I’ve used whey)
1 tbs Sweetener (I’ve used Stevia here and if you like it sweeter, add more)
2 tbs Cooking Cocoa (The ‘richer’ the better here)
Pinch of instant coffee (Intensifies the chocolate flavour)
Pinch of salt (Intensifies all flavours)
Wet ingredients
1 Free-range egg
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs Milk (I’ve used lite milk, but any will do, Blue Diamond almond milk works too)
Splash of vanilla extract or essence
The method for chocolate mug cake
1. Grab a decent sized mug that will fit all of the ingredients (jumbo sized).
2. Add all of the dry ingredients FIRST and stir to combine.
3. Follow this with the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Place in a Microwave oven for 1.5 – 2 minutes on HIGH depending on how moist you like it (and how strong your oven is).
5. Serve immediately.
All of the dry ingredients should be stirred prior to adding the wet ones. Note: The mug pictured is jumbo, but I’ve since made the recipe in a standard sized coffee mug with the exact same results.
The end results is basically ‘a cake in a cup’. If it’s slightly under-cooked, it’ll be extra moist with added awesome™
Notes
1. This goes GREAT with full-fat ice-cream. That’s right – full fat. None of this fat-free rubbish that is full of sugar anyway (If you’re gonna eat ice-cream, at least do it properly).
2. Make sure you DON’T overcook the pudding. Maybe try 1min on high first then see if it needs longer.
3. Under any circumstance do NOT remove the oil – this is what makes it soft and ‘pudding-like’ (Will be a waste of time without it).
Enjoy your chocolate mug cake
If you skipped the ice-cream part, then good for you – it really is guilt free. I reach for one of these bad boys whenever I’m craving something sweet. Not only will it keep you full for hours, but it’ll give you a decent protein hit as well. Enjoy!
Editor’s note: Have you tried the recipe or do you think you will? Comment below
About the only modification I would make to this is switching out the light milk for whole milk. Honestly, it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference, but I’ve become somewhat of a fat-fanatic these last couple of months.
The pudding looks delicious, but honestly, I’m probably not going to try and make this exact recipe. Rather, I think I may take your idea of creating a guilt-free dessert and apply it to something I absolutely love: Lava/Melting cake. It’s pretty similar to your pudding, so really, your recipe could act as a great gateway to my own guilt-free creation.
Thanks for the share Clint!
I agree on the ‘milk’ front.
I’ve actually made it with ‘almond milk’ also – equally good.
I’d love to see the lava/melting cake. Make sure you share it with the rest of us :)
So where is the link to the “naughty” version, cause i don’t have protein powder at my disposal
You can use one more tablespoon of Cocoa instead.
But i will link in the naughty version shortly…
Here it is!
http://staging.revealthesteel.com/crudefitness/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/themostdangerousrecipeintheworld.jpg
Ran the numbers. Macros come out as 371 Calories 25c/21f/27p
So, not bad at all.
Nice work Bill.
That’s great – thanks for doing that.
Looks like a great recipe. I might give it a try and replace the oats with ground flax meal. Thanks for the great post :)
Update for you guys, I’ve since tried it with one less tablespoon of oats, with the addition of 1/2 tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter.
Seriously good also :)
Just tried this and it tasted amazing! Not too sweet and definitely not too blend. Cocoa powder is a brilliant way of having the chocolatey flavor! Also, i added a mashed banana in. :p Thanks for sharing the recipe! much much appreciated.
Glad you like it – nice touch with the banana addition!
Will have to give that one a go.
My 4 year old daughter wanted us to make a chocolate cake. Just got back from the gym so wasn’t overly keen, but I searched online for a healthy choc microwave cake and found yours. I used less than half the amount of sugar and even though the cocoa was slightly bitter, it was still a hit – we demolished half each! Thanks for posting this guilt-free recipe!
Fantastic Christine. Glad your daughter enjoyed it! (My 2 year old might also be interested come to think of it :)