This honey mug cake is a fun dessert for when you need a sweet treat and fast! Made with pantry staples, it's an egg free and dairy free mug cake that takes less than 10 minutes to come together.
Have a peek at my honey flapjacks for another fun homemade afternoon snack!
Who else gets those sugar cravings that need to be satisfied, and fast?! That's where this cozy honey mug cake comes in! Simply combine pantry staples and you have a tasty and indulgent dessert in minutes. It has the best moreish flavor from the honey!
Love tasty honey desserts with all their sweet flavors? Then do check out my honey cookies and roasted persimmons. Both so easy to make and perfectly sweet!
⭐ Why this recipe is so good
The quickest cake recipe. Mug cakes are cake, and fast! Simply combine the ingredients in your favorite mug and cook up a sweet treat in the microwave in minutes.
Refined sugar free, egg free and dairy free mug cake. We leave out those ingredients, and focus on honey for sweetness, use coconut oil instead of butter and leave out white sugar.
Add toppings of choice. Make your honey mug cake a little more fun with fruit, cream or an extra drizzle of honey.
🍯 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Honey - you want to use runny honey rather than set honey for this mug cake.
- Flour - personally I use spelt flour, but you can also use regular all-purpose flour.
- Cardamom - to add a hint of spice, adjust the amount to preference.
- Coconut oil - be sure to use melted coconut oil - don't add the thick room temperature oil!
📖 Swaps and variations
Swap cardamom for cinnamon. Pick the spice you prefer to add extra flavor to your mug cake!
Use spelt flour or all-purpose flour. Personally I think the nutty flavor of spelt flour works really well with the honey, but both are good options. Spelt flour is likely a better option for my low histamine readers.
🥭 Ideas for toppings
Adding some fun toppings is a must for your honey mug cake I think! Some ideas:
- Fresh fruit, especially berries such as blueberries and blackberries.
- Compote or coulis such as my cherry compote, mango coulis, apple pear compote and rhubarb puree.
- Ice cream, such as a plain vanilla ice cream.
- Even more honey for extra sweetness!
🔪 Step by step instructions
Making this honey mug cake is very simple, and takes just a few steps:
Step 1
Add the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom to your mug (image 1).
Step 2
Stir or whisk to combine (image 2).
Step 3
Pour in the melted coconut oil, honey and non-dairy milk (image 3).
Step 4
Whisk to combine, doing so until you can't see any clumps of flour in the 'batter' (image 4).
Microwave on high for a minute, then additional sets of 10 seconds until your mug cake is cooked if required. The top should feel spongy to touch. Cook time will vary depending upon the power of your microwave (a higher power microwave will mean less cook time is needed).
Top with an extra drizzle of honey and perhaps some berries or compote to serve.
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Be sure to stir or whisk the ingredients very thoroughly before heating in the microwave. You want to stir enough that the flour dissolves into the liquids and you can't see any small 'clumps' of flour in the mug cake 'batter'.
- Definitely use the baking powder! The mug cake won't rise without it.
- Use a mug that is a good size (if your mug is too small the cake will overflow while you are cooking it), and with higher sides (rather than a wide shallow bowl-like mug).
- I suggest eating fairly quickly while the mug cake is still slightly warm and a little gooey in the middle. If it's left on the counter too long it can go a little stodgy and 'pudding like' in consistency.
- Cook time will vary slightly depending upon the power of your microwave. Heat on high for a minute, and continue to cook for a further 10 seconds at a time if required. Be sure not to overcook and let it get too dry.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Yes, we use coconut oil, baking powder and honey to make the mug cake so it doesn't use eggs.
Yes, be sure to use non-dairy milk to make the cake, for a dairy free dessert.
The cook time will vary slightly, depending upon the power of your microwave. The typical time is between one minute and ninety seconds.
Check that you used enough baking powder. I've tried this recipe using only ¼ teaspoon of baking powder and it wasn't enough. Using ½ teaspoon is needed.
If your mug cake is rubbery or too dry it is likely that it has been overcooked. You also want to eat a mug cake fairly quickly as it can go stodgy once it has cooled and been left out on the counter for a while.
You want to use a mug with fairly high sides, rather than a more shallow wide mug.
🥣 More tasty desserts
Find so many tasty ideas on my desserts page, including my fun maple flapjacks and my blueberry and rhubarb crisp. Some recent recipes to enjoy:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you - so please do leave a ⭐ star rating ⭐ or comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Honey Mug Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup flour all-purpose or spelt flour
- 1.5 tablespoon honey use 2 tablespoon for a sweeter cake
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoon non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Add the flour, cardamom, salt and baking powder to your mug and stir to combine.
- Drizzle in the honey, and pour in the melted coconut oil and non-dairy milk. Stir (or whisk) very thoroughly. You want to make sure that there are no obvious 'lumps' of flour and it has dissolved into the liquids.
- Microwave on high for 1 minute. Timing will vary slightly depending upon your microwave, so adjust accordingly.
Notes
- Make sure the flour has dissolved into the liquids by whisking it very well. You don't want to be able to see any small lumps of flour in your mug before it goes in the microwave.
- Personally I find using a whisk rather than a spoon is better for combining the ingredients well.
- For a little more spice you can increase the amount of cardamom to taste.
- Cook time will vary slightly depending upon the power of your microwave. I suggest starting with a minute, then continuing to cook in 5-10 seconds intervals to the consistency you like if required.
- Please note that nutritional information is offered as a courtesy. It is auto-generated and should be taken as an estimate.
- spelt flour is not listed, but spelt scores 0 with a ? as a liberator.
- baking powder is not listed.
- non-dairy milk has variable scores.
Rachel says
I halved the recipie and it was the perfect evening snack for one! I loved the addition of the cardamom with the honey. thank you 🙂
Claire says
Lovely to hear you enjoyed the flavors Rachel!
Tara says
Thank you for this, I desperately needed a quick and easy sweet something that fit both AIP and Low Histamine (switching because I found I had MCAS and not something inherently autoimmune).
I was able to switch the flour to Cassava with it being just a tad chewy. I added an extra TBS of honey and it was enough liquid to make up for the dryness of the cassava. I microwaved it for 30 extra seconds. Turned out great!
Claire says
So glad it worked out so well Tara! I hadn't ever thought to use cassava flour, so thanks for letting me know it works as a swap. I'll have to try it!
Skye says
Made this with added non-dairy chocolate chips, then added non-dairy strawberry ice cream on top when done. It was so so good! I ended up cooking for 1 minute, then 10 second intervals 3 times and I have a 1100 watt microwave. thanks for this!
Claire says
That sounds like such a fun dessert! Thanks for sharing the cook times for your microwave wattage - so helpful 🙂