Learn how to make the best and most delicious Healthy Chocolate Mug Cake that is so rich and decadent, moist and fluffy, that you’d never know it is low-fat, oil-free, vegan, gluten-free and much healthier than traditional mug cakes made with oil and eggs! It is truly divine and only 8 ingredients!
HEALTHY CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
Don’t let the fact that this Vegan Healthy Chocolate Mug Cake is low-fat fool you! It is fluffy, moist, rich and incredibly delicious! It does not taste low-fat at all. I already have a really popular chocolate vegan mug cake on the blog that has all 5 star reviews from readers, but I’ve had requests for a nut-free version over time since that one relies on almond flour.
My reader, Estee, specifically requested one recently and what can I say, my family and I loved this one even more! It is so soft and fluffy, but rich and moist. The best part is it contains no nuts, no coconut, no gluten, no eggs and no oil, so nearly everybody should be able to make it!
Compare this to all those mug cakes out there, including vegan ones, they have 30-40 grams of fat. This one is much lower in fat but so good, we moaned the whole way through eating them.
This mug cake is seriously a showstopper too, if you can say that about a mug cake, haha. This baby rises SO much, like a chocolate souffle’, which you can see in these pics! It is a beauty.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
- Superfine oat flour: I always use Bob’s Red Mill oat flour, as it is superfine and not gritty and produces perfectly fluffy results. I find this is better than homemade oat flour, which tends to be gritty. Oat flour is healthy, fiber-rich and so much healthier than white flour.
- Tapioca starch: This helps to bind and make the cake fluffy. All oat flour would make it a bit too dense. Tapioca starch is one of my favorite replacement for eggs.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Unsweetened applesauce: Applesauce instead of oil is not only much lower in calories, it has nutritional benefits.
- Pure maple syrup: Natural sweetener instead of refined sugar. Maple syrup also helps make this cake moist.
- Vanilla extract
- Dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips: I used the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
Step 1: Add the oat flour, starch, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt to a bowl and whisk very well.
Step 2: Add the water, applesauce, syrup, vanilla and ONLY 1 tablespoon (15g) of the chocolate chips. Stir until well mixed and moistened. Don’t overmix once it comes together.
The batter will be on the thick side, as you can see, it’s like a muffin batter, not a runny cake batter.
Step 3: Add the batter to a mug and top with the remaining chocolate chips (1 tablespoon).
Step 4: Cook the mug until the top is dry and no longer wet batter. See details on recipe card below for times and extra details.
Step 5: Cool the mug cake 4-5 minutes before eating. As it will be very hot and will finish cooking as it sits a few minutes. Enjoy!
Check out all those melty chocolate chips. OMG. SO good!
HOW TO MAKE THIS MUG CAKE IN AN OVEN
I know some people may not own a microwave, so to bake this in the oven, it will yield 3 tall muffins. Divide the batter into 3 nonstick muffin liners in a muffin pan. Place extra chocolate chips on the top of each. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 15-20 minutes until risen really high and a toothpick is basically clean. Mine were perfect at 18 minutes.
MORE VEGAN CAKE RECIPES
- Vegan Toffee Mug Cake
- Easy Vegan Lemon Cake (6 Ingredients)
- Vegan Funfetti Birthday Cake
- Vegan White Wedding Cake
- Vegan Gluten-free and Grain-free Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Almond Butter Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cake
- Vegan Pumpkin Cake
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Healthy Chocolate Mug Cake (Low-fat!)
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (48g) superfine oat flour (I always use Bob's Red Mill)
- 2 teaspoons (5g) tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons (12g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (NOT baking powder)
- 1/8 heaping teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons (40g) pure maple syrup
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (38g) unsweetened applesauce
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (38g) room temperature water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (30g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life mini ones) DO NOT OMIT THESE
NOTE
- As always, I recommend a scale for accuracy so your results turn out as mine do and you have success! Just use a bowl and the scale, do not get out measuring cups to compare to grams. Just use the grams listed for accurate results
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Add the oat flour, starch, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt to a bowl and whisk very well.
- Add the water, applesauce, syrup, vanilla and ONLY 1 1/2 tablespoons (23g) of the chocolate chips. Stir until well mixed and moistened, making sure to get the flour from the bottom but don't overmix. The batter will be on the thicker side, but should be smooth. Do not be tempted to add water. It is the consistency similar to a muffin batter. This is what will yield a fluffy mug cake. Adding too much water to oat based cakes results in gummy desserts.
- Spoon the batter into a large tall mug, as this mug cake will rise A LOT!! Don't use a short 8 oz mug. If you prefer, you can divide the batter into 2 normal 8 oz mugs. For reference, the mugs pictured each hold 1 3/4 cup water and I did a full mug cake in each one. They tower just above the mug beautifully. Give the mug a side to side shake and smooth out the top.
- Top with the other tablespoon of chocolate chips on top of the batter.
- FOR REFERENCE, my microwave is 1000 watts. Of course microwaves can vary, so yours may need 10 seconds less or more. If doing 1 tall mug (all the batter in one mug) microwave 1 minute 25 seconds. The top should look dry across (the batter, not the chips obviously). If it still looks really wet, microwave 5-10 more seconds.
- If doing 2 standard mugs (with the batter divided between the two mugs) then microwave one mug cake at a time for 1 minute 15 seconds for each, separately. I found these times to produce a perfect cake. Fluffy and cooked, but wonderfully soft and moist. Of course microwaves can vary. The key is the top looking dry and not wet batter.
- Cool 4-5 minutes before eating. It will be extremely hot and it finishes cooking a bit while sitting. This makes quite a hefty mug cake that easily serves 2 people.
Notes
- OVEN VERSION: I know some people may not own a microwave, so to bake this in the oven, it will yield 3 tall muffins. Divide the batter into 3 nonstick muffin liners in a muffin pan. Smooth out the tops with the back of a spoon. Place extra chocolate chips on the top of each. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 15-20 minutes until risen really hill and a toothpick is basically clean. Mine were perfect at 18 minutes.
Nutrition
This was delicious!!!! Can the batter be prepared ahead of time and cooked later? If so, would I put the prepared batter in the fridge until I am ready to cook?
So glad you loved it Kim! No, you don’t want to make the batter ahead of time, that would cause the liquid to absorb all the flour and make the cake gummy. You could premix the dry ingredients, but don’t add the liquids until right before you make it.
Super fluffy and quick. I used 1/2 the maple syrup because I like my chocolate a little more bitter and used 1/2 water 1/2 applesauce to make up the fluid difference. I really liked it so I remade it as per recipe for my Husband who likes his food sweet and the texture and ease was perfect both times. Great way to have a quick sweet treat when it’s too warm to turn on the oven!
So happy you loved it!
This was fantastic, thank you! I subbed pumpkin for the applesauce and added a little extra water and maple syrup to compensate for the thicker puree, then added a little pumpkin spice and it was an awesome, fast fall treat! I doubled it and divided into 4 portions and in my microwave it took about 50 seconds.
Yum! Great idea!!