In less than 5 minutes – seriously, prep and baking – you can have a rich, hot, molten chocolate cake. We deliberately made this as a serving for one so you can indulge anytime – no need to wait for a party. Make sure your mug is microwave safe. In the recipe we give you the choice of sinking a chunk of either semisweet or mil chocolate into the center of the batter; we used milk chocolate in our photo so you could see the melty goodness even better.
Images: Peter Muka
Microwave Molten Chocolate Cake
Author: Dede Wilson
Makes: Serves 1
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sifted Dutch-processed cocoa
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch salt
- ½ ounce chunk of semisweet or milk chocolate
- Scoop of vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Have a 10-ounce microwave-safe mug at hand. Melt butter in the mug in the microwave. Whisk in the milk and sugar, then the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt using a fork. You should have a liquid batter. Drop the chunk of chocolate in the center and press it down gently to make sure it is submerged.
- Microwave on High power for 30 seconds and check. The cake should look puffed and a bit dull. Insert a spoon and the batter should have produced a cake-like texture with a molten chocolate center. If it is cake-like all the way through, reduce the cooking time by 10 seconds next time. If it is all liquid, increase by 10 seconds. Serve with an optional, but highly recommended, scoop of ice cream. Eat immediately.
Bakepedia Tips
- Cooking in a microwave is quite variable, as microwaves vary in wattage. Our Test Kitchen microwave is a 1200-watt machine. You should be able to tell what yours is by locating the label, often inside the door of your microwave. If your machine’s wattage is lower, you will most likely have to cook your cake longer or, conversely, if it is a higher wattage, your cake will be done even more quickly. Try adjusting by 10 second increments.
- The wattage will affect how this cake cooks, but so will the mug. Different materials will conduct the heat differently. Again, trial and error is the key here.
- The 10-ounce mug is a roomy size, but we like to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the hot cake. The temperature contrast is out of this world.
I am SO glad I found this recipe! I wanted something chocolatey, but it’s late and I didn’t have the energy or time to bake an entire cake. This was so good that after I ate mine, I made one for my neighbor across the street and ran it over to her. 🙂
Emily, now you are the kind of neighbor we all want! What kind of chocolate did you use?
For the cocoa powder, I used Hershey’s special dark powder. For the chocolate pieces that are in the cake, the only solid chocolate I had on hand were some left over easter candy eggs (the small ones wrapped in foil). Three of them equaled exactly 1/2 oz! I would have preferred to use better quality chocolate, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?! 😀
You see, this is ALL valuable info. And yes, the recipe is meant for last minute emergencies so I think you used most appropriate ingredients:) Thank’s ,for letting us know about the egg weight. That’s a new fact for me!
Delicious! This recipe is so simple and tasty! I used only 1/4 of an ounce of chocolate and it turned out fine. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the feedback Keri! So glad you are enjoying our community here.
This was amazing! SO yummy. I found several recipes to use but they all called for eggs and I’m out. I only had Godiva chocolate covered caramels (sweet find the other day) and it was the perfect fix for a chocolate craving! Thanks! I’ll definitely make it again.
Alisha! That is so exciting to know that worked with the chocolate caramel! If you do it again, snap a pic and we will post it to our FB page!
I’m gluten-free, dairy-free, and very sensitive to sugar. My workaround was to use brown rice flour, coconut oil, unsweetened almond milk, and 1 Tbl of stevia/erythritol blend. I stuck a Hershey’s Nugget in the middle and made one each for my two daughter’s and I. OMG!!! It was amazing, and only 5 grams of sugar. And at just around 220 calories, I don’t feel too guilty! Thanks for the recipe!
Wow! Nice re-do with the ingredients you needed to make this work! Thank’s for letting us know and I bet it helps others, too.