Kirbie's Cravings

Matcha Green Tea Mug Cake

This single serving matcha green tea flavored mug cake has a strong green tea flavor and beautiful natural dark green color. It cooks in the microwave and is ready in minutes!
close-up photo of matcha green tea mug cake

I’ve received a couple of requests for a green tea mug cake, so here it is! I really love the color.
matcha green tea mug cake
This cake is light and fluffy and mildly sweet, letting the matcha flavor really shine through. If you prefer, you can add more sugar, but I prefer my green tea desserts to have a strong tea flavor.
close-up of a spoon with match green tea cake

P.S. If you enjoy this recipe, check out my entire 5-Minute Mug Cakes cookbook which includes nearly 100 mug cake recipes, including this one.

photo of the book 5 Minute Mug Cakes

Recipe now updated with video! You can find all my recipe videos on my youtube page.

Matcha Green Tea Mug Cake

Servings: 1
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 1 minute
Total Time: 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
This single serving matcha green tea flavored mug cake has a strong green tea flavor and beautiful natural dark green color. It cooks in the microwave and is ready in minutes!
4.59 from 24 votes

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp (30 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp high quality matcha powder (see note)
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp (12.5 g) granulated white sugar (see note)
  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) nonfat milk
  • 1/2 tbsp (7.5 ml) vegetable oil

Instructions

  • In a microwave-safe mug, add flour, matcha powder, baking powder and sugar. Whisk until evenly blended and no lumps remain. You want to make sure to break apart any matcha or flour lumps before adding the liquid.
  • Add in milk and oil. Mix with whisk until batter is smooth and uniform in color. Cook in the microwave at full power for about 1 minute. Let cake cool for a few minutes before eating.

Notes

  • I prefer my green tea desserts less sweet, but you can add more sugar if you prefer a sweeter dessert.
  • For best results, use premium green tea otherwise your cake won't have the deep green color.

The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Mention @KirbieCravings and tag #kirbiecravings!

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Recipe Rating




180 comments on “Matcha Green Tea Mug Cake”

  1. I tried your recipe randomly last night. It is great! I wa a little surrised It didn’t call for egg, but I don’t feel like it is missing anything. It was just the right amount of sweet for me and moist. This little cake made for a fantastic snack w/o a lot of sugar. Thanks for the recipe!

  2. Fluffy and delicious! I just about doubled the sugar, and used 1tbsp of melted butter in place of the oil. Came out perfect for me using first harvest matcha 

  3. I like this recipe. Just barely sweet, which tastes good on its own or with a cup of coffee. I sifted the flour and matcha together before stirring in the remaining ingredients in the mug, and the cake had a nice, spongy texture. No lumps at all. I used Kenko superior culinary grade matcha powder, which I had purchased from Amazon to try out a matcha cookie recipe. I microwaved the cake for one minute. To add some more sweetness, I think adding white chocolate chips would make it taste even better instead of simply adding more sugar. Thank you!

    • We’re glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing your tips – the white chocolate chips sound like a great idea.

  4. Tastes SO lumpy and disgusting, ugh. But I appreciate you for trying to make it easier for others to find and use recipes, thank you!.

    • It sounds like something went wrong – it shouldn’t be lumpy, did you thoroughly mix the ingredients? Also, if you overcook the mug cake it will have a very different texture.

  5. tasted like flour once cooked, still yummy if you sprinkle a little sugar on top

  6. Hi
    Can you substitute almond flour for this?

    • Sorry, but we haven’t tested it and it probably won’t work well since you can’t use almond flour and AP flour interchangeably in the same amounts.

  7. Can I use granulated brown sugar instead of white sugar? Also, can I use light olive oil if I don’t have vegetable oil?

  8. This cake was so good! It wasn’t too sweet which is exactly what I wanted, and the matcha flavor was definitely strong enough. I really recommend this!

  9. This came out perfect! It was just sweet enough for me and made a great breakfast. I used King Arthur’s All-purpose gluten free flour and the texture was perfect! Since I knew my microwave runs high (and often overcooks things), I cooked it at 50% power for 1:30 min. As I said, it came out great! 

  10. Love this so much! I’ve made it multiple times now and this is by far the best mug cake I’ve tried. It’s not overly sweet like the other mug cake recipes and it’s super simple and easy to make, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! :))

  11. If I double the recipe, should I do double the microwave time?

    • Oh, never mind! I tried 2 minutes with double the recipe and it was DELIGHTFUL! Not as Matcha-y as I’d hoped, but it was still really good! I’m 12 and this was so easy 🙂

    • If you want to double the recipe, we recommend making two separate mug cakes and cook them separately. Making a double-sized mug cake in one mug will change things and it’s hard to say how the cake will turn out. Adding more cooking time could change the texture of the cake.

  12. Can I substitute the AP flour with pastry whole wheat flour – will that drastically change anything? Thanks!

  13. I followed the recipe exactly and yielded a super thick batter. So I added more milk and oil until the consistency resembled that in the video. Needless to say, it turned out overly dense and took 2 minutes to “bake” in the microwave. Total failure. So I tried again, this time weighing out the 30g of flour instead of using the tablespoon measurement and it was almost a full tablespoon less than 3tbsp. Turned out much better this time but needed a bit longer than a minute (1m20s). Nice flavour and will definitely make again since I am a lover of matcha. Thanks for this quick and easy recipe.

    • I’m glad you got it to work when you measured in grams. It sounds like your measuring spoon is off by a lot though. 1 tbsp of flour is 7.5 grams which is why 4 tbsp is 30 grams.

  14. This was a pretty good mug cake. 1 minute in the microwave led to overcooking, so we would microwave it for 50 seconds or less.

  15. I accidentally used 1 tbsp instead of 1 tsp of match and it was intense but delicious for a matcha lover, and I love the lower amount of sugar. I’ll make sure to include some salt and vanilla next time. I also prefer to sprinkle turbinado sugar on top for a crunch and help make up for the lower sweetness in the actual cake. 

  16. I rarely write reviews but this recipe sure deserves one!! I’ve come back to this many many times and it never disappoints. Best mug cake recipe out there.

  17. Looks amazing! Can I use water to replace milk? I just ran out and I’m kinda lazy to make a trip to Target, lol.

  18. Can I use an oven instead of microwave 

  19. So glad I found this recipe! Like all the other commentors, I craved something matcha-y & sweet. This was just amazing, I definitely bookmarked this recipe. THANK YOU!

  20. It’s not overly sweet and super delicious! I also added some azuki beans as topping, I love me some beans. Will make this again! 😀 

  21. Just made this and it turned out perfect. I doubled the sugar because I have a sweet tooth and was craving something sweet. Also used almond milk and cooked it for about 1:07. I’ve been making a lot of mug cakes during this quarantine period and this recipe is definitely a keeper!!

  22. Very mildly sweet dessert. I did add a hair more sugar, but followed the recipe exactly for everything else. If you really love a true matcha flavor, this will be perfect. I’ll definitely make this again.

  23. This was absolutely heavenly! I was especially surprised by the texture – it was nicely dense and fluffy. This is one of the best mug cake recipes I’ve tried, thank you!

  24. It doesn’t look quite right. Not sure what I did wrong. Will provide a pic. 

    • I wasn’t sure at first because this recipe didn’t call for any eggs.. but it turned out amazing that we had to make another one soon after!
      Will definitely make it again!! ?

  25. This was delicious!! I subbed almond milk because I didn’t have dairy. Not too sweet, perfect amount of matcha flavor. Will definitely make this one again!

  26. Why didn’t mine rise 🙁

    • Is your baking powder still fresh? Also make sure you measure the ingredients out precisely, too much liquid or sugar will make the cake dense and not rise. There is also a video you can watch right above the recipe card

  27. This was amazing! I also added a tiny pinch of salt and about a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

  28. Made this for St. Patty’s Day. It turned out great. Thanks so much!

  29. Did these people steal your recipe and photos? They look the same, and it doesn’t look like they credited you.
    ujido.com/blogs/matcha-recipes/matcha-green-tea-mug-cake

  30. This is a miracle in a cup! Whoa! Gives me a nice matcha desert fix in one minute! You’re a true genius! When mine comes out a little too dry (if I overcook) I just add a little Yogurt on top! Thanks for an amazing recipe! So glad I found this! 

  31. Hey ! Really want to make this but I don’t have vegetable oil. Can I use butter instead or canola oil ? Thanks!

  32. Thank you so much for the recipe! I actually used a premium matcha latte instant drink sachet (from the brand Harada) instead of matcha powder so I didn’t put in any extra sugar. I also added a tiny bit more milk and vegetable oil to correct the consistency of the batter. The cake turned out amazingly fluffy, had a wonderful matcha and vanilla flavour and a beautiful green colour. This recipe is definitely a keeper, kids loved it too 🙂

  33. Made this but used almond flour (doubled to 8tbsp) and coconut milk. I had to cook it for twice as long and it came out dense and moist. Not really a cake but I’ll keep fiddling with the recipe. Still tasty!

  34. Hi there the recipe sounds amazing! but I am not sure if the measurement is correct. it said we need 4 table spoon of flour which is 30 gram (30 ml) but 3 table spoon of milk is 45 ml…

    • The recipe measurements are correct. Please keep in mind that dry ingredients like flour is measured in weight whereas liquid ingredients like the milk is measured in volume. Please make sure you measure correctly.

  35. Hi Kirbie, I just came upon your site on a lazy Sunday afternoon looking for ideas on how to bake with the big can of matcha green tea powder that my hubby bought at Costco (ladies, you should never let your man shop alone at Costco!). The large quantities really brings out their stock up for winter instinct. LOL. Upon reading this recipe, i really thought this was too good to be true. But it is actually true!!! It actually worked and my 7 y,o daughter liked it! I did use whole wheat flour, it’s was a bit “wheaty” but the texture of the cake turned out great. It was like a cupcake in a mug. I’ll be following your blog now!!

    • I’m so glad you liked it! And Lol on husbands shopping alone at Costco. I’m pretty sure my husband would just bring home boxes of sodas and haggen dazs bars!

  36. OMG, This is one of the best recipes I have found on mug cakes, and the matcha cake tasted delicious, I also tried making a chocolate cake today too with the same recipe, substituting cocoa instead of matcha and it came out a success!

  37. Hi Kirbie, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I love matcha and the idea of a quick mug cake, so I tried it right away! I used coconut/almond milk because of dairy allergy and added a little bit of water because the batter was slightly thick. The cake cooked, but didn’t rise. 🙁 It’s possible that my baking powder is old. Should I try with a bit more baking powder? or self-raising flour? I soo want this to work!

    • it might be the baking powder. you shouldnt need to use self rising flour if you add baking powder (but make sure your baking powder isn’t old!)

  38. This was good but came out with a bit too bitter for me, and I added extra sugar. What would have perfected it was if I had some chocolate sauce to drizzle on.

    Thanks for making a matcha mug cake recipe that doesn’t need an egg, by the way!

    • I really enjoy the bitterness of matcha but definitely you should tweak it to your personal taste preference and adding a chocolate syrup sounds like a great idea!

  39. I want to try this recipe out but woud it be possible to use stevia? I’m diabetic so I always try and sub. Sugar whenever posssible.

  40. This is amazing! So quick to do! I’m on a diet low on allergens and really needed a healthy treat. I substituted the milk for vanilla rice milk (had to add a bit more) and used gluten free flour and it worked! Thank you SO MUCH! I love matcha and I will keep coming back to this recipe!

  41. Hello!  I have made this a few times and love it. I have added coconut to it and used Steeped Tea flavoured matchas!  Each time has a different taste to it.  Thank you for sharing!  

  42. Hi, Kirbie! What green tea powder brand did you use?
    I’d like to ask one more off topic question since I cant find the answer anywhere, yet…the other day I made a green tea pancake, at first the pancake colour was pleasantly bright green, but over time it turned into brownish and the next day, it was super dark brown (almost black). I didn’t store the pancake properly, like in an airtight something because usually normal cake will be fine. I wonder if it was because of the green tea powder or have you experienced this before? What is your opinion? Thank you, Kirbie.

    • I use Maeda-En, either the universal or the ceremonial quality as both of these are pretty high quality and don’t brown as easily when cooked. I have not experienced the browning you described–my matcah items stay the same color even if I leave it out for a few days. That seems so strange! I am guessing that it might be the green tea powder.

  43. That was absolutely delicious.

  44. Hi I tried this cake today and it did not rise at all, the batter was very dry. I used self raising flour and added a bit more baking powder too but it was a total disaster. What did I do wrong?

    • I’m not sure why your cake didn’t rise. Is your self-raising flour and baking powder fresh? Also, self raising flour already has rising agents in it and if you add too much baking powder to a cake it can actually dry it out, so that could account for the dryness. also did you use matcha powder? I ask this because sometimes people think they can just use green tea leaves, etc, which doesn’t work quite the same

  45. im not 100% sure i did the math right, but these are about 203 calories per serving if you substitute the sugar for a zero cal sweetener

  46. Mine did not rise at all. It was rubbery, and when it cooled, it was hard as rock ????. What did I do wrong? I used light olive oil, regular milk, and cooked at medium setting on the microwave for 1 minute.

    • A few things. Check your baking powder. If it’s no longer fresh, your cake won’t rise and will become hard when cooked. Also, I recommend vegetable oil over olive oil, as stated in the recipe. Olive oil leaves an olive oil taste and can cause a more rubbery texture. If you use whole milk, as opposed to fat free which is specified in the recipe, you actually need to add a little water to the batter because whole milk is much thicker. finally, you may want to try different microwave settings. I cooked mine at full power with the microwaves here in the US. I don’t know how powerful the microwaves are where you are coming from. Medium setting may be too high or too low, both of which can affect the outcome.

  47. I didnt have milk so I used 3 tbsp of water for this recipe, and it still tasted delish!! Really loved this!

  48. Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe!  I like my stuff a bit sweeter, so I doubled the sugar, and I just saw the comment about adding chia seeds and I’m totally going to try that.  This was great.

  49. This recipe is amazing! And it didn’t explode! And it tastes great! Thanks so much!

  50. ohmgmgmgmgmg this recipe is AMAZING i just tried it out 10 minutes ago, i added in just a bit more sugar and chia seeds (since i have heaps just lying around) and trust me – best thing ever. the chia seeds add a little crunch to the cake!!

    my friend bought me 1kg of matcha powder just a week ago and i was like what am i gonna do with all that?
    this recipe will definitely help me finish all of it :p

  51. Hi Kirbie!

    I tried your recipe this morning and the cake came out really brown! I used 1% milk and put a 1/4 tsp vanilla extract. Do you have any suggestions on getting the beautiful green colour?

    • sorry to hear that! Make sure you use a good matcha powder. I used a premium one, not the culinary kind. I use maeda-en, the gold premium quality.

  52. Hi Kirbie, do you have any advice on how long I can store these cakes? I want to keep them in the fridge overnight but will this make them dry?

    • unfortunately, I think they will dry out. I dont really recommend storing these cakes. perhaps you can make the batter and store it in the fridge and then cook it when you need it?

  53. Hi Kirbie! Unfortunately I don’t have a microwave, is there anyway I could make it in the oven?

    • you can try, but you probably need to remove it before it is completely cooked (so center still a bit gooey). if you wait for the center to be completely done, the rest of the cake will likely already be dry

  54. Hey! I want to make this for a friend for her birthday but I can’t find matcha powder anywherez Is there any way I can use tea bags instead?

    • No, unfortunately you need the powder. do you have any japanese markets near you? I also find them sometimes in the Asian section of regular supermarkets likes Vons

  55. Hi Kirbie!
    I just tried making this tonight, but my cake ended up tasting (and smelling) very flour-y! 🙁 I’d followed your measurements to a tee, too. What do you reckon might have been the problem??
    Thanks Kirbie (:

    • Hi Jacqui- I noticed you are writing from the UK and sometimes the ingredients and measurements are a bit different. What kind of matcha powder did you use?

  56. Hello! I’ve made this recipe many times with no success. The batter always turns out too dry. I had to double the milk but it does not become a cake. Does anyone else have this issue?

    • Are you following the recipe exactly, or are there any ingredients you’re replacing/substituting? The batter def shouldnt be dry and doubling the milk will make the cake very gummy. what kind of milk are you using? low fat and fat free work best. also when you measure the flour, do you level off your spoon? you need to be precise with the flour measurements otherwise you’ll have too much flour.

  57. if I use a toaster oven instead of a microwave, whats the temperature and how long should I bake it? 🙂 thanks!

  58. Can I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil? Also, I don’t have baking powder, will I still be able to make this? Thanks

    • you definitely need baking powder otherwise your cake will be a hockey puck. Unless you have self rising flour on hand. and unfortunately, coco oil is not a direct subtitute for vegetable oil. I’ve made cakes with coco oil before but it requires other tweaks

  59. Should I use 2 teaspoons of matcha because mine isn’t as strong because it is 20% matcha on 80% brown rice filler?

  60. I substituted unsweetened vanilla almond milk for regular milk, and the taste was fine. Also, the cake tastes wonderful when topped with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter.

  61. OH WOW this is incredible!!!  I do like very sweet, so I doubled the sugar and added extra milk to compensate.  It was still not too sweet imo.  OH PERFECTION!  I will definitely make this many more times!!!!  *THANK YOU!*

  62. I love your matcha tea mug cake. I will definitely make it again!The matcha tea powder I bought is good but I want the vivid green powder. Can you you recommend any brands that are reasonably priced? Thanks!

  63. i don’t own a microwave, is there an oven version of this?

  64. Hello!

    Do you know how many calorie is in that mug cake ?

    Thank you so much xo

    • i do not but there are websites that let you figure out nutritional information for a recipe by inputting it

  65. Hey Kirbie-
    Will decreasing the amount of sugar affect the mug cake(except for the sweetness of course)? Also, when I attempted this, it didn’t rise for some reason. What could’ve gone wrong?

    Thanks xx,
    Claire

    • decreasing the sugar shouldn’t affect the cake rising. did you check to make sure your baking powder is fresh?

  66. Amazing recipe! Only thing is that I had to add a bit more milk than the recipe called for – probably closer to 4.5 tbsp. Otherwise, the texture of the mix was way too gooey (couldn’t even get it off the fork I was mixing it in). Love this though, will definitely be making this a lot!

    • did you use something other than fat free milk? that might be why. Whole milk, etc, is a lot thicker and so you won’t have enough liquid and will need to add more. glad you got it to work though!

  67. Hi I’m in love with practically all your recipes and this one seemed like the perfect start for my first ever mug cake, but I’m UK based and I’m not entirely sure what ‘matcha powder’ is? Can I just buy matcha green tea bags or is that the wrong thing? I don’t know if us Brits have this 🙁 Please help! x

    • Hi Tanith- no matcha tea bags isn’t the same. matcha powder is a green powder, usually sold in small canisters at Japanese markets.

  68. I like this recipe and have included it in my new blog post on 24 must-try matcha recipes. 

  69. Made this tonight and it was quite good. Was a bit dry, but would’ve been perfect with some vanilla or even green tea ice cream! 

    • maybe you can use a tad more oil or reduce cooking time a little so it’s not dry. also it tends to get more dry if you let it sit too long before eating it. but i’m glad you liked it!

  70. This is an amazing recipe! Although, I use soy milk, and add white chocolate chips. I make this so often! 

  71. Thanks for this. I found that the minute wasnt quite long enough in my microwave at full power. So I ran it through again – turned out a bit rubbery, sadly. I substituted the milk for soy as I am vegan. I will try it again with some tweaks and hopefully it will turn out better for me. Thanks.

    • I havent tried this with soy. If you do increase cooking time, make sure it’s at small intervals, like 15 seconds, so you dont overcook it. good luck on your next try!

  72. Can I use plain flour instead?

    • I’m not familiar with flour types in other countries. If plain flour is the same as the US’s all purpose, then yes. I think it is, but I’m not positive

  73. Looks delish! Would i be able to substitute whole wheat pastry flour and almond milk by chance?

  74. Hi Kirbie!

    I’d love to include this recipe in a list of matcha recipes I’m writing for Life by Daily Burn. We would feature one of your great photos (with credit line) along with a link back here for the recipe. Can we have your permission to use a photo in this way? 

    Thanks!
    Kate

  75. Using microwave will do? No need oven ya? What setting should i use in microwave? ^^ thanks 

  76. has anyone tried this with oat flour or any other flour besides all-purpose?

    • I tried one with spelt flour and one all-purpose. Works just as well. Tastes just as well 🙂

    • I tried it with Rice flour =) it tasted nice, a bit more rice-y flavour of course and the texture is a bit more powdery than normal flour spongy. But still good.

      • I messed around with the ingredients quite a bit because I didn’t have some of these at home (I don’t bake much). So I added more than 1 tsp of matcha, used wheat flour, heavy cream instead of milk, olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and it honestly turned out fine. This is great! The fact that this recipe could withstand so much tweaking is very impressive

      • I’m glad it still worked out!

  77. I halved this recipe, added a bit of vanilla extract, and cooked it in a tea cup to complete the look. Thanks for sharing this recipe c:

  78. O. M. G. Matcha is my weakness. Delish!

  79. Can I substitute the nonfat milk for 2%?

    • good recipe, but it really didn’t make that much for me! normally when i make mug cake it expands to the top, but this only filled 1/3 of a small mug 🙁 however i give five stars because mine also came out very dense and fudgy, so perhaps it was a problem with my ingredients. 

      • Hi, the cake shouldn’t come out dense and fudgy so it sounds like it didn’t rise properly

  80. Your matcha baked good always look so AMAZING – I love that shade of green =)