Kirbie's Cravings

Lemony Mug Cake

Easy lemon mug cake that is light, lemony, and fluffy. This is an easy mug cake you can make in the microwave.

photo of Lemony Mug Cake

I’m in love with this new lemon mug cake I recently made.

I posted a lemon mug cake recipe last year after receiving multiple requests for a lemon-flavored mug cake. While it tasted satisfactory, I always felt like there was room for improvement, so I’ve been trying to make a better version ever since.

My biggest struggle was trying to recreate the lemony flavor without having the cake end up tasting like lemonade. After about a dozen attempts, I finally had a breakthrough.

photo of a spoonful of Lemony Mug Cake

Ingredients

  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Granulated sugar
  • Fat-free milk
  • Vanilla extract
  • Vegetable oil
  • Fresh lemon zest
  • Lemon curd

Just adding lemon juice and lemon zest wasn’t enough. I needed something more concentrated like lemon curd. I was able to find some in the jam section of my local grocery store.

It’s concentrated, it’s sweet, and adding a heaping spoonful of it to the cake batter gave it that lemony taste I was desperately searching for.

Recipe Steps

In a large oversized microwave-safe mug, combine all ingredients except lemon zest and lemon curd. Mix until the batter is smooth. Add in lemon zest and lemon curd and mix until batter is smooth.

Cook the mug cake in the microwave for about 1 minute. Cool the cake for a few minutes before eating. The cake is best consumed while still warm or within a few hours of it being cooked. Sometimes I serve it with a little extra dollop of lemon curd.

I loved how this cake came out. So light and fluffy and lemony.

overhead photo of Lemony Mug Cake

More Citrus Mug Cakes

Lemony Mug Cake

Servings: 1
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 1 minute
Total Time: 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Lemon curd gives this simple mug cake a bright lemon flavor and it's so easy to make!

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp all- purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 3 tbsp fat-free milk
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp lemon curd

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients except lemon zest and lemon curd into an oversized microwave-safe mug. Mix with a small whisk until batter is smooth.
  • Add in lemon zest and lemon curd and mix until batter is smooth.
  • Cook in the microwave for about 1 minute. Let cake cool a few minutes before eating. The cake is best consumed while still warm or within a few hours of it being cooked. Eat with more lemon curd if desired.

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




16 comments on “Lemony Mug Cake”

  1. mines turned out very chewy, lol, anyway it taste great when I top with whipped cream and extra lemon curd, tangylicious

  2. Hi, can I make this without the lemon zest or substitute it for lemon juice at all? Or add extra lemon curd maybe? Thanks you 

  3. Lovely lovely cake 🙂

  4. I just made this. i tried using a little less flour and didn’t have lemon zest so I just used some extra curd. It came out pretty good, but still floury. One of the better mug cakes I have made though. Thank you for posting!

    • hmm, I’ve never found this recipe to be floury. Lemon zest is pretty strong, stronger than just curd, so maybe if you add that you won’t feel it is floury at all. Or maybe if you add some frosting? even something simple like whipped cream.

  5. So happy to have found this recipe, I just made curd tonight and was happy to eat the leftovers in a tiny serving cake.  

    My issue is that I found the cake overly flour-ey.  I used the exact measurements (at least I’m pretty sure I did) but it felt like flour was coating my tongue as I ate it.  Do you think perhaps this recipe could work well with a bit less flour?  I’m not very experienced with altering baking recipes.  

    • you could try using slightly less flour. I wonder if you might have overpacked your flour into your measuring spoon which could also make it seem too floury.

  6. I’m trying to develop a chocolate/ orange variation based on your basic lemon mugcake recipe from last year. heres what I did to tweek
    your recipe to get the flavor I wanted: I added 1 tbsp. orange juice instead of lemon, 1 tbsp. orange rind, 1 tbsp. unsweentend cocoa powder, & increased the sugar to 5 tbsp., everything else in the recipe
    was the same but my results have not been successful. hers what happened I divided into two standard size mugs which I greased
    with Crisco, then I cooked each separtely for 30 sec it boiled, then rose up

    then went down ,then rose again, then stayed flat with
    a pock marked surface then I opened the door
    to check for doneness, it still looked raw so I cooked it for another 30 sec,then checked, again
    the sides separated from the sides of the mug, so I took it to mean it was done, I let them cool for 3 minute before unmolding, but was disspointed by the dense pudding like texture as it was difficult to unmold with this texture. What am I doing wrong
    to get this texture? so far this is my 2nd attempt and its so frustrating, what can I do to get the light fluffy texture I desire in this cake? thank you

    • i’m sorry but without getting back in the kitchen and doing some research, i can’t tell you what to do do to do a chocolate orange one. i can tell you that if you are adding cocoa powder you will need to reduce flour. also orange juice doesn’t usually work too well for cakes. it would cause it not to be fluffy enough, making it dense and wet. also the orange juice flavor probably isn’t strong enough once it is cooked.

  7. where can i buy the lemon turd? or do i have to make it? sorry if this is a stupid qn. im pretty new in baking stuff haha.

  8. Just made this. DELICIOUS! I just made lemon curd right before I saw this so yay!