Hot Chocolate Mug Cake
Today I’m sharing a mug cake recipe that tastes just like hot chocolate in a cake form. It’s a perfect treat for these chillier days, best eaten warm with the marshmallows still gooey.
This recipe is in my new cookbook 5-Minute Mug Cakes*!
Over Thanksgiving weekend I consumed a lot of hot chocolate. Part of the reason was to stay warm because my parents’ house is always freezing. The other reason was just that I love drinking hot chocolate with others. I even packed some Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate K-Cups in my luggage, to make sure there would be enough for the whole family. For some reason, drinking hot chocolate with loved ones just makes it so much more special.
This mug cake adds a scoop of hot chocolate powder and is studded with mini marshmallows. It tastes especially good straight out of the microwave and it should help keep you warm too. It’s also a really great idea for a holiday present. You can make a mug cake kit set, with instructions on how to make the cake, and provide all the dry ingredients. It’s actually what I’m planning on doing this holiday season.
Here is a recent video I did of my chocolate chip mug cake to give you an idea of how easy it is to make mug cakes!
*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Hot Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp hot cocoa mix, (see note)
- 2 tsp granulated white sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 5 mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except mini marshmallows into a microwave-safe mug. Mix with a small whisk until batter is smooth. Add in mini marshmallows. If you want them on the top, leave them as is. If you want them mixed into the batter, stir them into the batter.
- Microwave for about 1 minute, or until cake is cooked. Top of cake should be dry to the touch. Cake is best consumed warm.
Notes
- For the hot chocolate mix, I used 1 tablespoon from a packet of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate with mini marshmallows.
- *Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Related Recipes
Check out my full mug cake recipe index!
Horrible this mug cake wouldn’t mix fully and never fully cooked. I put it in for 2 minutes and it’s still runny and not fully cooked. Never again.
We’re sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe! If it wouldn’t fully mix, it sounds like something was wrong with the adding of the ingredients. I would double check to make sure you measured everything properly. We’ve had many readers make this successfully and we have not had any complaints about the ingredients not mixing
I wanted a chocolate mug cake to eat with my vanilla Greek yogurt as a healthy-ish but decadent tasting snack, and this was PERFECT!! I will definitely be keeping this in my snack rotation – YUMMM!!!
We’re so glad you loved it!
Perfection! I normally make the chocolate chip mug cake, which I love, and this came out equally delicious. I do swap melted butter instead of the oil. I also added a tablespoon of chocolate chips to the batter and threw 6 regular marshmallows on top before microwaving. Yum!
We’re so glad you liked it!
Holy Cow! I did NOT expect this to turn out so good for how easy it is!! I used melted butter instead of same amount of vegetable oil and I think it adds to it beautifully. (Butter makes everything better ?).
I love that it uses real milk, and helps use my holiday supply of cocoa mix.
I’m going to be making this again with my nieces and nephews next!!
We’re happy loved it!
Simply because the temperature setting is not properly explained in this recipe. It is also the key to good baking results! Every microwave is different, but at least some indication should be available for readers to use a more considered judgment with their own MW.
We saw your previous comment and replied to it – we hope that info helps.
Hi!
Could you please let me know the power you have used to bake the mug cake? My MW has settings that start from 60 to 900 watts of power. Would truly want to make your recipe.
Best wishes
The microwave we use is 1100 watts, so if yours has less power you may need to add a little more time.
Just tried! Easy and yum! Thx!
So glad you enjoyed it!
So this was absolutely delicious… but the cake was dense dry and didn’t rise well, I followed the recipe exactly and cooked it until it felt right. I’m not really sure how it went wrong, I will definitely try again or some other recipes!! (My microwave was at 100 watts and I microwaved for 1 min 15 secs) also I put it in a 12 oz mug the transferred it into a small bowl and added whipped cream, I had no marshmallow on hand ? and it helped make it a little less dry. Thanks for this delicious recipe!!! I just wished it ended up how it should’ve haha
If it was dry and dense, it might have been overcooked – you can try checking on it a little earlier next time. You might want to make sure your baking powder is not expired – if the cake did not rise, that could be the problem, too.
This was delicious and easy to make! I will save this recipe. The mug cake was moist and not to sweet. Perfect!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use almond milk and soy milk?
yes!
Have made this cake a few times now and have adjusted the hot chocolate to sugar ratio every time I make it. I don’t know if my hot chocolate has more sugar in but I don’t add any sugar just 3tbsp of the hot chocolate makes it taste good to me
I’m glad it works well for you even without adding sugar!
Nice taste, but the bottom was slightly undercooked so I put it back in the microwave and gave it about 10 more seconds. I added chocolate chips too, and it tasted better than any chocolate chip mug cake recipe I’ve eaten! I like that it’s not loads of calories like other mug cake recipes (which are undoubtedly delicious, however). Not saying that this one is particularly healthy! 🙂 Very yummy though.
I’m glad you enjoyed!
i love this recipe
So happy to hear that!
I just made this, tripled the recipe and then divided into three tiny bowls. They turned out rubbery and didn’t rise, what did I do? I put them in the microwave all 3 at once for 2 minutes…
If you want to make three of these, you can’t cook them all at the same time. You need to cook them each individually.
The first mug cake recipe I’ve ever tried that actually works and tastes good. Won’t be using any other recipe from on!
Sprinkling choc drops in before heating so they melt through the cake would make it even better
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Definitely do not make this mug cake in a silicone mold! My daughter and I just bought these cut little individual animal silicone molds and thought it might be cute to try making personal bear or wolf hot chocolate cakes for each of us. We will not be doing that again. They turned out flat and thick, more like a jello mold than a cake. We will be trying this recipe again, just in mugs this time!
We didn’t think about it until we were seeing the issues, silicone isn’t a heat conductor so we needed to microwave it for quite a bit longer. Also, the cake couldn’t climb the sides of the silicone so the cake collapsed immediately.
Not a problem with the recipe, just our execution of it.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, the mug cakes should def be made in a mug rather than silicone. I hope you have success the next time!
Just made this. It’s good. Just wish it was a tad more chocolatey
if you choose a cocoa mix that has a more intense chocolate flavor, it should result in a more chocolatey mug cake.
It is absolute heaven if paired with a peppermint swirl mug cake. I was looking through your mug cakes, when I saw both. I couldn’t decide, so I said “why not make both?”. I made the peppermint cake in the mug, and the hot chocolate one in a bowl(I cute the recipe in half for each.… too much mug cake is a thing). Then, I used a little spatula to spoon all of the hot chocolate into the mug. It landed perfectly in the middle! I didn’t add marshmallows though. When baked, the hot chocolate had risen a little more, and it looked so cool. This was absolutely delicious!
I’ve tried so many mug cakes from so many other websites and yours are the only ones that have ever worked for me:)
I’m so glad you have been enjoying them! thank you for the lovely message!
Do you think you could open 1 or 2 (don’t know how much is in there) Keurig Swiss Miss pods? Ours are sugar free.
You need one tablespoon of hot cocoa mix – are the keurig ones the same as regular mix? If so, it should be fine as long as you use the right amount.
Haii! I have made a couple of your cakes, and they turned out wonderful!! Thanks so much for suggesting them, they totally make my day and all. My only concern is that they taste kind of bland. Like I follow all your steps but I don’t understand why, there is a hint of sweet, but its not as much as you would be hoping for. I usually end up putting cookies, ice cream or nutella on top to make it sweeter. Do you know why this could happen?
Hi Somsom- So the cakes are supposed to be similar to an unfrosted cupcake. They should be a little plain and for people who don’t like really sweet things, it’s just the perfect amount of sweetness. For people who have a sweet tooth, you can add frosting, chocolate sauce, ice cream, etc. You can also add a little more sugar to the batter if you want, but it’s really hard to meet everyone’s tastes and so I try to go for the lowest amount of sugar and people can always increase from there.
I’ve made a few mug cakes now from your website, they are all super delicious but this one has really caught my fancy! Thank you so much!
yay! glad you are enjoying them!
this mug cake is FANTASTIC I made it almost every day during winter break (probably not so good for me but it’s worth it)
aww, thanks for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you enjoy it!
When are you going to announce the winners?
the winners have been contacted. Once they have responded, I will announce the winner. If they don’t respond within 48 hours, I will generate new winners. thanks!
This is the second mug cake I have made from your website, and
although they taste amazing I find that they don’t rise properly. They only rise to about a quarter to a half of the mug. I was wondering if you could tell me what I might be doing wrong. Thanks.
If you are using an oversized mug, about halfway to 2/3 of the way up should be right. If it’s not rising enough it may be your baking powder. These are meant to be individual servings, so about the size of a cupcake. I explain this further in my book, but I recommend using an oversized mug because the cake will rise quite a bit while cooking and then sink back down as it cools. If you use a mug that is too small, your cake may overflow while cooking, so I always recommend people start with a big mug. If you really want the cake to be brimming from the mug you will have to use a smaller mug. In this photo, I used a smaller mug but only after I knew what size would work without it completely overflowing while cooking. It’s a a little bit of trial and error and also depends on your microwave.