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Sometimes you just want a taste of something – one serving, not a whole cake. This Single-Serve Mug Coffee Cake is a perfect way to get that coffee cake you’re craving in just one serving!
This easy recipe stirs together in just a few minutes and cooks in 45 seconds; it’s the perfect way to satisfy your coffee cake craving without breaking the calorie bank!
What’s your middle name? Mine is Overindulgence. Well, it should be anyway.
Really, it’s Frances. Which was my grandma’s name. Dorothy was my Nana’s name. I love my names…now. Going through childhood as an overweight kid with buck teeth and the name Dorothy Frances was, well, hard. Dorky Blubber was my nickname, a play on my maiden name.
Overindulgence has always been my problem, obvi.
Which is why mug cakes and single-serve desserts and my favorite things everrrrr.
Recently I really, realllllllly wanted coffee cake. I almost made a whole cake, but the realization that I would eat an entire cake (one slice at a time) stopped me. That’s when a mug coffee cake jumped out at me.
I’m pretty good at math (I should be, since I majored in it in college). My love of all things math has made it easy for me to figure out how to cut down my favorite recipes to single size. I’m good at fractions,what can I say?
I started with my Mom’s Coffee Cake Recipe, which I’ve previously made into Carrot Cake Coffee Cake, Coffee Cake Pie and Funfetti Coffee Cake. The base of the cake are the usual suspects: oil, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon. 99% of these are really easy to cut down to one serving. The only one that is hard to do is the egg. So I left it out, and I didn’t miss it at all!
FYI, when you’re twelfing (is that even a word?) a recipe, you need to know the cup to tablespoon to teaspoon conversions. I’ve made you a handy-dandy chart, in case you’re interested. I have a few that I’ve pulled from magazines and cookbooks over the years taped to my fridge. It makes it an easy way to reference the numbers, when you need it.
I made you a printable. Print it out on cardstock and marry it to your fridge. You’ll be happy!
{Click here for the printable version.}
This single-serve mug coffee cake tastes just like the original, but is enough to satisfy that coffee cake craving without the need to shop for bigger pants.
Unless, of course, you’re me. And make it Every. Single. Day.
What can I say? Overindulgence is my middle name.
A Single Serve Mug Coffee Cake is the best way to indulge in a sweet breakfast without killing your diet!
How to make a Mug Coffee Cake
- You can use a small ramekin, like I did, or a mug. It won’t completely fill up a mug so the pictures look better in a ramekin.
- Be sure to spray it with nonstick cooking spray. I also recommend rinsing the dish before it cools (holy stuck on food, batman).
- Feel free to reduce the sugar (even omit the brown sugar on top) to cut the calories.
- Add nuts for a nice crunch!
- You can use any kind of milk (regular, nonfat, almond, etc.)
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Single Serve Mug Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or plain nonfat greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon nonfat milk or almond milk
- Dash of vanilla
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Spray a mug or a ramekin with nonstick cooking spray. Add sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, oil, milk, and vanilla and stir until combined. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
- Microwave for 45 seconds (my microwave is 1100 watts - if yours is less you may need to microwave it longer, do so in 15 second increments).
- Enjoy warm!
Recipe Video
Recipe Nutrition
If you love coffee cake, be sure to try a few of my other favorite coffee cake recipes. I also love single serve desserts and have quite a few to choose from! My friends do too, like small batch Brownies, Snickerdoodles, and Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Last Updated on January 1, 2022
I loved this recipe. I’m gluten intolerant so I made some modifications. I used a gluten free flour mix, olive oil, heavy cream, splenda/stevia mix and added some drained sour cherries. I did use the brown sugar in the topping. I doubled the recipe except for the topping and microwaved it on high for 80 seconds, checked for doneness, then added an additional 10 seconds. Excellent! I’m going to replace all of my mug recipes with this one. I’ll bet it can be easily modified for different flavors. Spice and shredded carrots for carrot cake, cocoa and chips for chocolate. Thank you.
Amazing baked texture! I read the reviews, doubled the batter recipe using a ramekin with vegetable oil, almond milk and and only a dash of salt, then microwaved 90 seconds. Next time I will increase the topping by half. Thank you!
This is amazing. I made it a few nights ago as a midnight snack craving something sweet and it was so good I had to make it again tonight. It was too salty the first time, still delicious but tonight I wanted a little more so I did 1.5 times the ingredients because I was afraid doubling wouldn’t fit in my mug, and I only used a tiny pinch of salt and it was perfect. I’d definitely only use a pinch in the future even if doubling, but this is soooo worth the five stars anyway. Perfect texture that normally seems unattainable in a microwave. I normally crave chocolate, but this may be my new favorite dessert-for-1.
*****For some reason it won’t let me select a star rating, but I’d definitely give it 5 if it would let me!
This is the best mug cake I’ve ever had! It was super easy to make. It doesn’t make a lot so I also would suggest doubling the recipe as well. I will definitely make this recipe again!!
I wish I read the comments first. This recipe is great, but needs one alteration. Use a dash of salt instead of 1/8 tsp – that’s just a bit too much for this recipe. The portion is also small, which is great if you don’t wanna overdo it with cake for breakfast. If you want a larger portion, try doubling the recipe. Otherwise great!
Am I missing something? There is no coffee?
Coffee cake very rarely has actual coffee in it.
Just made this and decided to double the recipe based on an earlier review. It didn’t mention the cooking time for a double batch, so I had to wing it. I did almost double it…ran the microwave for 75 seconds and it turned out pretty good. Could maybe have gone for the full 90 seconds. The center and bottom of the mug weren’t as cooked as the rest.
The texture of this cake is great (really great!). It’s kind of difficult to tell about the flavor because I doubled the brown sugar and cinnamon topping and I felt it overwhelms the cake with that much sugar on top. I’ll keep it at a single portion of topping next time. There will be a next time!!
Delicious! I was so pleasantly surprised because the taste AND TEXTURE was spot on. It’s as if you baked a coffee cake in the oven. Divine! I definitely suggest doubling the recipe, I did and it was the perfect amount of cake. I put half the mixture, then the cinnamon sugar, the other half and topped with the test of the cinnamon sugar. Worth the extra dish I had to wash after ?
Yummy! Â I only had buttermilk on hand but it tasted great! It had a nice little crunch on top and hit the spot for my morning craving!
The flavor is great and it’s a super easy and fast recipe (also love that there are no eggs!) But wow, this is like… Not a lot as is. I’d recommend doubling the recipe to get a substantial breakfast if that’s all you’re having.
Wonderful! I used nonfat plain yogurt and skim milk, and added a sprinkle of cinnamon to the batter itself for more flavor. My 9 year old daughter and I loved it! I’m going to try it with gluten free flour for my wheat-intolerant husband.
Yeah it was a very minuscule amount when I made it. I actually laughed because I could have swore I measured it wrong.
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