This Coffee Cake In A Cup Recipe is the perfect remedy for a sugar craving! If you've tried other coffee mug cakes and weren't sold, you have to try this one! It takes about a minute to bake in the microwave and about that much time to mix it together. It's fluffy, light, and has an irresistible streusel topping!
Coffee Mug Cake
I usually try to stay FAR, FAR away from the microwave when it comes to anything besides reheating food. In fact, Baking in the microwave pretty much goes against everything I believe in. Until now.
I'm guessing you've probably tried a coffee mug cake by now and have been underwhelmed by it, am I right? I know I have! I think we all want to believe that we can spend a few minutes mixing something up, throw it in the microwave and have a decadent creation presented to us by the microwave gods 1 minute later. Because, well, that would be cool.
Well, I'm here with some good news! I have a coffee cake in a cup recipe that doesn't suck! 🙂 And when I say it doesn't suck, I mean it's reeeeeaaaalllly dang good. Like, the microwave gods are really pleased with themselves and how this coffee mug cake turned out.
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If you've been following the blog for a while, you know that I posted this coffee cake in a cup recipe a long time ago-- 5 ½ years ago to be exact! And, I figured it was time to take some updated pictures (aka- give myself an excuse to make some cake).
Does Coffee Cake In a Cup Have Coffee In It?
If you read through the comments at the end of the post you'll see a pretty common thread-- "Why doesn't this have coffee in it?!?" Well, here's the answer: Traditional coffee cake DOESN'T actually have coffee IN it. Instead, it's a cake that is commonly served WITH coffee.
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Tips for Making Coffee Cake In A Cup:
- Make sure your mug is big enough to allow the cake to rise about 1 inch. Nobody likes cleaning out the microwave. 🙂
- Microwave ovens all vary so your cooking time will vary, too! My microwave cook this cake in a cup perfectly at the 6o second mark. I suggest starting at 50 seconds and going up in 10-second intervals until the center is set. You can check this by inserting a toothpick into the middle and if it comes out with only a few moist crumbs, it's done!
- The BEST way to eat this cake in a cup is straight out of the microwave when it's nice and hot! Of course, you can let it cool as to not burn your face off, but once it's cooled completely it loses some of its magic.
Want More Coffee Mug Cake Recipes?
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{2 minute} Coffee Cake in a Cup
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons applesauce
- vanilla extract few drops
- ¼ cup All Purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In a mug soften 1 tablespoon of butter in microwave, about 5 seconds. You don’t want it melted, just soft. Stir in 2 tablespoon of sugar and mix until well incorporated. Stir in applesauce, vanilla (just a tiny bit, we’re talking drops), flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt; stirring until just combined. Use the back of your spoon to smooth it out in the bottom of the mug.
- Want struesel? Of course you do! In a separate, small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoon of flour, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Use your fingers to to pinch the butter and mix it in with the other ingredients. When it starts to look like lumpy sand (appetizing, eh?) and all ingredients are combined, pour on top of cake batter in mug.
- Cook in the microwave for 50-80 seconds depending on your microwave. At 1 minute, my microwave cooks it perfectly. It will look just barely set on top. You don’t want to overcook it and things tend to get ugly fast in the microwave. I suggest cooking it 50 seconds, and then in 10 second intervals checking after each interval until done. Eat white it’s still warm. Once it cools off, it tends to loose some of it’s magic!
Kathleen Cole says
I just made this coffee cake in a mug. It's delicious! It baked 60 seconds in the microwave for me too and it's just the right amount. Bring on the coffee! 🙂
no says
ew
Anna says
Delicious recipe! The first time I made it I did not have applesauce so I subbed sour cream. I actually loved it so much every time I make this I use sour cream. Today I made it gluten free by using 2T almond flour and 2T oat flour in the cake. In the streusel I subbed oat flour. The gluten free cake took about an extra 20 seconds in my microwave to cook.
I love this recipe!
Olivia Morrissey says
Yum loved the way it turned out! Love making it for breakfast.
W says
It was good but not great but I did like the top half concerting when your dying
JL says
So many pop-ups I couldn’t even read the recipe without going into another room to find a pen with a stylus so I could tap the x on each one to close them. Pretty annoying. Butter softened in 5 seconds? I had to put it in for 5 seconds 5 times. Cake was good tho.
Holly says
Is the top part, the strudel thing, supposed to be runny?
AJ says
Definitely saving this! I didn't have any applesauce, so I used mashed banana instead, SO good!
eve says
AMAZING! The applesauce gave it a gentle apple flavor - and if you choose to use the struesel recipe, the cinnamon makes the whole thing just like an apple pie. If you put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on this I SWEAR you wouldn't know the difference
Mary says
From google...
Description: Coffee cake is cake flavored with or intended to be eaten with coffee. British coffee cake is a sponge flavoured with coffee.
Therefore, it’s not stupid to expect this to contain coffee. I’m from the UK so my defacto idea of a coffee cake is a coffee flavoured cake. For those in North America, it usually means something different. It’s not always obvious unless you can see a picture or description, Disappointed with those people that are making fun of or being rude to folks that expected coffee in this,
Dan says
Don't scold North Americans. It was the Brits who coined the phrases "tea cake" and "coffee cake", then exported it to the world.
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/sour-cream-coffeecake-history-recipe/
Wendy says
Does it taste like apple, is the applesauce for moisture? Have your ever tried it with yogurt?
Kris says
I'm joining this party late, but I just had to comment ...cuz this is AMAZEBALLS! I'm totally addicted! Since I'm one of those annoying people who never gains weight (Thanks, grandma, for the DNA), I find myself making this, probably way too much. It's just THAT,good!. The texture is perfect. The sweetness ust right. The streusel is...to die for. I always use the same base recipe but play around with flavors... banana, berries, apple, pear, oatmeal in the topping. So much mug cake, so many possibilities....so little time!
Kate says
Sorry, we did not care for this. I felt like I could taste the flour. We won’t make this one again. ☹️
Katelyn says
I had that happen to me to! But the struzel that I made was AMAZING!
Kit says
I used coconut flour for a gluten free version which usually works very well as a replacement for all purpose flour. However this time mine came out completely crumby. I tried adding melted butter and when I added more apple sauce it sort of came together. Also an odd flavor, not what I expected for coffee cake. Really surprised when there was so much high praise.
Steph says
Lol why were you surprised? You changed the recipe, of course it’s going to be different and not as good as you expected based on the other reviews; they actually followed the recipe...
Dani says
In most baking recipes, coconut flour requires extra eggs and total liquid compared to other flours (wheat, almond, oat, etc). It also brings a coconut flavor to the cake, which may not work well with the overall cinnamon flavor of this type of coffee cake.
If you want to sub gluten free flours I’ve used a combo of almond and oat flours with some success, and most grocers carry at least one gluten free all-purpose flour.
Tanya Donahue says
Ooo this was DEVINE!! I used gf all purpose flour and it turned out excellent!! So so yummy! Thanks