This vegan vanilla mug cake is fluffy, moist and rich and made in 90 seconds in the microwave! The easiest and most delicious single-serving cake recipe ever.
This vegan vanilla mug cake is the perfect dessert when you decide you want to eat cake but don’t have the time or the inclination to make a whole cake.
It’s the single-serving option that gets you a delicious portion of vanilla cake in record time.
This mug cake comes out so well, you can barely believe it’s made in 90-seconds in the microwave. It has all the delicious light and fluffy texture and gorgeous flavor that you want from vanilla cake.
Of course if you DO want to make a full cake then definitely check out our extremely popular recipe for vegan vanilla cake.
And if you want a chocolate mug cake instead, then check out our delicious vegan chocolate mug cake.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make This Mug Cake:
Ingredient Notes
- Canola oil – can be replaced with any other vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with any other non-dairy milk.
How To Make Vegan Vanilla Mug Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, baking powder and salt to a mug and mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil and vanilla extract and mix into a batter.
- Place into the microwave and microwave on high for 90 seconds. The top should look set and done and the edges should have pulled away from the sides.
- Let it cool before topping with sprinkles and vegan whipped cream (optional).
Recipe Add-In’s
This vanilla mug cake is very customizable. You could add in some extra goodies with ease.
- Sprinkles – you can add 1 tablespoon of rainbow sprinkles to your cake batter before microwaving it for a vegan funfetti mug cake.
- Biscoff cookie butter – you can add 1-2 tablespoons (depending on how much biscoff flavor you want) of melted biscoff cookie butter to the batter for a vegan biscoff mug cake.
- Peanut butter – add 1-2 tablespoons of melted peanut butter to the batter for a peanut butter mug cake.
- Vegan chocolate chips – you can add 1-2 tablespoons of vegan chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolate chip vanilla mug cake.
Chef’s Tips
Mix it properly, but don’t overmix your batter. If you overmix your batter the cake can come out rubbery. It’s good to give it a quick whisk with a mini whisk so you can get rid of any big lumps, but you’ll also want to use a spoon so that you can scrape it along the sides and bottom of the mug so that you make sure you don’t end up with some dry unmixed flour at the bottom of your cake.
Baking time. Our current microwave is 800 watts and this mug cake needed exactly 90-seconds. However, if your microwave is more powerful it will need less time and if it’s less powerful it will need more time.
This microwave calculator allows you to calculate how much more or less time you’ll need if your microwave is something other than 800 watts.
The size of your mug plays a part. Also, the size of your mug plays a part too. So if your mug is more tall and narrow then you likely need a little more microwave time whereas if it’s more short and wide then it will cook faster. So sometimes a little trial and error is needed.
Under-baking is better than over-baking. It’s better to err on the side of under-baking it rather than over-baking it. You can always put it back in to microwave another 10-20 seconds. But once it’s over-baked, there’s nothing that can be done.
Also, the way it looks is a very good indicator of whether it’s done or not. The top of the cake should look set and done and it should have pulled away from the sides a little.
Have patience while it cools. When it comes out of the microwave this cake is HOT. So as much as you want to tuck in right away, you have to have patience and let it cool before you decorate and serve.
Storing Tips
This vanilla mug cake is intended to be eaten soon after making it, as soon as it cools down enough to eat.
However, if you do have leftovers you can cover it and store it at room temperature for a day. If you want to reheat it you can reheat slightly in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
More Delicious Vegan Vanilla Recipes
- Vegan Vanilla Pudding
- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
- Vegan Vanilla Sheet Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Vanilla Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
- 2 Tablespoons White Granulated Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- 3 Tablespoons Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
For Serving (Optional):
- Vegan Whipped Cream
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Add all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, baking powder and salt to a mug and mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil and vanilla extract and mix into a batter. Don't overmix, but make sure you have scraped the sides and bottom of the mug so that everything is incorporated.
- Place into the microwave and microwave on high for 90 seconds. The top should look set and done and the edges should have pulled away from the sides.
- Let it cool before topping with sprinkles and vegan whipped cream (optional).
Notes
- Baking time. Our current microwave is 800 watts and this mug cake needed exactly 90-seconds. However, if your microwave is more powerful it will need less time and if it’s less powerful it will need more time. This microwave calculator allows you to calculate how much more or less time you’ll need if your microwave is something other than 800 watts.
- Have patience while it cools. When it comes out of the microwave this cake is HOT. So as much as you want to tuck in right away (because it also smells so good), you have to have patience and let it cool before you decorate and serve.
- Make it gluten-free. If you’d like to make this mug cake gluten-free then try it with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend.
- Nutritional information is for the mug cake only and excludes vegan whipped cream and sprinkles.
I didn’t believe this would work, being inexperienced with Mug Cakes. But, oh, what a wonderful surprise! I made one each for me and my husband. Topped them with leftover ice cream and a generous drizzle of homemade rose flavored glace icing. Thank you, Alison!
Awesome Madeleine! So happy it worked out great! Thanks so much for sharing.
Each time I make this recipe, and I have no idea how many times I’ve made it thus far, it comes out perfect every.single.time. It satisfies my sweet teeth because I got more than one lol. Thanks again, Ms. Alison.
That’s so awesome to hear! Thanks so much for the wonderful review! 🙂
This was awesome! I added some chocolate syrup to the batter.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
So light and moist! I just had a serious coffee & walnut cake craving that had to be dealt with…. I brewed some strong coffee and added a tablespoon in place of one tablespoon of milk. Topped with a coffee “buttercream” and it was perfect. Dangerously good as I’ll be making this a lot!
(The microwave conversion tool worked a treat for my 1000W oven too)
That sounds divine! Will definitely have to try that version myself. Thanks so much for posting and the awesome review!
Delicious,easy, and fast! This is the best mug cake recipe I have ever had. It’s very forgiving too. I was .5 tablespoons short of oil and my cake still turned out moist and with a great crumb texture.
Awesome! Thanks so much Lauren!
Best textured mug cake ever – vegan or not. Definitely will be making this often!
That is the best news, thanks so much Cori! 🙂
Hi thanks for this great wee recipe. My husband who is not vegan asks me to make this for him all the time. I also heat a wee pot of jam and he pours this over it. I also love making this for myself as it is so quick when I feel like a quick pudding. Many thanks for all your great recipes.
Thanks so much for the awesome comment and review Val! So glad you and your husband both enjoy it!
This came out perfect every time I made it! Thank you so much. My microwave goes up to 700 Watts so I cooked it for 2 minutes. So fast and easy for when you’re sweet tooth starts throbbing 😁
Yay! So glad it’s been working out great! Thanks for the awesome review Nico!
I actually loved your chocolate mug cake- so much, in fact, that I made it many times! I’ve been using that one since I was around 8, and I’m 11 now. I had made it near dinner, but it was too chocolatey (It would make me and my little sister stay up late!). I then used what I knew to adapt a vanilla version from your chocolate recipe- and it was actually fairly similar to this one! I have not tried this yet, but will be sure to say when I do.
Thank you!
Hi Jemma, it sounds like you are pretty talented at creating recipes if you already arrived at one similar to this! So happy you like the chocolate one too!
I made this mug cake last night. Quick, tasty, and uber simple. I have an 1100 watt microwave so 60 seconds was perfect. I added chunks of chocolate. Gooey delicious.
Awesome! Thanks for the great review Kaitlyn!