Keto Vanilla Mug Cake with Almond Flour
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 04/27/2020 - Last updated on 12/29/2023
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This keto vanilla mug cake is a moist, single-serve almond flour mug cake, gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo-friendly.
It’s perfect to fix a vanilla birthday cake craving with only 4 grams of net carbs.
What’s A Vanilla Mug Cake?
A vanilla mug cake is a single-serve vanilla-flavored cake baked in a mug in a microwave.
It’s a delicious, simple recipe made with almond flour and ready to eat in under 10 minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I have a passion for keto mug cakes, there’s no secret about that!
Low-carb mug cakes are true lifesavers on a keto diet because they help you fix your cake cravings in only 2 minutes with just 4 grams of net carbs.
Plus they are very fulfilling as they contain a good amount of fat and fiber.
How To Make Almond Flour Mug Cake
Keto Vanilla Mug Cake Ingredients
Now that you have all the information you need to choose the best almond flour for this almond flour mug cake let’s have a look at the rest of the ingredients you need.
A keto vanilla mug cake needs 7 wholesome ingredients:
- Almond flour – read my note above for details on how to choose the best keto almond flour.
- Coconut oil – or melted butter. Both options work and provide different textures. Coconut oil makes the cake slightly chewier and spongy, while butter makes the cake more moist and soft. Try both and see which one is your favorite!
- Egg – at room temperature and pick a large one. I won’t stress this enough, cold eggs solidify coconut oil and make lumps in dairy-free keto baking, and don’t taste as good. Also, small eggs make mug cake dry, so make sure you are using a large-sized egg.
- Erythritol or any sugar-free crystal sweetener that can be used as a 1:1 sugar replacement. This includes xylitol, Monk fruit erythritol blend. If you are not eating sugar-free and you are simply after a tasty almond flour mug cake, any sugar can be used in the same amount. A healthy paleo option will be coconut sugar.
- Baking soda
- Vanilla extract or vanilla essence. If you can’t find some without sugar added, swap for vanilla stevia drops. Therefore, you will have to decrease erythritol to 1 tablespoon, or the mug cake would be too sweet.
Choosing The Right Flour
It’s easy to make mug cake with almond flour. The trick to making a moist, fluffy almond flour mug cake is to use ultra-fine blanched almond flour.
In fact, if you use ground almond or almond meal, the result will be gritty, dry, and even darker in color.
Ground almonds or almond meals are made of whole almonds, skin-on and their ground is coarse and dark.
While it can be used in keto cake recipes, it doesn’t provide a bakery-style result as you used to love in wheat-based recipes.
That’s why I always recommend using fine almond flour. This said some countries like New Zealand call almond flour almond meal!
This is very confusing so my tip is to look at the product itself.
A good keto almond flour is white/gold in color, it’s ultra-fine as regular flour and it doesn’t have dark spots from almond skin.
Mug Cake Baking Time
This is another tricky part! First, check your microwave power and use my recommendation below on baking time based on your microwave power.
Note that most microwave ovens operate between 600W, 800W, and 1000W.
Below are the baking time recommended for an almond flour mug cake recipe based on these 3 microwave power levels.
- 600W – this is low power, so you need to increase the baking time by another 20 seconds. The best texture will be achieved after about 100-110 seconds.
- 800W – that is what I am using in all my keto mug cake recipes, and I microwave for 80-90 seconds.
- 1000W – that is the max power of most microwave ovens which means less cooking time is required. Usually, 70-80 seconds will be perfect.
Next, I recommend always microwaving the mug cake based on the lowest time provided.
For example, at 800W, start with 80 seconds, check the cake, and add those extra 10 seconds if the center is not set.
Also, note that the mug cake keeps baking while cooling in the mug for 1 minute.
That is why you shouldn’t overbake mug cakes, or they tend to be overly dry.
Finally, if you don’t have a microwave oven, use your regular oven!
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and bake the mug cake for 8-12 minutes on the center rack of the oven.
More Keto Almond Flour Mug Cake Recipes
I love making keto cakes in a mug, and I have plenty of other flavors for you to try!
Enjoy the simple cinnamon keto mug cake, and don’t forget to share a picture of your creation with me on Instagram.
Did You Like This Recipe?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
Keto Vanilla Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons Almond Flour
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda or 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon Granulated Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil melted o melted butter
- 1 large Egg beaten, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or 2 drops Vanilla liquid stevia (if using this option decrease erythritol to 1 tablespoon)
Instructions
- Grease a microwave-proof ramekin or mug with coconut oil, size 9 cm diameter (3.5 inches) and minimum 6 cm in height (2.3 inches). This will prevent the mug cake from overflowing when microwaving. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir almond flour with baking soda and erythritol.
- Whisk in the beaten egg, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Make sure the egg is not cold or it will solidify the coconut oil, forming lumps. For a moister cake, use melted butter. For a chewier cake, use melted coconut oil.
- Pour the batter into the prepared mug cake.
- Microwave on high (800W) for 80-90 seconds or until set in the center. Make sure you check the microwave power. If yours is higher (1000W), you may have to microwave the mug cake for only 60-70 seconds to get the same texture.
- Cool 60 seconds in the mug or flip over onto a plate.
- Serve with a dust of sugar-free powdered erythritol and a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream on top (use coconut cream for dairy-free paleo option).
Notes
Tools
Getting Started What Is Keto? Macro Calculator Sweetener Converter Meal Plans Recipe Ebooks Intermittent Fasting Keto Fruits Keto Vegetables Keto Flours Fighting Keto Flu Healthy SweetenersWant My Kitchen Equipment?
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Leave a comment
Bonjour Carine!
This is my first time leaving a comment…! I’m about 3 weeks into keto and your website has such great ideas to fill in the things I miss! I made this mug cake last night-the batter was delicious, but after microwaving my cake had a bit of a bitter taste. I’m wondering if it is because I used baking soda? I’ll try it again tonight with baking powder and see what that brings!
Merci pour les recettes!
Yes/oui 🙂 Baking soda can leave a bitter aftertaste in baking. Some people feels it, some don’t . If you, hen use baking powder. A bientot! J’ai hate de voir ce que vous allez cuisiner ensuite! Carine.