This No-Bake Gingerbread Mug Cake is the perfect, quick dessert when you’re craving those festive flavors this holiday season. Simple to make and perfectly flavored with traditional gingerbread spices.
The festive season is rapidly approaching, and I’m definitely in the holiday spirit thanks to this delicious No-Bake Gingerbread Mug Cake.
This gingerbread mug cake is made with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and a few cupboard ingredients. The cake itself is moist, light, and fluffy. It’s not at all rubbery like some mug cakes can be! I decided to top my mug cake off with buttercream frosting and some gingerbread sprinkles, but that’s completely optional!
I created this recipe by pure accident last year and cannot believe I’ve never shared this gingerbread mug cake before, because it’s a keeper!
No-Bake Gingerbread Mug Cake Recipe
The story goes something like this: On a cold fall day last year, I was in the kitchen playing around, attempting to develop the perfect fall spice mug cake. As I was adding in the usual fall spices, I realized I’d added in a little too much ginger. The ginger dominated the other fall spices I’d added, but not in a bad way.
My result tasted very, very close to gingerbread. Not a traditional gingerbread, but it was quite close. It was missing the molasses (and had some extra spices that needed omitting too). That night in the kitchen, I started developing my gingerbread mug cake. It seemed that the only thing missing was the molasses.
I played around with the recipe and on just the second attempt adding in the molasses and tweaking the fall spices to traditional gingerbread spices, this traditional mug cake was born. And boy is it good!
I’ve made quite a lot of mug cakes in the past. I love that they’re such a speedy and easy way to have your cake and eat it in a fraction of the time needed. When you have that dessert craving and don’t want the worry of baking up a huge cake, or the calories of eating said huge cake, then a mug cake might be for you.
And when it only takes 5 minutes to have your cake and eat it too, there’s no excuse not to enjoy one. Single-serve heaven.
Get your forks at the ready and dive in!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tbsp molasses or treacle
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 4 tbsp all-purpose (or plain) flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- small pinch of cloves, optional
- 3 tbsp (42g) unsalted butter, softened
- 8-10 tbsp powdered (icing) sugar, sifted
- ¼-½ tsp milk, optional
Instructions
- To make the mug cake, add the butter to a large mug and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds, or until melted.
- Add the light brown sugar and beat with a fork until smooth.
- Add the egg, molasses, vanilla, and salt and beat again until smooth and fully combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and spices, and carefully stir until smooth.
- Cook in the microwave for around 1 minute 30 seconds (800W). Depending on your microwave's power, it may take anywhere from 1 minute to 1 minute 45 seconds. The cake will spring back to the touch when ready.
- Allow to cool completely if frosting. Or allow to cool for 10-15 minutes if enjoying warm.
- To make the frosting, add the butter to a clean mug and whisk until softened. Add the powered sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the correct consistency is reached. Whisk in the milk and add more powered sugar, if necessary.
- Pipe or spread over the cooled mug cake and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: When adding the molasses, it's easier to spray your tablespoon with non-stick spray to ensure it pours out without getting stuck to the spoon and creating a mess.
Want to bake this cake? Pop it in a large oven-safe ramekin or pudding bowl and bake for around 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
We hope you love this No-Bake Gingerbread Mug Cake recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Lisa from Sweets 2 Eat Baking, as much as we do. If you enjoyed this fun dessert, be sure to stop by our desserts section for even more like it. For more recipe inspiration, visit us on Pinterest because we have a lot of fantastic dessert recipes there too. Happy holidays!
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