This Vegan Pumpkin Mug Cake is a delicious healthy snack ready in 90 seconds. It tastes like a fluffy pumpkin muffin except it’s a single-serve recipe baked in the microwave for a quick snack.
When the Fall season is here, and if you don’t feel like baking a batch of pumpkin muffins, try this healthy pumpkin mug cake if you don’t have time for a full-fledge Vegan Pumpkin Pie or Vegan Pumpkin Brownies.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make this easy pumpkin spice mug cake are:
- All-Purpose Flour – You can also use oat flour or white spelt flour. If you use oat flour, the mug cake is more fragile, and dense, and less fluffy.
- Pumpkin Puree – I use pure canned pumpkin puree. Don’t confuse it for pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is made with just one ingredient: pumpkin. It has no added sugar or added oil.
- Coconut Sugar – or any other non-refined sugar.
- Light Olive Oil – You can also use melted coconut oil, melted vegan butter, or any oil you like to bake with.
- Vanilla Extract – for the taste.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – You can either buy a pumpkin spice mix or make it yourslef!
- Baking Powder – To give the cake a bit of a rise.
- Cinnamon – for flavor.
- Pinch of Salt – optional if you want to decrease sodium, skip the salt.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Mug Cake
A pumpkin mug cake has essentially all the same ingredients as a cake or muffin, but it’s easy to whip up in a coffee mug and bake in under 2 minutes in the microwave.
Preparation
You have two options for this recipe: you can prepare the mug cake in a small bowl or in the coffee mug itself.
I do like a small shallow bowl as it makes it easier to stir the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.
- In the bowl, stir the pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla extract, coconut sugar, and spices. Then, stir in flour and baking powder (photo 1).
- Add a teaspoon of almond milk if the batter is too thick or very hard to combine (photo 2).
Baking In The Microwave
Transfer the mug cake batter to a microwave-safe mug. Bake it in the microwave at 900W for 90 seconds or until the mug cake rises above the mug and stays high for about 20 seconds.
You know a mug cake is cooked when the top is set and dry to the touch. If it is too wet in the middle, return it to the microwave and microwave it for an extra 10 seconds.
Flavor Options
You can play with flavors and serve the mug cake with:
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mug Cake – Stir a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips or vegan white chocolate chips in the pumpkin batter before baking in the mug cake.
- Banana Pumpkin Mug Cake – Swap the oil for a tablespoon of mashed banana.
- Peanut Butter Pumpkin Mug Cake – Replace the oil with a tablespoon of pure peanut butter or almond butter.
Serving
This single-serving dessert is even better topped with:
- A scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- A drizzle of my vegan royal icing. It’s basically a tablespoon of icing sugar with a few drops of almond milk that I drizzle on top of the warm mug cake.
- A pinch of pumpkin pie spices to boost the fall flavors.
- Chopped pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts.
- A dollop of Vegan Whipped Cream.
Allergy Swaps
This pumpkin mug cake is naturally dairy-free and egg-free. However, below are some ingredient swap ideas for you to try.
- Gluten-Free – You can replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free oat flour. A regular all-purpose flour gluten-free flour might work too, but it often leaves the mug cake dense.
- Coconut Sugar – You can use any sweetener instead, like sugar or maple syrup.
- Oil-Free – You can swap oil for almond milk, soy milk, or unsweetened apple sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are my answers to your most frequent questions.
You need the perfect ratio of baking powder to flour. Too little of it, and it doesn’t rise. Too much of it, and it over-rises and shrinks.
Mug cakes tend to be dense if there’s not enough baking powder.
Mug cakes can lack fluffiness if they are lacking baking powder or if the batter hasn’t been well mixed and ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the mug.
More Mug Cake Recipes
If you love easy desserts, I have many mug cake recipes for you to try. Here’s some inspiration for you below.
Did You Like This Recipe?
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Vegan Pumpkin Mug Cake
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Pumpkin Puree
- 1 tablespoon Light Olive Oil - or melted coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- 4 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour - unbleached, or whole-wheat flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Sugar - note 1
- ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spices
Optional
- 1 teaspoon Almond Milk
Instructions
- Select a microwave-safe coffee mug with a diameter of about 3 inches (8 cm) and a minimum height of 1.9 inches (5 cm). This prevents the batter from overflowing.
- In the mug, whisk the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, oil, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk in coconut sugar, spices, baking powder, and flour until the batter is smooth and thick. If it is too dry, stir in the optional almond milk.
- Bake in the center of the microwave for 90 seconds at 800W for 70-90 seconds. If your microwave works at lower power, you may have to increase baking time by 10-20-seconds.
- Enjoy immediately with a drizzle of icing sugar and almond milk, or add some vegan dark chocolate chips on top.
Oven baking
- Bake the mug cake in an oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Use an oven-safe greased ramekin or 4-inch cake pan.
I made this and it was sooo good. A quick and easy dessert. I used Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour and it came out perfect! No milk needed. Thank you.
Do you think I could sub the flour with protein powder?
It will come up very packed and dense like a block without flour
Mug cake fan here. Loved it. Makes me feel like fall. Well I can already see fall when I look through the window so I guess it all checks out 😀
Thank you!
Do you think it would work with coconut flour?
No, I am sorry it won’t work. Coconut flour is 4 times more absorbent than flour and makes batter ultra dry and crumbly when there’s no eggs in the recipe – and we don’t use eggs in our recipes so I can’t recommend much more, I am sorry.