A soft and fluffy single serving carrot cake in a mug is the perfect easy dessert for Easter, or for any other day of the year too!
Why you’ll love this carrot mug cake recipe
- It tastes like restaurant style carrot cake packed with sweet carrots and cinnamon, in the convenient form of a portion controlled mug cake.
- Whip up the entire cake in under five minutes, with no oven required.
- Dairy free, egg free, high protein, high in vitamin A, and just 120 calories.
- Enjoy as a quick and healthy snack, or add frosting and toppings and serve for a decadent after dinner treat. A single serving carrot cake recipe that’s made in the oven or microwave and is secretly good for you? It doesn’t get much better than that!
Also try this reader favorite Chocolate Mug Cake
Step by step recipe video
Carrot cake in a mug ingredients
Flour – You need a fourth cup of flour. I like whole grain spelt flour because it adds nutrition and gives you a lighter texture than whole wheat flour.
Oat flour, cup-for-cup gluten free flour, or white all purpose flour work as well. Almond flour does technically work, but the cake will crumble so it is best to eat this low carb version straight from the mug.
Carrots – It sounds funny, but the easiest option is to buy carrot puree in the baby food aisle of your local grocery store. Alternatively, you can puree canned carrots or steam and then puree peeled fresh carrots in a food processor.
Sweetener – Choose any granulated sugar or granulated sugar free substitute. I like to use minimally processed or unrefined sugar, such as turbinado. White sugar, coconut sugar, or xylitol are also good options. Substituting pure maple syrup or honey will yield a somewhat gummy texture, so keep that in mind if you wish to use a liquid sweetener.
Milk of choice – Use any milk in your refrigerator, including plant based varieties like almond milk or coconut milk. You will also need a tablespoon of oil (coconut oil or vegetable oil), almond butter, or an additional tablespoon of milk for a low fat mug cake.
Vanilla – Look for pure vanilla extract instead of imitation, because it gives you the most natural vanilla flavor. If using vanilla flavored milk, you may omit the vanilla extract.
Spices and dry ingredients – The recipe also calls for half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a fourth teaspoon of baking powder to help with rising, and an eighth teaspoon each of salt and baking soda. Feel free to throw in a small pinch of ground nutmeg or ginger if desired.
How to make the cake
- Begin by greasing a small mug or two small ramekins well. Set aside.
- If you want to bake the mug cake in an oven instead of a microwave, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit or 176° Celsius.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, sugar or sweetener, and salt directly into the mug. Stir very well. (If using ramekins instead of a mug, simply combine all ingredients in a cereal sized bowl, then smooth the batter into the prepared dishes.)
- Now stir in the milk, optional oil or almond butter, vanilla extract, and pureed carrots until just evenly mixed.
- Microwave on high power until soft and fluffy. Time will vary by wattage of your machine, and mine takes around two minutes total. Alternatively, bake in an oven safe dish for fifteen minutes or until fully cooked in the center.
- Enjoy straight from the mug. Or let the carrot mug cake cool before going around the sides with a knife to pop the cake out onto a plate.
- If you want to make a cute double layer cake, carefully slice through the middle and frost each layer. Garnish with shredded carrot, diced pecans or walnuts, and raisins as you wish.
Frosting the mini carrot cake
The recipe tastes amazing topped with Coconut Butter or Coconut Whipped Cream.
Or I like to make a basic cream cheese frosting recipe by whipping 2 ounces cream cheese with 1 ounce butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar or monk fruit, 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and a few drops milk of choice if needed. (Use plant based cream cheese and butter for a vegan cream cheese frosting.)
This is simply a small batch of the frosting I use on my Carrot Cake Bars.
Carrot cake and frosting are meant for each other. But it need not be cream cheese! You can use almond butter, cashew butter, vanilla yogurt, or a dusting of powdered sugar if preferred.
Carrot Cake In A Mug
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup flour (30g) (or here's a Keto Carrot Cake)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar or sugar free xylitol (24g)
- 3 tbsp cup carrot puree (jarred or steamed from fresh) (45g)
- 1 tbsp water (15g)
- 1 tbsp oil or almond butter, or additional water (15g)
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. Grease a small mug or two small ramekins well.
- 2. If baking in the oven instead of a microwave mug cake, preheat the oven to to 350° Fahrenheit (176° Celsius).
- 3. Stir dry ingredients in a cereal bowl or directly in the mug. Then stir in wet ingredients until evenly mixed.
- 4. Microwave on high until soft and fluffy. Time will vary based on wattage. Mine takes around 2 minutes. Or bake in an oven safe dish for 15 minutes or until cooked through the center.
- 5. Enjoy hot out of the mug, or allow the cake to cool before going around the sides with a knife and popping onto a plate.
- 6. For a fun double layer carrot cake in a mug, slice through the middle and frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe included above). Garnish with shredded carrots, chopped walnuts, and raisins if desired.
Video
Notes
More easy mug desserts
I sure wouldn’t worry about Weight Watchers points. Sorry if that gripes some people. Their whole business has been somewhat of a scam. I believe it was in England where there was even a lawsuit over their claims and they have a lousy record of permanent weight loss. That’s why everyone joins and then rejoins again later. Good hype but there is a lot better research on low carb eating. Best book: Low Carb Living by Johnny Bowden. He compares 14 low carb diets from Adkins, Zone, South Beach, etc. with good and bad points. Excellent info.
Hi Katie,
I’ve been curious, can you replace the spelt flour with an almond or coconut flour instead? I’ve been trying to cut back on my starches but I’m in love with your blog and would like to try practically all of your recipes! I know you have a gluten free category but I was curious as to whether or not I could replace the flour in some of your other recipes as well. Thanks!
Sorry, I haven’t tried it.
Hey Katie,
When we lived in Brazil I fell in LOVE with the carrot cake there. It is denser than in the US… more like a pound cake. And they always top it with…. (wait for it)…. a CHOCOLATE glaze!!! The first time I saw it I was skeptical about carrot cake with anything but cream cheese frosting, but man was I glad I gave it a try. Pure yumminess!!
Hi Katie!
Do you think oat bran in place of the flour would work in this recipe?
xx
Sorry, haven’t tried so I really can’t say.
Hi Katie,
this looks great. I havent yet tried using an egg replacer. With the ener-G one, do you have to mix it up with water before using in your recipes or would I literally just bung the powder into the mix as if it were baking powder?
Just use as a dry ingredient in this recipe :).
So yes, as if it were baking powder.
Thank you, can’t wait to try it!
Yum! I was in desperate need of groceries and had some convenient leftover mashed carrots with cinnamon so this was absolutely perfect! I sweetened it with a tablespoon of maple syrup, used a whole egg and voila, perfect lunch muffins. 🙂
Loveee this recipe! Out of curiosity, did you calculate your nutritional facts based on using oil and brown sugar? I plan on just using more milk and a sugar substitute, so I’m wondering if that would cut down the calories even farther.
Just tried this, and i can vouch for it-it was really, really, really good.
I don’t know why I waited so long to try this! I think it’s my new favorite single serving recipe. Of course I decided to double the recipe so I could have it again tomorrow, lol. So much for single serving 🙂 I’m just curious as to whether you personally consume xylitol? I purchased it and used it in one of your single serving mug recipes and although I didn’t experience side effects that day I had a pretty upset GI tract several days later. Not sure if its related to the xylitol or not but I’m a little scared to try it again! Thanks Katie!!!
Leslie-have you tried Tagatose? I used it in this carrot cake (i use it a lot), and it was great 🙂
I tripled the size of your recipe and made them in a muffin shape, I had great dessert last night, and a fabulous breakfast this morning. Thank you for the recipe! I have never eaten carrot cake before, such a loss 🙂
Hi Katie! Just wanted to let you know that I saw a vegan bakery here in Philadelphia that’s using GARBANZO FLOUR in their carrot cakes and pumpkin donuts. So being curious, I tried it in your single serving carrot cake and subbed the carrots with pumpkin puree (I was too lazy to steam and chop carrots, lol!) and the result is UH-MAZE-ING. Definitely worth trying!
Oh my goodness. I’ve been looking both for a healthy dessert source and a single serving dessert source for FOREVER. And they’re both in one place. Hooray! I will be making this immediately…later today. 🙂 Thank you!
I had some leftover mashed sweet potato from making my son’s baby food, so I subbed that in for carrot – worked out awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
i usually love your single serving recipes, however this time i was just a little disappointed. my cake was very rubbery and chewy when it came out of the microwave and i was surprised because that had never happened before. i will definitely try this recipe again to make sure that it wasn’t my own error that gave it a rubbery texture.
Have you done any experimenting with dehydrating instead of Microwave or oven cooking to preserve the enzymes and nutritional value? I would love to try this method… your recipes always are so yummy!!!!!!
Sorry, I’ve never actually used a dehydrator.