Chocolate Lava Keto Mug Cake

This recipe is a fast, cheap, and out-of-control Keto Mug Cake. It's a quick chocolatey treat with only 4g net carbs per serving.

Jump to:

• 🥣 Ingredients
• 📖 Instructions
• 💬 Quick Tips
• 📋 Recipe

Hello, fellow chocoholics. 👋

Today I’m going to show you how to make a quick and easy Keto Mug Cake.  But first, I want to take a moment to kvetch.  It’s because it is 4 pm and I am stuffed to the gills with chocolate cake.  I’ve spent the entire day trying out different ways to cook these Keto lava cakes and in the process ate...

Way too much cake.

Such are the pitfalls of being a food blogger, I guess. 😉

But I should back up a minute and explain exactly what chocolate lava mug cakes are.  They are these single-serving chocolate cakes with an ooey-gooey uncooked center.  The outside is the consistency of a cakey brownie.  Or a brownie-like cake.

It just depends on how you choose to cook the mug cakes. 

You can either bake them in the oven or zap them in the microwave.  From start to finish, it takes 20 minutes in the oven or 6 minutes in the microwave.  And the crust on the baked version is nice and crackly, like a brownie, whereas the microwaved version is more spongey and doesn’t have much of a crust to speak of.  So it’s really a decision between whether you want to make a quick chocolatey dessert or an extremely quick chocolatey dessert. 

💬 How Keto is this mug cake?

The recipe has just 4g net carbs per serving, so it's pretty darn Keto.  It’s so low in carbs, that you might think about adding a scoop of sugar-free vanilla ice cream.  When I first wrote this post, CarbSmart was the only low carb game in town, but now you've got the Keto brands Halo Top and Rebel among others. I can't say that I am their biggest fan though.  

So if you really want to do it right, you should make your own Keto vanilla ice cream with just 3g net carbs. It’s optional but just think about the mix of hot chocolate lava cake and melty vanilla ice cream. 

🥣 Ingredients

• cooking spray or butter
• unsweetened cocoa powder
• Swerve Granular
• baking powder
• egg
• heavy whipping cream
• vanilla extract
• butter

📖 Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a ramekin or mug with cooking spray, or grease it with butter.  If you plan on releasing the cake from the mug, then use the butter, but if you are going to eat it straight out of the mug, then cooking spray is fine.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, sweetener, and baking powder into a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg with an electric mixer until pale yellow and bubbly.
4. Beat in heavy whipping cream and vanilla.
5. Quickly whisk in melted butter.
6. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Pour into the prepared mug.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the top of the cake is set but still wiggly.  Or microwave the mug for 45-60 seconds until the cake is set but still jiggly.
8. It's easiest to eat the cake right out of the mug, but you can also remove it.  Just top the mug with a small plate or saucer and then invert it.  Carefully bang the mug and plate against the counter a few times until the cake releases.    

That’s some chocolatey deliciousness right there. So, as someone who has eaten more chocolate cake today than I care to admit, I can give you a few more kernels of Keto Mug Cake wisdom.

💬 Quick Tips

• Make sure to grease your mug or ramekin very well, if you plan to release the Keto lava cakes onto a plate.  But if you are by yourself, you can dispense with the niceties and just eat it straight out of the mug (my preferred method, obviously).
• You don't need to sift the ingredients, if you want to save time, but you might get some chunks of cocoa powder in your mug cake. You can smash them with a fork though.  
• Be sure not to overcook the mug cakes, or they will be normal, cooked through chocolate cakes.  Though still very delicious, they won’t have that special je ne sais quoi.  You’ll know that they are done when the top is set but still jiggly.
• Don't use baking soda instead of baking powder, or it won't rise properly. Just remember that baking soda is for cookies, and baking powder is for cakes.
• If you are worried about the corn starch in baking powder, then you can make your own out of 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar. But baking soda alone is still a no-no.
• Don’t leave the lava cakes too long in the mugs.  They will continue to cook after they come out of the oven, so release them from the mug, or just eat them ASAP.  

Alright, I think that’s everything I know about Keto lava cakes, but now you will have to excuse me.

I’ve got a food nap to take.

Ok, chow for now!

(But let's keep in touch.)

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📋 Recipe

If you liked this low carb chocolate dessert, then you might like my recipes for French Silk Chocolate Pie, Chocolate Cheesecake, or German Chocolate Cupcakes.