An easy recipe for a perfectly portioned sweet vanilla cake full of rich chocolate chips. It’s ready in just 10 minutes & only has 127 calories!
On our first night in Grand Rapids for our blogging #FreshCoastRetreat last month, Stephanie from the city’s travel bureauarranged for us to dine at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, The Kitchen, an upscale establishment that offered a wide variety of globally-inspired dishes. She somehow must have known that I’m one of the most indecisive people in the world because she organized for the chefs to serve us a 15-course meal.
Yes, a full 15 courses… We sampled over a third of the restaurant’s entire menu!
As soon as we sat down, our sweet server Sarah (she actually runs a food blog of her own!) brought out an artisan cheese board with salami, prosciutto, fancy mustards, and truffle honey. After bringing a round of drink orders, she set down potato leek soup, followed by a Chinese-inspired salad and a trio of tuna tartare, crab cakes, and fancy croistini.
We lost count of the courses after that as we tasted fresh house-made ravioli, succulent steak bites, two different pizzas, steamed salmon, braised short ribs, and more. Although fully intending to pace ourselves to save room for a taste of each dish, we failed miserably, reaching for bite after bite because of the food’s amazing rich flavor, so we felt our waistlines growing tight well before Sarah brought out dessert. Oops!
But then came the chocolate crème brûlées with fresh berries and sugar cookies, apple tarts with vanilla bean ice cream and caramel drizzle, and chocolate soufflés with salted caramel ice cream… And you know how big my sweet tooth is! Even with our full bellies, our spoons continued to find their way towards those dessert platters as we lingered, slowing savoring the last few minutes of the evening.
Since we ate similarly at a few other restaurants during the retreat, sharing a variety of appetizers and desserts in addition to our entrées and eating a little more than we realized each time, I actually came home craving time at the gym—and lots of light, healthy salads! But my huge sweet tooth refused to give up dessert, so I made this Skinny Single-Serving Chocolate Chip Mug Cake as a compromise. Full of melty chocolate, perfectly portioned (so no overeating!), and just 127 calories!
Perfection in a mug. ♥
To make this mug cake healthier, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from heartier red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be a perfect substitute!
Traditional mug cake recipes call for 2+ tablespoons of butter and an egg to provide a tender texture (my waistline is cringing at the thought of all of those calories!), but this healthy one is the exact opposite! It contains no eggs and a mere ¼ teaspoon of butter (or coconut oil!). Yes, that’s it!
Instead the tender texture comes from one of my favorite ingredients in healthier baking: Greek yogurt. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you already know how much I love it! Greek yogurt provides the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your mug cake a protein boost too. (Over 5g!)
Rather than a few tablespoons of granulated sugar, you’ll sweeten this mug cake with a combination of stevia powder and vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s very concentrated. This is the stevia powder that I buy, and this is the vanilla crème stevia. You can find both at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use them in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
And of course, the most important part… At least for a chocoholic like me. (It’s why I wrote my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook!) You’ll mix mini chocolate chips into the batter, then press a few into the top just before microwaving. These are my favorite—just look at how well they melt!
Now for my secret trick to perfectly tender mug cakes… You’ll microwave the cake on 30% power for a longer period of time. Traditional recipes call for microwaving on high (aka normal) power for 1 minute, but this can make the mug cake turn out tough or gummy. By reducing the power level and cooking it for longer, it better simulates baking in a traditional oven, so the texture turns out nice and tender.
Time to eat! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees that I’ll see the notification from you! ?) I’d love to see your mug cake and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Skinny Single-Serving Chocolate Chip Mug Cake | 4.5 from 4 reviews |
Yields: 1 mug cake
This recipe is perfect for when you’re craving something sweet but don’t want any tempting leftovers lying around!
- 3 tbsp (23g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ⅜ tsp stevia powder
- ⅛ tsp baking powder
- 1/16 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1 tbsp (15g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 ½ tbsp (23mL) nonfat milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 18 drops vanilla crème stevia, or to taste
- 1 tsp miniature chocolate chips
- Lightly coat a 1-cup ramekin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered stevia, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the butter, Greek yogurt, and milk.* Stir in the vanilla and vanilla crème stevia. Gradually mix in the flour mixture, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until just incorporated. Fold in ¾ teaspoon of chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared ramekin, and gently press the remaining chocolate chips on top. Microwave on 30% POWER for 2 minutes 40 seconds (2:40). Let the mug cake cool for at least 2 minutes to allow the center to finish cooking through before enjoying.
Notes: For the gluten-free flour, use the following blend: 2 tbsp (15g) millet flour, ½ tbsp (4g) tapioca flour, ½ tbsp (3g) brown rice flour, and 1/16 tsp xanthan gum. I cannot guarantee that other gluten-free flours will work, but most store-bought gluten-free flour blends should work, if they’re measured like this. Do not substitute coconut flour.
Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
You’ll use two types of stevia because too much of either type results in a very bitter aftertaste to the mug cake. Other sweeteners may be substituted in place of both the powdered stevia and vanilla crème stevia, but you may need to adjust the amount of flour or milk depending on the type of sweetener that you use. You’ll need the equivalent of 2 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar.
If the yogurt and milk are cold, they will immediately re-solidify the melted butter. If this happens, microwave on HIGH for 6-8 seconds or until the butter re-melts; then proceed with the rest of the instructions.
It’s VERY important to microwave the mug cake on 30% power. This is set differently depending on the brand of microwave that you own. If microwaved on HIGH (full power) for a shorter time, the cake will be gummy, and the top may be overdone while the insides stay raw.
Microwave times may vary, depending on the wattage of your microwave oven. I used a 1000-watt microwave.
To bake the mug cake in a regular oven, bake at 350°F until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I haven’t cooked the mug cake this way myself and can’t guarantee how long it will take, but check for doneness after about 12-14 minutes to start.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar, higher protein}
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