This Matcha Mug Cake is the perfect afternoon pick-me-up. Matcha latte flavor, plus white chocolate chips, in mug cake form!
We love matcha lattes around here, but baking with matcha is even more fun. Once you’ve dug into this delicious matcha mug cake, try our Matcha White Chocolate Cookies. Same great flavors in a soft, chewy cookie.
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Why Make This Recipe
- So Quick: Just stir the ingredients together and pop it in the microwave to “bake”. Cake in just over a minute!
- Single Serving: Mug cakes are the perfect serving size for one. A sweet treat that won’t tempt you with leftovers for the next few days.
- Matcha Flavor: Matcha powder adds such a lovely flavor to baked goods, and the addition of white chocolate chips is the perfect pairing.
🥗 Ingredients
- Butter: Unsalted butter is our preference, but feel free to use salted if you prefer. In that case, leave out the additional salt in the recipe.
- Flour: This recipe uses regular all-purpose flour. For a gluten-free version, you could try replacing it with gluten-free flour.
- Sugar: We use regular granulated sugar in this recipe. You could replace it with brown sugar, or even with a sugar substitute like honey or maple syrup.
- Matcha Powder: You can find matcha powder in the tea section of many grocery stores. You can also purchase matcha online. Look for culinary grade matcha, as it is more affordable than ceremonial-grade and still great for baking. But as this recipe only calls for ½ teaspoon, you can spare some of your premium matcha too!
- Milk: We tested this with a 2% dairy milk, but the recipe should also work fine with a non-dairy substitute.
- White Chocolate Chips: Using white chocolate chunks or mini chips are fine, or you can chop up a white chocolate bar.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a microwave-safe small bowl and let cool slightly.
Mix 5 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon matcha powder, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ⅛ teaspoon salt in a microwave-safe mug.
Stir in 2 tablespoons milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and the butter.
Stir in 1 tablespoon white chocolate chips.
Microwave for 75 seconds on high.
Let cool for a couple of minutes, then serve.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Matcha Mug Cake
Mug cakes are not the best choice for make-ahead recipes. They tend to become a little bit gummy if they have sat out for a while after being baked.
This mug cake has no egg, but does include butter and milk, so it is decidedly not vegan. However, you could replace the butter with vegetable oil, and the milk with a non-dairy substitute. The texture may be not quite as fluffy, but it should still taste great!
Matcha powder tends to absorbs liquid, so in recipes where you are adding a significant amount of matcha powder, you may need to increase the amount of fat (butter, oil, milk) in your recipe. This recipe calls for so little matcha powder that it really won’t affect the recipe at all.
Yes, matcha does contain caffeine. It has more caffeine than most other types of green tea, but less caffeine than coffee.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
We did quite a bit of research and testing for our mug cake recipes, and here are the most important tips:
- Use a regular ceramic mug. One with straight sides and a more narrow opening is better than one with a very wide opening. A narrow tube helps the cake develop volume.
- Don’t fill your mug more than halfway.
- Mix the batter well to make sure there isn’t a chunk of flour at the bottom.
- Don’t worry if your cake deflates a bit after it comes out of the microwave—this is going to happen with a mug cake recipe.
- Check the wattage of your microwave—you may need to adjust your cooking time more or less. This recipe was tested with a 800-watt microwave.
- Clean the edges of your mug with a spatula or wipe the rim of your mug with a damp paper towel after adding all of the ingredients. This will ensure your matcha mug cake cooks and rises evenly.
- Make sure to let your cake cool slightly before eating, because the middle can be extremely hot when it comes out of the microwave.
This green tea mug cake lends itself to other flavor combinations too. Try adding ginger, sesame seeds, or different types of citrus (orange, lime, grapefruit, lemon). You could also add nuts—macadamia nuts in particular make a delicious combination with the matcha and white chocolate.
Feel free to experiment with the matcha flavor. You can add more or less matcha powder to this recipe depending on how strong you like the flavor. And next, try this Matcha Crème Brûlée recipe.
If you’re looking for a creative way to serve your cakes, mix the batter in a bowl, then fill small espresso cups. As with the traditional mugs, only fill halfway, and adjust your baking time accordingly. Then serve with a dollop of whipped cream and extra chocolate chips—so cute!
Other Delicious Cake Recipes
Love mug cakes? We’ve got more ideas and flavors for you! This Oreo Mug Cake is a fun one, and this Easy Chocolate Mug Cake is a classic. Or try one of these:
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Matcha Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Melt butter in a microwave-safe small bowl and let cool slightly.
- Mix flour, sugar, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt in a microwave-safe mug.
- Stir in milk, vanilla, and the butter.
- Stir in white chocolate chips.
- Microwave for 75 seconds on high.
- Let cool for a couple of minutes, then serve.
Notes
- Use a regular ceramic mug. One with straight sides and a more narrow opening is better than one with a very wide opening. A narrow tube helps the cake develop volume.
- Don’t fill your mug more than halfway.
- Mix the batter well to make sure there isn’t a chunk of flour at the bottom.
- Don’t worry if your cake deflates a bit after it comes out of the microwave—this is going to happen with a mug cake recipe.
- Check the wattage of your microwave—you may need to adjust your cooking time more or less. This recipe was tested with a 800-watt microwave.
- Clean the edges of your mug with a spatula or wipe the rim of your mug with a damp paper towel after adding all of the ingredients. This will ensure your matcha mug cake cooks and rises evenly.
- Make sure to let your cake cool slightly before eating, because the middle can be extremely hot when it comes out of the microwave.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Melanie says
The best mugcake recipe! I baked it in the oven because I don't have a microwave. It was so delicious and fluffy.
Molly Pisula says
So glad to hear that. Thanks so much for commenting!