Sweet and tangy and only takes a couple minutes to make, you will fall for this easy lemon mug cake! There are sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan mug cake options too. I am in love with this quick lemon cake (and I’m usually a chocoholic!)
Lemon Cake (in a Mug!)
Lemon desserts for me were an acquired taste.
I mean why would I choose lemon cake when I could have chocolate cake?
(Can you tell I’m really natural at sales and promoting things??! Lol)
But then something happened and it’s like my lemon taste buds turned on.
And now I LOVE lemon bars, lemon tarts, lemon loaf, you name it!
And of course this lemon mug cake. 🙂
I definitely have days where I just want chocolate.
If you’re having a day like that today, then check out these chocolate mug cake recipes.
But some days I want something a little sweet but light-tasting and not rich. I completely LOVE the tangy sweet taste of lemon in this easy mug cake recipe.
It’s the perfect little snack in the summer months too (I’m not a big fan of chocolate when the weather is hot!)
Another fun summery mug cake is this new orange mug cake and this peach mug cake too!
Lemon Mug Cake Ingredients
All-purpose flour (you can sub gluten-free flour mix)
Granulated sugar (white, brown, coconut, monk fruit or erythritol for sugar-free)
A lemon!
Baking powder
Oil or melted butter or vegan butter
Any milk you like (cow, oat, soy, almond, cashew, etc.)
For the lemon, I prefer to use an organic lemon since we’ll be grated the zest to use in the recipe, but you can use any lemon.
This is my absolute favorite zester; it’s super cheap and I have been using the same one for years. I used it when I had my catering business too and it held up to lots of grating!
You can even make this a lime mug cake by substituting with a lime (and keeping all other ingredients the same).
Quick Lemon Mug Cake Tips
You can use a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix (like this one) instead of the regular flour in this mug cake recipe. Coconut flour will not work as a sub in this recipe; I haven’t tried with almond flour. Almond flour might work, but you might need to adjust the microwave time a little. You can also try these almond flour mug cake recipes.
You can make this microwave lemon cake into a vegan lemon cake by choosing vegan milk and vegan butter or oil. It’s already an egg-free mug cake.
For the cooking time – this can vary with different microwaves and also with different mug sizes. It took my microwave 60 seconds to cook perfectly. The first time you make this mug bread, watch your microwave.
Test doneness, and if it needs a bit more time, add on 15 seconds at a time until it’s fully cooked. The next time you make it, you’ll know exactly how long it takes in your microwave!
I topped this mug cake with whipped cream and more lemon zest. If you are dairy-free you can use coconut whipped cream if you like!
This lemon mug cake got the highest compliments from my taste testers. One person said it tasted like a regular fluffy cake from the oven – that’s what I was going for!
Ready, citrus lovers? Let’s make this super yummy and quick lemon snack!
2 Minute Sweet and Tangy Lemon Mug Cake That Tastes Like Sunshine
Sweet and tangy and only takes a couple minutes to make, you
will fall for this easy lemon mug cake! There are sugar-free, gluten-free, and
vegan mug cake options too.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour mix)
- 2 tbsp sugar any kind: white, brown, coconut, erythritol or monk fruit for sugar-free
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tbsp oil or melted butter I used olive oil, any oil works
- 2 tbsp milk any kind
- Zest from ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a small bowl.
- Using a fine grater or zester, grate the peel of half a lemon right over the bowl.
- Measure out oil (or melted butter/melted vegan butter/melted coconut oil), milk, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice; pour into dry ingredients.
- Stir until all mixed together.
- Pour the batter into a sprayed microwave-safe mug or ramekin.
- Microwave on high for 1 minute; if not fully cooked, add 15 second increments until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Top with ice cream, whipped cream, coconut whipped cream, or just get a fork and dig in!
Also try the ever-popular chocolate chip banana bread mug cake – we have it every week over here!
⇓ Pin this mug cake recipe to save it ⇓
I love it! I was craving something sweet and this mug cake took care of it 💘. Thanks.
Yay! Glad you loved this lemon mug cake. 🙂
Me too. I made this lemon mug cake with whipped cream for breakfast this morning and it had an intense flavor.
4 stars
I would not use Olive Oil again nor the same oil spray
Use more lemon zest
This makes a large portion
I doubled it for 2 people and it overflowed 2 small ice cream dishes
But amazingly fast and easy
Thanks
Thanks for trying my lemon mug cake recipe and for your review. 🙂 xx
Do you have a recipe for a chocolate mug cake?
Hi Bonnie! Thanks for your interest in my recipes. 🙂 And yes, as a huge chocoholic I have a whole category of chocolate mug cake recipes. You can check them out here: https://bestmugcakes.com/category/chocolate-mug-cakes/. xx
would like nutrition info
Hi Vicki! I don’t have the nutrition info for the mug cakes. If you’d like you can use an online nutrition facts calculator to plug in the few ingredients to see if it would suit you. 🙂
3 stars
Pretty good, but I can’t taste the lemon.
This was so amazing!! I love anything lemon, but this was exceptional! I used butter as my oil and the only thing I did different was add 1 quail egg. So moist! I also mixed a little lemon juice and zest to cream cheese and powdered sugar, then I poured over cake and mixed it so lightly together. I will be making this all the time now. Thank you for this great recipe!😊
Yay! So glad you loved this lemon mug cake so much. Thanks for sharing your subs too and how they turned out. 🙂
Can you send the nutritional data for this lemon mug cake, please?
Hi Patty! Thanks for your interest in the lemon mug cake recipe. I don’t normally calculate nutritional data but you can use this site to plug in the ingredients and it will give you the nutrition facts: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076. I hope you love it if you make this recipe!
Recipe and cake were perfect! The site was a real bummer though. There’s sooooo many ads that it makes it hard to scroll to read the recipe because the ads pop up and the site jumps all around. Note to anyone wanting to try this recipe: screen shot the recipe as fast as you can before you lose your spot and have to (try to) scroll back to it.
I used half a lemon and buttermilk I also added 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. It was delicious with whipped cream!
Followed the recipe completely and I found this mug cake very bland. So definitely add more zest and sugar -be sure to use butter instead of oil to increase overall flavor.