Healthy 4 Ingredient Flourless Chocolate Mug Cake (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free)
This healthy flourless chocolate mug cake is super moist, gooey and loaded with chocolate goodness, and needs only 4 easy ingredients! Made with no flour, sugar, oil, grains or butter, it’s the ultimate guilt-free snack or dessert ready in just one minute! This mug cake is also naturally gluten free, sugar free, vegan, dairy free, paleo and low calorie!
Got milk overripe bananas? Rejoice, because it will be the base of this super fudgy, moist and completely guilt-free mug cake. It’s super simple to whip up and needs just one bowl or one blender and less than 60 seconds!
The concept of using bananas hidden in chocolate desserts is quite a new concept amongst my friends. When I shared this recipe and this recipe, two of good buddies (holla, Sarah and Lauren), both sent me pictures and snapchat stories of their recreations.
To be honest, I myself used to shy away from using bananas in non-banana specific recipes (like these flourless cookies, these chunky muffins, and this creamy smoothie). I thought bananas had a time and place, and NOT in these kinds of recipes.
Using overripe bananas provides a two-part bonus. It firstly acts as a fantastic replacement for butter or oil, which are generally two key necessities of any delicious tasting cake. Secondly, it is naturally sweet, so there is no need to add any sugar or liquid sweetener!
Another usual suspect of cakes is, of course, flour. Whether that be in the form of a grain or a grain free alternative (like coconut flour or almond flour), it’s usually present. In this chocolate mug cake, we won’t be using either of those. Instead, we’ll be relying on the good quality cocoa powder to work as a somewhat binder for it! It adds a dark, rich and chocolatey flavor too, something we can all appreciate. For those who want to take it up a notch, I recommend swapping half the cocoa powder with dark cocoa powder. Please note, it will be richer and a little more bitter too.
The third component of this 4-ingredient flourless chocolate mug cake is my favorite part- The nut butter! Like the banana, it works in a similar fashion of replacing any oil, butter or even eggs. It also adds a delicious flavor boost, along with satiety. The healthy fats in it help to keep you satisfied, instead of a fat-free or fake sugar-free dessert! I prefer to use a smooth almond butter or cashew butter, as they are both really mild tasting and mesh really well with the banana and cocoa.
For those with nut allergies, my two favorite alternatives are either smooth sunflower seed butter or a soy nut butter. They work in a similar fashion to the almond and cashew blends, without being overpowering. You can use peanut butter (which works well with the banana!) but unless you are a huge fan of it, I’d advocate for the other options- It’s VERY obvious in the recipe!
One should never play favorites, but when it comes to this chocolate mug cake, it’s the chocolate chips! You can add as little or as many as you like, as long as you stir through some throughout the cake, along with reserving a few for the top. This means that every single spoonful will have some ooey, gooey melted chocolate. If you want to keep the flourless cake completely sugar free, this is my preferred packaged chocolate chip– It’s sweetened with stevia and unlike other stevia-based products, they don’t have a bitter aftertaste.
You may have noticed that there are no eggs in this and I promise it isn’t needed! You’ll still get a moist and gooey mug cake and one which is also vegan-friendly! Because of the ingredients used, this 4 Ingredient flourless chocolate mug cake is also paleo, grain free, gluten free, sugar free, dairy free and low calorie!
Time wise, this mug cake needs only one minute to whip up, thanks to the use of a microwave. I understand that some of my readers don’t have access to one, or prefer to use an oven. This can certainly be made in both, the oven version being a little more evenly cooked!
Whip out your blender or your mixing bowl, and triple check your bananas are brown- This mug cake needs to be made now!
4 Ingredient Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 medium overripe banana
- 2 tbsp smooth almond butter can sub for any nut or seed butter of choice
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2-3 tbsp chocolate chips of choice dairy free or sugar free
Instructions
- Grease a microwave or oven safe ramekin and set aside.
- In a blender or large mixing bowl, add all ingredients, except for chocolate chips, and blend/mix until a smooth batter remains. Stir through chocolate chips, reserving a few for the top.
- Cook in the microwave for around one minute. If you use the oven, bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit, or until a toothpick comes out 'just' clean.
Notes
Nutrition
I am beyond STOKED when you make a recipe from here! Be a legend and tag #thebigmansworld or @thebigmansworld with your re-creations- I can’t wait to see them!
More delicious flourless mug cakes ready in one minute? Gotcha covered!
Healthy Hot Chocolate Mug Cake
Healthy Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Mug Cake
Healthy 1 Minute Iced Lemon Pound Cake
Do you enjoy bananas in non-banana specific recipes?
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Beyond amazing. My hubby ate his raw ( frozen banana was all we had). I like mine baked yummm
😀 The best of both worlds!
Didn’t have almond butter but I did have some almond meal. It work perfectly fine! Eating my mug cake right now as I type this comment.
🙂 I hope you saved me one! 😀
Does anyone have an idea of the amount of approximate calories this has? Looks so good.
check out myfitnesspal for calorie calculations.
This is such a treat! I added vanilla extract and a little bit of sea salt to the batter, then topped it with some peanuts, hemp hearts, coconut, and chocolate chips before baking. Yum! 🙂
🙂 That sounds fantastic!
I was wondering if you could use chocolate protein powder instead of the cocoa powder…do you know if that works?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried, feel free to experiment and see!
This was ridiculous!! I just finished this yummy cake like concoction. It works. Excellent, thank you.
😀 LOVE IT!
Not only have I made this for myself, but I’ve been foisting it on other people. I love this cake! I use peanut butter, because it’s what’s open at the moment, and I don’t find it overpowering at all. But then, I also love peanut butter. 😀
LOVE IT!!!!
Hi ! Can i add protein powder to this? how much to keep the texture?
I haven’t tried, feel free to experiment and see!
It looks yummy and I like the fact that No sugar….I do love your work ❤❤❤