Keto Birthday Cake In A Mug

Need a personal-sized low carb cake for someone special that takes minutes to make? Try this gluten-free keto birthday cake in a mug! It only takes 2 minutes to bake.

Jump to:

• Low Carb Birthday Cake In A Mug
• Ingredients Needed For Keto Mug Cake
• How To Make A Keto Birthday Cake In 2 Minutes
• Frequently Asked Questions About Keto Mug Cake
• The Best Keto-Friendly Birthday Cake- In A Mug!
• Other Cake Recipes To Try
• Keto Birthday Cake in Minutes

Low Carb Birthday Cake In A Mug

Even though you might be on a low carb diet, you can still celebrate your birthday with a sweet frosted cake! In fact, this cute little low-carb and gluten-free birthday mug cake only takes two minutes to bake in the microwave.

I admit that this cake baking thing in the microwave didn’t really appeal to me at first, but after seeing a lovely Valentine’s Day mug cake recipe from Sugar Free Mom, I was sold on the idea.

So, I want to thank my fellow low-carb blogger Brenda for turning me around.

Let me tell you- This cake is the perfect mini size. You won’t spend a lot of time baking it, and you won’t have any leftovers that you’ll need to store afterward.

It is perfectly-portioned for just one person – so you get your own little personal cake! It makes 4 cute-sized slices.

Ingredients Needed For Keto Mug Cake

All of the exact ingredient amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. First, I’m going to share some more information about the ingredients.

Flour

To make this cake, I used a combination of almond flour and coconut flour because, out of all the flour combinations I tried, this gave me the perfect texture!

Liquid

Then, I added coconut oil and almond milk (because coconut flour soaks up wet ingredients).

Dry Ingredients

You’ll also need baking powder, one egg, salt, and vanilla extract for the flavor and texture.

Sweetener

For the low-carb sugar substitute, I suggest either liquid or granular sweetener. Confectioner’s substitute or brown sugar substitute will change the texture too much.

Frosting

I decorated this birthday cake with homemade keto buttercream frosting– This recipe is amazing!

It’s whipping cream, sweetener, butter, cream cheese, and a few more ingredients. It’s basically Heaven!

Please note: Check out the recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients used to make this low carb recipe.

Quick Tips:

• There are 4.1g net carbs in half of this cake. If you are really trying to watch your macros, you can make just one layer and cut the amounts in half.
• If you like chocolate, you can make a keto chocolate frosting too. Sprinkle the birthday cake with sugar-free sprinkles or add some sugar-free chocolate chips on top.
• Mug cakes are typically baked in a cup and left in there. Since I wanted this to be a miniature double-layer frosted birthday cake, I used a 2-cup round Pyrex storage container for each cake layer.
• A regular ramekin is another great dish for baking these keto birthday cake layers. If you have a wide mug, that would probably work as well. You just want to make sure whatever you use is microwaveable.

How To Make A Keto Birthday Cake In 2 Minutes

This is such a simple recipe! All of the detailed steps and ingredients are in the printable recipe card just a little further down on this page.

Mix The Cake Batter

The first thing you will do is mix the dry ingredients in a separate small bowl. Set this aside.

Then, in the ramekin or small bowl that you’ll make the cake in, melt the coconut oil. Stir in the almond milk, egg, sweetener, and vanilla extract.

Next, beat the dry ingredients into the liquid ones with a fork until they are really well combined.

Bake The Keto Mug Cake

Put it in the microwave and cook it for about 1 ½ minutes or 2 minutes Basically, take it out when it is completely set, like in the pictures below.

Take the little cake out of the bowl or mug and let it cool on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes.

This step is really important if you want to decorate it with frosting. If you skip this step, the frosting will melt and look more like a glaze.

Add Frosting and Decorate!

Finally, decorate your cake with some low-carb buttercream frosting. My cake looks so simple because I only made enough icing to frost the cake and didn’t have any left to decorate with.

Had I planned things better, I would have made a double batch of frosting so I could do the traditional birthday cake frills. Oh well. Maybe next year!

What To Serve With Low-Carb Birthday Cake

There are lots of things you can serve with a keto birthday cake that won’t kick you out of ketosis.

• Add a scoop of chocolate avocado ice cream on the side.
• Some other fun low-carb sweets that would taste perfect with this little cake are some keto shortbread cookies or chocolate chip dip.
• Don’t forget the Bulletproof tea or coffee!

Frequently Asked Questions About Keto Mug Cake

Take a look at these often asked questions before submitting a comment. You may find the answer you’re looking for here.

Can you use a plastic bowl or cup for a mug cake?

I’m not a fan of plastics or using them in the microwave so I don’t recommend baking these cake layers in plastic dishes.

My Pyrex container was pretty hot taking it out of the microwave so use caution in removing the hot cakes. I also used potholders!

Can you make this mini cake in the oven?

This is a yellow gluten-free cake that bakes up nicely in the microwave, but you can bake it in the oven too.

Just follow my steps and then bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes! Check on them after 10 minutes so they don’t burn.

What is the best low-carb frosting to use on the cake?

The frosting I used was the recipe from my gluten-free coconut cupcakes. The amounts given in that recipe were just enough to frost this two-layer mug cake.

If you prefer chocolate frosting, there’s a great recipe listed on my chocolate frosted zucchini brownies.  This is the perfect cake to bake up when you are craving something sweet but don’t want a lot of servings.

The Best Keto-Friendly Birthday Cake- In A Mug!

This mini birthday cake can be a fun activity to do with the kids. The size kind of reminds me of the cakes from the Easy Bake Oven that I used to make with my older daughter. Of course, this is a much healthier cake than the mixes we used back then.

When I want a larger cake to share with family and friends also watching their carbs, I bake up a gluten-free carrot cake.

Just make sure to use low carb flours and keto sweeteners to keep the carbs low!

Other Cake Recipes To Try

If you enjoyed this keto birthday cake, then here are some more keto cake recipes you should try next. They are some of my favorites!

• Keto Chocolate Molten Lava Cake has rich chocolate oozing from the middle, so it’s pure decadence.
• Low Carb Pumpkin Spice Cake has 3 layers made from mug cakes, but with the pumpkin spice flavor that you love.
• Keto Lemon Mug Cake is bright and refreshing and another one of my favorite mug cake recipes.
• Paleo Strawberry Mug Cake is made with 2 cute little layers and a yummy buttercream frosting.
• Blueberry Mug Cake is a really simple low-carb breakfast idea that tastes like a blueberry muffin.

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First published on April 15, 2015. Updated on January 19, 2021 with clearer images and recipe information.