5 Minute Coffee and Caramel Mug Cake

A delicious ‘pick me up’, this quick and easy mug cake contains a shot of real coffee and a rich caramel drizzle on top. Sooo good!

Magnificent Mug Cakes

I seriously love a good microwave mug cake! They make an incredibly quick and easy dessert or teatime treat and there are so many different types you can make to suit all types of tastebud. My eternal quest for the perfect microwave mug cake has resulted in a few really delicious creations, such as my 5 Minute Blueberry Cheesecake Mug Cake and my 5 Minute Banoffee Mug Cake. Do check out these recipes too if you have a chance – you won’t regret it!

I also adore a coffee (what working parent doesn’t!?) So I thought why not combine two of my greatest loves and create the perfect deliciously moist coffee cake! I think this recipe really does the flavour of coffee justice and to make it even more delicious I’ve added a tasty caramel drizzle on top.

Coffee itself is so much more than just a drink. It think it’s a seriously underused and underrated ingredient and has so much potential in the kitchen for all types of recipe! See here for a bit of extra inspiration for all you coffee lovers out there!

Coffee, coffee, coffee

A word of warning now; this 5 minute coffee and caramel cake is not for the faint hearted….It has a whole shot of real coffee in it, so a deliciously indulgent way to perk you up if you’re flagging mid morning, much more decadent than a plain old cup of coffee! (Perhaps don’t eat a coffee cake as a substitute for your traditional drink every time though. This will not be so great for your waistline!)

In terms of type of coffee in this mug cake recipe, I just use instant powdered coffee. You then dissolve this in just a smidge of boiling water. This keeps the flavour nice and concentrated without giving too sloppy a batter. Using a whole shot of coffee would result in too much liquid so should be avoided in this cake recipe.

If you prefer to avoid instant coffee altogether you can instead brew you own in a cafatiere, but you need to make sure to use only a tiny amount of water, otherwise there will be too much liquid and not enough concentrated coffee flavour in the final cake.

Overall, I find that if you can bag yourself a high quality instant coffee it has a perfectly lovely, rich flavour in this recipe and – most importantly – is super quick to use! No faffing about with pods, filters and messy coffee grounds. And because I’m all about the quick with my cooking, this suits my 5 minute coffee and caramel mug cake perfectly!

Precision Is Key

Although I endeavour to make all my recipes quick and easy, its important not to cut corners when it comes to baking. Baking is rather an exact science so it’s very important to make sure all of your spoon measurements are level (flat). Avoid using rounded or heaped spoonfuls of things as this will mess up the ratios of all the different ingredients and give you a sub par resulting cake. So avoid the temptation to dump heaped spoonfuls of all those lovely ingredients into your mug… keep it neat and precise!

Cara’mmm’el

Mmmm, caramel sauce! I suspect almost any dish would be improved with the addition of creamy, silky caramel on top. As tempting as it is to add it to each and every one of my recipes, I have instead restrained myself and chosen to add it to only a select few recipes. Coffee and caramel is such a winning combination that how could I not include it in this super quick mug cake?

As with everything though – speed is key! A traditional caramel sauce made from scratch requires you to dissolve the sugar in some cream, whilst cooking it slowly and carefully to get a beautiful caramelisation. Delightful, but very time consuming!

I’m all about the quick, which is why the caramel drizzle here involves only two ingredients… dark brown sugar and water, heated up. That’s it! The resulting liquid is most definitely full of delicious caramel taste and appearance and provides a beautiful rich flavour and moistness when it crowns the coffee cake. Heavenly!

Step by step guide to making this 5 minute coffee and caramel mug cake

Now lets take a peek at this useful step by step guide to making the perfect quick coffee and caramel mug cake, including handy photos to help you along the way…

STEP 1;

First off, pop the kettle on. Next, grab a standard sized mug. In it, put 1 level teaspoon of instant coffee powder plus 2 level tablespoons of caster (superfine) sugar. Add 2 teaspoons of boiling water to the mug and stir it all briefly to dissolve.

STEP 2;

Now it’s time to create your perfect coffee cake batter! To the mug, add 2 level tablespoons of butter / margarine and 4 level tablespoons of self raising flour. Stir everything together to combine it all.

STEP 3;

Pop the mug into the microwave and cook on full power for 70-80 seconds. (It should take 70 seconds in a 900W microwave but about 80 seconds in a 700-800W one).

STEP 4;

Whilst the cake is cooking, put 2 level teaspoons of dark brown sugar into a small dish or ramekin. (I use muscovado sugar but any type of dark brown sugar will work just fine). To this, add 1 teaspoon of hot water from the kettle you previously boiled. Give it a quick stir.

STEP 5;

Once the cake is done cooking, remove it and put the dissolved sugar into the microwave. Cook on high power for 30 seconds. Remove it from the microwave and give it another quick stir. You’ll have a richly sweet brown sauce that perfectly replicates a tasty caramel flavour.

Pour this sauce evenly onto the top of your freshly cooked mug cake and serve! YUM.