This Vegan Toffee Mug Cake is incredibly delicious and truly tastes like toffee! Made in just 5 minutes, it is also gluten-free, oil-free and topped with a delicious toffee frosting!
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5 MINUTE VEGAN TOFFEE MUG CAKE
I am officially in love with a mug cake. Not just any mug cake though, a toffee cake. It is a toffee-lovers dream. I have seen a bazillion mug cakes online and they are all chocolate! I figured, why not create one that is more unique and unlikely a flavor that most have tried. Enter the Vegan Gluten-Free Toffee Mug Cake.
Thank you to everybody who voted for this Toffee Mug Cake yesterday on this Facebook post! An overwhelming response and this cake was the clear winner by about 20 votes over the blueberry cream cheese….although that cream cheese got a lot of votes too, so it is coming this week as well, no worries!
I have tried a few mug cakes (chocolate) before and in fact, the very first mug cake I ever tried was a few years ago and I mentioned it on this blog post. It was incredible, moist, rich and chocolatey. Then that recipe was nowhere to be found again, so I tried others and they were TERRIBLE.
So, I figured I better come up with my own mug cake, but not do the norm of chocolate, instead I chose toffee! Why a toffee mug cake? Well, because my favorite fudge recipe on my blog and that I’ve ever tried is my Vegan Toffee Sweet Potato Fudge. It is so good and I decided that would be the flavor I would do.
HOW TO CREATE A VEGAN TOFFEE CAKE
Since I’m not using butter or refined sugar like classic toffee, I had to put on my thinking cap. Coconut sugar is very toffee and caramel-like in flavor, so I started there. But, do you know what else lends to a wonderful toffee flavor?
Cashew butter. I swapped out the sweet potato for cashew butter and the combo of coconut sugar, cashew butter and coconut milk was just about dangerously dreamy. Cashew butter is extremely creamy and buttery and slightly sweet, so it is the perfect ingredient to enhance that toffee flavor. Toffee is in fact traditionally made with dairy butter, so hello, cashew butter works amazing!! The last time I did a cashew icing was on my Vanilla Pecan Dream Bars, so I knew I could make a toffee frosting out of it.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of this 5 Minute Toffee Mug Cake! Let me know by dropping me feedback below after you make it and don’t forget to star rate it! I’ll be dying to hear. You can also tag me on Instagram @thevegan8 and don’t forget my hashtag in your caption#thevegan8 so it’s saved to my page and I don’t miss it. Enjoy!
OTHER VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE CAKE RECIPES TO TRY
- Vanilla White Wedding Cake
- Cinnamon Caramel Bundt Cake
- Chocolate Peppermint Cake
- Gluten-free Vanilla Cake
- Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake
- Gluten-free Vegan Cranberry Bundt Cake
- Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bundt Cakes
- Vegan Funfetti Birthday Cake
5 Minute Toffee Mug Cake (Vegan and Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (28g) finely ground almond meal
- 1 tablespoon (8g) tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon (8g) oat flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (23g) coconut sugar (this is key to the toffee flavor, so do not sub!)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons (45g) canned lite coconut milk, shaken first
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 heaping teaspoon raw cashew butter (or sunbutter or almond butter, but it will have less of a toffee flavor)
TOFFEE FROSTING
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (23g) canned lite coconut milk, shaken first
- 1/2 tablespoon (5g) coconut sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon (8g) cashew butter
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- First, decide if you want to use a regular standard size coffee mug or a ramekin. I used a 7 oz ramekin because I wanted it to have the shape of a mini cake (as pictured). You do not need to spray the mug/ramekin, this cake is so moist, it removes easily, should you choose to do so. You just need to loosen around the edges with a knife and then it should come out easily. If baking in the oven, turn to 350 degrees and see below for the cooking time.
- If using a coffee mug, you will mix all the ingredients in the mug! If using a ramekin, mix everything in a small bowl as follows. Add the almond meal, tapioca starch, oat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt and mix really well with a fork.
- Next, pour the coconut milk over the dry ingredients, then the cashew butter and vanilla. Mix everything well with the fork again until a really smooth cake batter forms. Pour in the ramekin if using and microwave on high (my power level was at 10) for 2 minutes in a ramekin and 2 1/2 minutes in a coffee mug. It cooked faster in the ramekin since it was more shallow than the mug. If you still want yours more cooked, add 15-30 more seconds. 2 1/2 minutes was perfect for the coffee mug for me. Your microwave power level may vary cooking time. To remove, you just need to loosen around the edges with a knife and then it should come out easily.
- For the oven, you will use 2 muffin liners and fill them each up half way with the batter. Or you can use a 7 oz ramekin. I would suggest spraying it or lining it, so the cake won't stick. Bake for 20 minutes. They should have risen and have a nice golden brown top and very lightly spring back when pressed. Let them cool 10-15 minutes, to finish cooking. To remove, loosen around the edges with a knife.
- For the frosting, just combine all the "toffee frosting" ingredients in a small cup (except the vanilla) and mix with a fork until smooth. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. This is how it will thicken up like frosting. Add the vanilla and mix again until smooth, thick and creamy. If you are not using a microwave, then just use half or even less of the milk so it's not too runny, or heat it up over the stove to thicken it. If you want it more like a glaze, add a tiny bit more milk. It will thicken some as it sits. If you want to remove the cake to frost it, slide a knife along the inside edges of the mug and loosen it and flip over to pop out. I made several of these and they all came out really easily. Smooth the frosting on top or drizzle the glaze. Eat immediately. Mug cakes need to be eaten immediately, or they will harden as they sit. As if you needed any convincing anyways.
This looks fabulous!
Is finely ground almond meal same as finely sifted almond flour?
Hi! No, almond meal is just ground up almonds. Fine blanched almond flour is skins removed and blanched almonds, then dried and ground, so they provide more moisture and more fluff!
I wonder what flour I could use instead of oat flour? I have celiac disease and oats disagree with me terribly. But everything else about this sounds wonderful. I don’t use a microwave in our house, so I’m glad to see the oven option too!
Hi Denise, that is tough, I’m not sure since I’ve only ever tested it with oat flour. I’m afraid gluten-free store blends will make it too chewy. You could try buckwheat flour (the beige, not gray kind) or maybe brown rice or white rice flour. I just do not know if that will make it too chewy or gritty.
I tried this recipe twice and neither worked out 🙁 The first time I cooked in mug for 2 1/2 minutes and it burnt so I tried again for 2minutes still bad consistency, dry and hard. I hate to waste ingredients!
Hi Brandi, it is another hit! This mug cake has such a nice toffee flavour and the frosting is amazing. And in 10 minutes you can make your own cake, LOVE IT! Super easy! And perfect when you have left over coconut milk and cashew butter from making the truffles the other day, okay I made two batches of truffles 😉 Thank you!!!!
This is my go-to dessert recipe now after I make a recipe that doesn’t use up a whole can of the coconut milk. Yum!
That is such a great idea, thank you Nina!
This recipe is too good to only make one! So I multiplied the recipe by four and made six good sized muffins, and they worked amazingly!
So awesome to hear Phoebe! So glad you loved it!!
I’d love to try this but am sensitive to almonds and oats…I can sub brown rice or sorghum possibly for the oat flour, but what about almond meal? Thanks!
This is seriously the best mug cake I’ve ever tried! Its sweet & moist & just all round DELICIOUS!!! You’ve got to try this! Thanks Brandi for sharing your recipe’s, well done!
Yay Tania! That makes me so happy to hear it’s the best you’ve ever had, woohoo! Thank you so much for the awesome feedback!
would corn starch work in place of tapioca starch?
Hi Shennae, I haven’t tried it, but I think it would be a decent sub, let me know how it turns out!
I had just finished making your INCREDIBLE Alfredo sauce (newest version) and had some raw cashew butter left, so I figured it was time to try this recipe my daughter and I had been eyeing for some time.
First of all, it was so darn easy to make I kept thinking there had to be more to it for it to taste good. Wrong. It was over-the-top scrumptious! I used one of those single serving white porcelain soup mugs. It was perfect because it’s very much like a ramekin.
I only got a little taste however, because my daughter scarfed almost the entire thing. She said it reminded her of the confetti cake she used to love as a little girl. Score another perfect 10 for one of your recipes, Brandi! Thanks, and keep them coming!
I don’t know how I missed this comment slip through Colleen, but YAY!! Thank you so much for the feedback, I am just thrilled both you and your daughter loved it so much! Thank you!
Yum! I didn’t make the frosting but the mug cake was perfect without it! So good! Thank you for sharing your recipe!!!
Oooh so wonderful to hear Monica! Thank you so very much for letting me know, love hearing the feedback! I love it without the frosting too 🙂
I had to make a few substitutions to this recipe when I made this, based on what I had on hand. I used blanched almond flour, which is even more fine than the stuff from Trader Joes. I used arrowroot starch instead of tapioca, because it was the only starch I had. And I used full fat coconut milk, because it was the only milk I had available. It came out incredible! I couldn’t believe the toffee flavor! Wow! My husband and I both loved it. We don’t have dessert too often and this was a very special treat, so easy to make and so much better for you than most desserts out there! Thank you!
Hi April! I’m so happy to hear that the arrowroot worked well in place of the tapioca! Blanched almond flour works pretty much the same as almond meal, so that would definitely be an easy swap 🙂 Thanks so much for making it and providing the feedback…so glad you and your husband both loved it!
You’ve probably already mentioned this somewhere in the recipe (and I missed it!), but when you say “coconut milk”, are you meaning the can (like Thai Kitchen), or the carton kind? Thanks!!
Hi Jules! I used “lite” canned coconut milk. You can use carton if you like. I just always use canned because it only has coconut milk and water in it, without all the other additives like the carton kind, but either will work. Let me know how it turns out!
just made this last night. It was so good!
I had doubled the recipe to make one for me and one for my daughter. I had her try mine before cooking the second. She didn’t like the texture which was fantastic news for me, lol. I refrigerated hers uncooked and then cooked it in the morning for breakfast. I decided it’s healthy enough for breakfast and if cake for breakfast is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
I am going to try one with peanut butter too. 🙂
Yes, I didn’t like the texture of mugcakes the first time I tried them either, but I think after a few bites, you get past it and it becomes addictive, haha! Especially when it is so easy!
I’m so happy to hear you loved it so much and you could always bake one for your daughter and it won’t have that microwaved texture! Thanks so much for the feedback!
Brandi. Brandiiii! I made this tonight and it was THE BEST mug cake I’ve ever had. Soft, fluffy, gooey, rich. You have worked yet another miracle! THANK YOU!
Wow Natalie! Thank you so much for such a wonderful compliment! I really appreciate it and sorry for the delay…I’m playing catchup on comments, thank you so much for the feedback!
This toffee cake is just brilliant, my friend! Ever since I tried Mandy’s toffee sauce I’ve been dreaming of toffee on everything 🙂 This is such an amazing alternative and I love the combo of cashew butter + coconut milk — soo simple, so delicious. The whole cake is just seriously dreamy!
Brandy! I’m in love with mug cakes! In fact I’ve been making a chocolate one every night the past 3 nights…so you can say i may have a problem ha! This looks delicious! Must try next!