This gooey and decadent peppermint chocolate mug cake is not only soft and fluffy, but is easy to whip up and bakes in the microwave for only 90-seconds! Includes a free gift tag printable so you can make gift mixes, too! Find more olive oil cake recipes here.

Have you jumped on the mug cake bandwagon? I was a skeptic at first, until I made my first mug cake. A warm and gooey cake, mixed in a mug, made in the microwave and ready in 90 seconds?! Could it really be true?

The first mug cake I made was a simple vanilla cake and my kids happily scooped it out of my hands. I quickly came up with other varieties of mug cakes but only shared my pumpkin spice mug cake on the blog. Today I’m sharing our newest favorite flavor, a peppermint chocolate mug cake – just in time for the holidays!

What is a mug cake?

Yes, it is as easy as it sounds. A mug cake is simply a mini cake that you mix in your mug and bake in the microwave. This concept of baking in the microwave has taken over the online food world by storm and there are so many different mug cake possibilities out there!

Can I bake my mug cake in the oven?

A mug cake recipe only works when baked in a microwave. You will not get the same result baking these ingredients in the oven. So don’t even think of emailing me if you do that!

There is a convenience factor that can’t be measured when baking with a microwave. Think college students living in dorms  or single professionals living in tiny apartments with no kitchen. A microwave becomes your sole cooking appliance.

Can I make this a vegan peppermint chocolate mug cake?

Heck yeah! My niece’s little boy is allergic to eggs and milk, so I wanted to create a mug cake he could eat, too. This recipe fro my chocolate mug cake does not include eggs, which gives you a less spongey cake, which is typical in mug cakes.

You can use vegan chocolate chips (we like these vegan chips from Enjoy Life) and for the milk you can substitute with almond or coconut milk.

How can I make mug cake mix gifts?

I swear I must have made a dozen different versions of this peppermint chocolate mug cake to come up with an easy chocolate mug cake mix you can pack up and gift. The only addition your recipient needs to add is water and oil to make the chocolate mug cake at home or at work.

The key is milk powder. I have used three different powdered milk varieties and they all work well in this mix, including a vegan option. Substitute the milk in the recipe for either ONE of the following:

• 4 TBS water and 4 TBS Coffee Mate nondairy creamer
• 4 TBS water and 2 tsp powdered non-fat milk (Bob’s Red Mill brand)
• 4 TBS water and 2 TBS coconut milk powder (Native Forest brand)

Just add your preferred milk powder to the cake mix bags. To get the layered effect, I added the ingredients in the following order:

1. sugar and salt
2. flour and baking powder
3. milk powder
4. cocoa powder
5. chocolate chips
6. crushed peppermints

My original recipe included an egg and I added flax meal to the mix to replace the egg. But I found that the cake had better texture and flavor without the egg/flax. Instead, I added more milk.

I made these cute gift tags you can print out to make your own peppermint chocolate mug cake mix gift bags. Pop a couple in a pretty mug, maybe a cute spoon, too, and you have a fabulous teacher or Secret Santa gift. Click here for the free gift tag printable.

This post contains affiliate links. The story I have written is all true, and the opinions are truly mine. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t blog about it.