Banana Mug Cake Recipe (Gluten-free) (2024)

Need a sweet hit and need it now? Make yourself and a friend or loved one a microwave banana mug cake with a saucy white chocolate surprise inside! Ready in only 5 minutes, and it just happens to be gluten-free.

When you need a little treat, and you need it now, there’s nothing that hits the spot better than a mug cake.

This 2-minute peanut butter mug cake (that happens to be pretty healthy) is already quite popular around here. So I thought it was time to add another quick and easy mug cake – this time a very yummy gluten-free banana mug cake made from simple (and healthy) ingredients.

What’s so great about it

• Got 5 minutes and a microwave? You need just a few minutes to make the batter right in the mug and around 2 minutes to cook in the microwave.

• It’s dessert for two! Grab two spoons and dive in. Alternatively, eat half and save the rest for later.

• It tastes like a slightly nuttier version of a classic banana bread. But a classic banana cake takes around an hour to make…

• It’s made with almond flour, making it gluten free.

• It tastes very yummy eaten on its own straight out of the mug (while curled up on the sofa with a good movie, of course). The melted white chocolate tastes almost like a sweet, creamy sauce. Add a scoop of ice cream and you’ll be in quick and easy banana bread heaven!

• It’s pretty healthy, really. Apart from a little bit of brown sugar and white chocolate, it’s made with pretty good stuff!

What you need

You’re only 1 small banana and 6 pantry ingredients away from a very yummy (almost instant) microwave banana cake for two!

You need just half a small banana, as well as:

• a small egg

• a bit of brown sugar

• almond butter (peanut butter works too, of course)

• almond flour mixed with a tiny bit of baking soda

No oil or butter is necessary as there’s enough fat in the almond butter already.

How to make it

The great thing about this mug cake is that you mix up the ingredients directly in the mug.

Step 1: Grab a mug – the largest one you have. Or a very small baking dish – let’s say 5 to 6 square inches.

Step 2: Mash up half a banana with a fork. Make it a small one, and the riper the better.

Step 3: Whisk in a small egg, followed by sugar, almond butter, milk, and almond flour mixed with a little baking soda.

Step 4: Stir in a handful or two of white chocolate chips. I like to be quite generous with myself and save a few to sprinkle on the top!

Step 5: Microwave for 2 minutes. Let cool a little and enjoy!

Pro tip 1: It’s fun to watch the mug cake rise up outside of the mug at an alarming rate! Don’t panic! It actually doesn’t usually overflow, but put a small plate under the mug just in case.

Pro tip 2: The cake is VERY hot when it comes out of the microwave. I’ve burnt my tongue a couple of times! I know it’s hard, but wait a few minutes before you tuck in.

FAQs

How to serve it

You might think this is a silly question. It’s a microwave mug cake, right? Don’t you just make it in a sweet snack attack emergency? Then you grab a spoon and eat it all to yourself on the couch.

You can do that if you like. The melted white chocolate makes it almost like a self-saucing pudding!

But this banana mug cake is a bit of a monster. Feel free to grab 2 spoons, add a scoop of ice cream and share with a loved one. If you prefer, empty the cake out onto two plates. It won’t be the prettiest dessert you’ve ever seen, but hey, it’s a dessert emergency. Do you care? 😉

I’ve also been known to put plastic wrap over the top of the mug and save half until the next day. It still tastes pretty good!

Need another gluten-free idea? You have to try these gluten-free brownies. Fudgy, cakey AND chewy, and made all in one bowl.

Healthy snack box subscriptions

So… you love this idea and will try it soon, but… you’d also like to have some awesome pre-packaged snacks on hand. I get it. Sometimes I just want to grab something yummy and healthy that someone ELSE has prepared.

The solution? Get healthy (and exciting!) ready-to-eat snacks delivered to you with Urthbox! They have Classic, Gluten free, Vegan or Diet box options, and a bonus free snack box offer, too.

Or browse more snack subscription boxes at Cratejoy to choose your own.

In love with smoothies? You can get read-to-blend organic smoothie packs delivered to your door from Smoothie Box , with $22 off your first order! (These are affiliate links!)

More ridiculously quick and easy desserts

• 5-minute chocolate banana ice cream (healthy nice cream!)
• 6-ingredient gooey Swedish chocolate cake (you’ve got to try this!)
• Easy magic lemon pudding (the most controversial recipe on my blog!)
• No bowl chocolate pecan bars (magic bars!)
• 5-minute chocolate pots (only 4 ingredients!)

Looking for more healthy snack ideas? Check out this list of 50+ healthy sweet snacks that don’t taste boring.

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Note: I first published this recipe in 2014 as an individual banana and peanut butter pudding. I updated it in February 2021 as a gluten free banana mug cake however as I felt that the original recipe was a bit hit and miss (sometimes it worked and other times it was a disaster!). If you happen to have been a fan of that original recipe, however, I have a fairly similar one on the blog which I call a peanut butter healthy mug cake. There’s no banana, but strangely it tastes pretty similar to the original recipe I published here!