This Black Forest Mug Cake cooks in under 2 minutes and tastes just like a classic Black Forest cake. It features a rich, eggless chocolate cake with a soft, tender crumb and juicy, fresh cherries.
If you love the combination of chocolate and cherries, then you'll love this chocolate cherry overnight oats or the cherry chocolate brownies recipe!
A Quick Look at the Recipe
✅ Recipe Name: Black Forest Mug Cake
🕒 Ready In: 5 minutes
👪 Serves: 1 serving
🧑🍳 Main Ingredients: Fresh cherries, cocoa powder, flour, milk, oil and sugar
📖 Dietary Info: Eggless
📌 Difficulty: Quick and easy microwave recipe
Why you’ll love this black forest mug cake?
This is basically a single-serve version of classic Black Forest cake! If you love Black Forest cake but usually have to wait for a birthday or special occasion to enjoy a slice, this recipe is for you.
This chocolate cherry mug cake captures all the flavors of the traditional dessert in the easiest possible way. Fresh Bing cherries add bursts of sweet, tart, fruity flavor to the rich, moist chocolate cake, and a dollop of whipped cream on top makes it feel just like the real thing. It’ll become your new favorite cherry dessert!
- maria doss
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Tips for Success
- Mug - A standard size microwave coffee mug works for this black forest mug cake recipe. Please do not choose a smaller one.
- Cooking time - If you use a wider mug, then remove about 10-15 seconds earlier.
- Remove promptly - Remove promptly from the microwave. Cooking it longer will make the cake dry.
- Cherries - I prefer using Bing cherries give the traditional flavor.
- Stir batter until lump-free – Using a spoon, stir the batter until smooth and no lumps remain.
- Flavoring - Kirsch or cherry liqueur, is a cherry-flavoured brandy makes it taste like the real cake. Vanilla extract will work just as well.
How to make?
You can find full printable recipe below, but here is a quick overview of the procedure along with step-by-step photos.
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More mug cake recipes
Black Forest Mug Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Wet ingredients
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon Cherry liquor such as Kirsch (or use vanilla extract)
- ¼ cup chopped cherries I like to use Bing
Instructions
- Add all dry ingredients into a microwave mug and stir well with a spoon or fork.
- Add all wet ingredients (except the cherries) and mix until smooth. Stir in chopped cherries (reserving some for garnish later).
- Cook in microwave for 1 minute plus 50 seconds for a standard coffee mug, and one minute and 45 seconds for a wider mug.
- Remove, let cool for a few seconds, before serving. Top with reserved cherries and sweetened whipped cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Black forest cake is traditionally made with layers of chocolate sponge cake, brushed with cherry syrup, layered with cherries, and whipped cream as frosting. Whereas, chocolate chocolate cake is made without any cherries and the frosting is usually a chocolate buttercream or ganache.
Maraschino cherries are preserved and sweetened, usually from lighter-colored cherry varieties. They are perfect for creating attractive garnishes for alcoholic drinks or desserts, but they lack the true cherry flavor we crave. That's why I prefer to make this chocolate cherry mug cake when fresh cherries are in season.
Love chocolate cakes? Try my almond flour chocolate cake or the no-bake mini chocolate cheesecake recipe next!
MADE THIS RECIPE AND LOVED IT? 💚 Please leave a ⭐️STAR rating and COMMENT below- I love to hear your feedback! Tag me with your creations on Instagram and find me on Facebook.
Hi, I’m Maria! I share easy, flavor-packed dinners, high-protein meals, and irresistible baking ideas. If you’ve ever asked, “Don’t know what to cook tonight?” you’re in the right place. And yes—there’s plenty here for breakfast, snacks, and dessert too. More about maria ->
Ronak Mehta
Baked this cake for my birthday and it was an absolute hit! So moist and tasty. Thank you for doing what you do
Maria Doss
Glad you loved it:)
Liz
Really good mug cake recipe! Have made a few other mug cakes in the past but this was way tastier and came out better than others I've made.
Maria Doss
Hi Liz, That sounds wonderful, Maria
Susan
Hi! Inspired by your Black Forest Mug Cake recipe, I adjusted for available ingredients. Needing more than one I Tripled the recipe first, added an egg, used melted butter, light cream with kefir, pinch of baking soda + baking powder, combined all purpose, almond and whole grain sorghum flours. I had sweetened dried cherries on hand and tossed them in too, so lowered the sugar amount. Also I only have an infrared oven, so I set it to the brownie setting - all totaled it took @ 25-30 minutes with this type of heat. Came out delicate and delightful! A work in progress…thank you!
Maria Doss
Hi Susan, Loving all the modifications, have a fantastic week - Maria
Brenda
So delicious wowwww this is my third time making
Maria Doss
Happy to hear hun ❤️