Keto Lemon Mug Cake (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 08/05/2019 - Last updated on 10/26/2023
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This Keto Lemon Mug Cake is the most delicious almond flour mug cake to snack on the keto diet.
An easy 5-ingredient mug cake with a tangy lemon flavor and only 7 grams of net carbs.
You know how much I love lemon keto recipes, especially lemon cakes.
I recently shared with you my keto lemon pound cake recipe, and you requested a smaller size recipe. Say hello to my keto lemon mug cake!
What’s A Lemon Mug Cake?
Lemon Mug Cakes are simple cake recipes made in a mug and cooked in the microwave in less than 2 minutes.
They are quick and easy breakfast or snack recipes that you can make in a heartbeat.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This Lemon Mug Cake recipe is amazing because it is:
- Gluten-Free
- Low-Cab
- Keto-Friendly
- Dairy-Free
- Paleo
- Ready In Under 5 Minutes
- 5 Ingredients
How To Make Keto Lemon Mug Cake
This keto lemon mug cake is the easiest recipe to share with your loved one and is made with only 5 ingredients.
Ingredients
Let’s see what you need to create this simple moist, spongy lemon mug cake.
- Almond Flour is an amazing keto flour that creates moist, spongy cakes. If you have a nut allergy, you can replace almond flour with sunflower seed flour.
- Egg – this recipe can’t be made egg-free but eggs are keto-friendly.
- Baking Powder – or half the amount of baking soda.
- Lemon Juice – I used fresh lemon juice.
- Sugar-Free Crystal Sweetener – I love Monk fruit crystal or erythritol but feel free to use xylitol, all with the same ratio. Read my review of keto-friendly sweeteners to find the best ones!
- Lemon Zest – this is optional, of course, but flavorsome and won’t add carbs. I grated some zest from my homegrown lemon. Make sure you use untreated lemon before adding zest to your recipe.
Cooking This Keto Mug Cake
Mug cakes are usually baked for 90 seconds in the microwave.
You must use the high power (800W) of your microwave for perfect baking results.
If you don’t have a microwave, mug cakes can be baked in a small ramekin in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and bake our mug cake for 12-15 minutes.
You know it is cooked when a pick inserted in the center of the mug cake comes out clean or with few to no crumbs on it.
Serving Keto Lemon Mug Cake
Keto lemon mug cake is delicious on its own or topped up with unsweetened coconut yogurt. It’s also delicious, served with a cup of my bulletproof coffee for breakfast.
Coconut yogurt is made of only 2 ingredients: coconut cream and probiotics. It is a delicious dairy-free keto yogurt, and I love the combo of lemon and coconut.
Otherwise, use unsweetened whipped cream or Greek yogurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is for one large mug cake or 2 small mug cakes as in the picture. One large mug cake, the whole recipe, contains 7.4 grams of net carbs.
To decrease the carbs, split the recipe in half and store the other half in the fridge for 24 hours in a sealed mug, or share with a friend!
More Keto Mug Cakes
If you love easy keto mug cakes as I do, you may want to try the other mug cake recipes below:
Don’t forget to leave me a comment below if you made this recipe and save it on Pinterest for later!
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Keto Lemon Mug Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Egg regular size
- 4 tablespoons Almond Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon Granulated Sweetener erythritol or Monk Fruit or Xylitol
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Optional
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest – use organic untreated lemon
- 2 tablespoons Blueberries -fresh or frozen
Serving ideas
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Cream or heavy whipped cream
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together egg, almond flour, baking powder, sugar-free crystal sweetener, and lemon juice to form a consistent cake batter.
- Add in some optional ingredients now, if desired, like lemon zest or blueberries – fresh or frozen.
- Transfer the batter into a tall microwave-safe mug. Your mug cake is going to rise and double in height so make sure the mug you use is high enough to prevent the mug cake batter from overflowing in the microwave. Don't microwave into 2 mugs or it will impact the microwaving time consequently. Bake all at once and share!
- Microwave on high power (800W) for 90 seconds.
- Remove from the microwave and cool for 2 minutes before eating and adding any toppings.
- Enjoy directly into the mug or unmold on a plate and half the recipe to share!
Baking method
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)
- Place the batter into a medium-size oven ramekin or 2 small ramekins.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. Make sure you check the baking process after 8 minutes and every 2 minutes. Use a skewer that you insert in the center of the mug cake. It is baked when it comes out with no (or very little) crumb on it. Note that if you are using smaller ramekins and half the batter in two ramekins the cakes cook faster between 8-12 minutes.
Storage
- Microwave baked cakes don't store well, no more than 30 minutes to 1 hour. After that, the texture dries out really fast and you will lose the spongy cake texture. I recommend baking the mug cake if you intend to store it for 2-3 days at room temperature.
Notes
Tools
Getting Started What Is Keto? Macro Calculator Sweetener Converter Intermittent Fasting Keto Fruits Keto Vegetables Keto Flours Fighting Keto Flu Healthy SweetenersWant My Kitchen Equipment?
Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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I have been making & eating keto mug cakes for more than 10 years. This is absolutely the best recipe I’ve tried.
Thank you!
This is the absolute best base mug cake i’ve had. Thank you so much for the microwave setting tips: most ignore this. 1 egg is far too much for a single serve, so double serve is perfect. was light and fluffy and tasty and not dry or rubbery.
I used 1t extract to save some carbs and was still lovely. It’s so good to find receipe creators who know what they’re about so you don’t waste product. Keto product is far to $$$ to waste. Look forward to trying more of your content.
This is my first time baking, thank you for the recipe. It’s super delicious!! If I want to make 10 of this, do I use 10 eggs?
Thank you! You should rather try my keto lemon pound cake for a large cake or keto lemon cake recipe.
Hi! I’m from Brazil ans I love your blog! Thank you for share many recipes with us!
Obrigada! You’re more than welcome!
I have never found a keto dessert I liked, until now!! This was SO good! I will definitely make it again! THANK YOU! My family asked me to make lemon squares tonight, and I almost caved and had one (or more) myself, but instead I made this, and it hit the spot!!
Gold star for this recipe!!! Absolutely sensational!! Tku!!!!
My 10 year old grandson has to be gluten free. He loves this recipe because he can make it for himself. He only puts half the lemon juice because otherwise he thinks it’s too strong, but he LOVES it. Thanks for making an easy but delicious recipe that really works!
Thank you so much !
I used an Aspartame based sweetener and added a spoonful of lemon buttercream (butter+sweetener+lemon juice) on top after letting it cool down some. Needed a feel good low-carb fix and this definitely did the job. Would make again!
Quick and easy to make and tastes amazing!
I am eating this as I type – it is delicious! I usually choose chocolate/peanut butter mug cakes but the combo of lemon and blueberries in this one is perfect; I don’t miss the chocolate at all. Thank you for your awesome recipes Carine.
So delicious! I followed the recipe as directed and split the cake between my husband and me. It was so good he asked for more. Reminded me of a blueberry/blackberry cobbler. Very good! Thanks for sharing.
Delicious! Made it for one serving and it was so filling! Next time, I know to 1/2 the ingredients. Thank you.
This sweet, lemony treat was absolutely delicious. Thank you.
This sweet lemony treat was absolutely delicious. Thank you.
Could I replace the sweetener with honey or maple syrup? I’m not keto, and I don’t like sweetness like that.
Honey and maple syrup are not keto friendly sweetener so I don’t recommend this option. If you are not on a keto diet, replace a crystal sweetener by a crystal so here use coconut sugar or unrefined cane sugar but not a liquid sweetener or the texture of the cake will be too dense
I have been wanting to make something lemony, and this is fabulous. Thanks for the recipe, it came out great.
When I put the ingredients into Cronometer, the carbs per this recipe, comes out to 24.7.
What am I doing wrong?
I used Swerve as my sweetener.
It looks like you are including the sugar alcohol from the sweetener in the total carbs and that you didn’t divide the recipe per 2! One serve is half the recipe. Total carbs are carbs takeaway fiber takeaway sugar alcohol.
I can’t wait to try this mug cake!! Question, the net carb on one of the pictures (coffee mug) says 3.7 net but in your nutritional information it says 7.4 net carbs? Which is correct? TIA
Nutrition panel is for 1 mug cake, entire recipe, so if you eat half the recipe and bake in 2 mugs it comes to 3.7g net carbs.
I beat the egg beforehand, and took your suggestion with the lemon zest and blueberries. The cake was absolutely divine. Thank you so much for developing and sharing this recipe! Can I make a much bigger batch and put it in a cake pan?
This was delicious!!!! I added a small pat of butter just for fats sake lol The cake was light and fluffy and will now become a staple in my kitchen! Thank you!