WW Recipe of the Day: Microwave Mug Cake
This skinny 3-2-1 mug cake is a simple way to satisfy a craving for cake in minutes with just two ingredients, a mug and a microwave (affiliate link) for 105 calories and 5 Weight Watchers SmartPoints.
Low in calories and naturally portion controlled it is perfect for Weight Watchers who don't want to be tempted by an entire cake.
With just 105 calories and *5 Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints this cake demonstrates that it is possible to have your cake and skinny jeans too!
How Do You Make Skinny 3-2-1 Cake in a Mug with a Microwave - Step By Step
Step 1 - Make the Cake Mix Base
You'll need a box of angel food cake mix and a box of another cake mix of your choice. Since I love chocolate I chose Devil's food. But you can use whatever flavor you like best.
Whisk the two dry mixes together until they are free of lumps and well combined. You now have enough "321 cake mix" for about 31 little microwave (affiliate link) mug cakes.
Store your 3-2-1 microwave cake mix in an airtight container. I prefer a one gallon zipper lock plastic bag. Be sure to label your container with what it is and the instructions so you are ready the next time a cake craving strikes.
Step 2 - Making a Mug Cake
You'll need a mug that holds at least 10 ounces, measuring spoons, nonstick cooking spray and your dry 3-2-1 cake mix. Coat you mug with nonstick spray. Then add to it 3 level tablespoons of dry cake mix and 2 level tablespoons of water.
Stir together with a fork (which acts like a little whisk) until the mixture is well combined. It will bubble up which is fine.
Microwave your mug cake for approximately one (1) minute and voila - you have cake!
The actual time will vary a little depending on the wattage of your microwave. My microwave is 900 watts and takes 50-60 seconds. If your microwave has higher wattage set your time for a little less.
Granted this little microwave cake is not the prettiest thing on the planet but it tastes yummy, especially when it is still warm. You can eat it right from the mug.
Or turn it out onto a plate and pretty it up with a dusting of powdered sugar and dollop of canned whipped topping which is what I did for its photo shoot.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Cake?
5 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
5 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
5 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
3 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
How Do You Determine the Calories for this Mug Cake?
- Betty Crocker Angel food cake (16 ounces dry mix) = 140 calories for 1/12 the box = 1680 calories for box
- Betty Crocker Devil's food cake (15.25 ounces dry mix) = 160 calories for 1/10 the box = 1600 calories for box
- Ziploc bag of both dry mixes = 31.25 ounces and 1680 + 1600 = 3280 calories
- Three level tablespoons of mixture = 1 ounce
- 31.25 ounces/1 ounce = 31.25 servings
- 3280 calories divided by 31.25 servings is 105 calories
How Do You Determine the Weight Watchers SmartPoints for this Mug Cake?
I originally posted that this 3-2-1 Microwave Cake Mix had 80 calories and 3 SmartPoints. Turns out I was wrong. After several commenters questioned the SmartPoints value and expressed concerns I redid my math. I went back to the drawing board with 2 new cake mixes, measuring spoons, scale and calculator.
I used the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder, basing the serving size on one (1) ounce of dry mix which is 3 leveled off tablespoons of mix. Using heaping tablespoons instead of level will result in a cake that is twice as big with twice the calories and points.
According to the WW Recipe Builder this recipe has *5 SmartPoints with the cake mixes I used. Your results may be different depending on the brands of cake mixes you use.
Using Sugar-Free Cake Mix will lower the SmartPoints to *4.
Skinny Mug Cake Variation Ideas
And of course this is the perfect recipe for exploring your kitchen creativity by playing with different cake mix flavors, additions and/or accompaniments. If you are a Weight Watcher concerned about calories and/or tracking your points be sure to adjust accordingly.
- Use any flavor of cake mix you prefer: chocolate, white, yellow, lemon, spice, funfetti, spice, carrot, strawberry, etc.
- Try adding 2 to 3 teaspoons of any of the following additions to the cake batter before cooking: miniature chocolate chips, finely chopped dried fruit, finely chopped nuts, sprinkles.
- Top with a dollop of light whipped topping.
- Make a Molten Cake by placing a small piece of chocolate in the middle of the cake before microwaving.
- Make a Caramel Apple Cake by adding a little bit of chopped dried apple to the cake before microwaving and then after it's baked top with a drizzle of caramel sauce.
- Make a Cranberry Orange Nut Cake into yellow or white 3-2-1 cake mix by stirring in chopped nuts, dried cranberries and orange zest before microwaving.
- Top your favorite cake with fruit and whipped cream for a light and tasty "shortcake."
- Drizzle finished cake with chocolate or caramel sauce.
- Spread with thin layer of your favorite icing or chocolate hazelnut spread.
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Tips for Making this Low Calorie Microwave Mug Cake
- Be sure your mug is big enough to accommodate the mixture and allow it to bubble up during cooking. I use a 10 ounce mug with good results.
- Be sure to spray your mug with nonstick spray to prevent your cake from sticking.
- Stir the water and cake mix together really well so that the mixture is smooth. The angel food cake mix will cause it to bubble which is fine.
- Your cake may take less than or more than one minute depending on the wattage of your microwave. This little cake cooks in 50 to 60 seconds in my microwave, which is 900 watts. If your wattage is higher, set it for less time.
- Enjoy right from the mug or allow to cool for a couple of minutes and then turn out onto a bowl or plate.
- This cake isn't the prettiest dessert on the planet, but it tastes yummy warm from the microwave.
Here are a few more favorite microwave cakes: Microwave Mocha Mug Cake, Jello Microwave Mug Cake, Banana Cocoa Pudding Mug Cake, Microwave Mug Pineapple Cake and Black Forest Microwave Cake
If you've made this 3-2-1 mug cake, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Weight Watchers 3 2 1 Microwave Mug Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake Mix
- 1 box (16 ounces) angel food cake mix (the 1-step kind that only needs water)
- 1 box (15.25) cake mix (any flavor)
For the Mug Cake
- 3 tablespoons 3-2-1 cake mix
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
First, prepare the 3-2-1 cake mix
- In a large airtight container or sealable plastic bag, whisk the two dry cake mixes until blended and free of lumps.
Then prepare mug cake
- To make an individual cake: in a mug coated with nonstick spray, use a fork to combine the 3-2-1 cake mix and water until blended and smooth.
- Let cool slightly or entirely in the mug.
- Eat directly from the mug or gently remove onto a small plate.
- Serve plain or with desired accompaniments (frosting, whipped cream, confectioners sugar, ice cream, frozen yogurt).
Equipment
Recipe Notes
- Use any flavor of cake mix you prefer: chocolate, white, yellow, lemon, spice, funfetti, spice, carrot, strawberry, etc.
- Try adding 2 to 3 teaspoons of any of the following additions to the cake batter before cooking: miniature chocolate chips, finely chopped dried fruit, finely chopped nuts, sprinkles.
- Make a Molten Cake by placing a small piece of chocolate in the middle of the cake before microwaving.
- Make a Caramel Apple Cake by adding a little bit of chopped dried apple to the cake before microwaving and then after it's baked top with a drizzle of caramel sauce.
- Make a Cranberry Orange Nut Cake into yellow or white 3-2-1 cake mix by stirring in chopped nuts, dried cranberries and orange zest before microwaving.
- Top your favorite cake with fruit and whipped cream for a light and tasty "shortcake."
- Drizzle finished cake with chocolate or caramel sauce.
- Spread with thin layer of your favorite icing or chocolate hazelnut spread.
5 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
5 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
3 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
Here is a video showing how to make 3-2-1 cake mix with angel food cake mix and devil's food cake mix:
More Of My Favorite Easy Weight Watchers Friendly Mug Cakes and Easy Cakes
- Weight Watchers 2-Ingredient Pineapple Angel Food Cake
- Weight Watchers 2-Ingredient Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
- WW No Cake Mix Microwave Cake
- Easy Healthy Low Calorie Chocolate Mocha Mug Cake
More Low Calorie Mug Cake Recipes from Favorite WW Recipe Sites
- Peanut Butter Mug Cake (HungryGirl)
- Caramel Apple 3-2-1 Mug Cake (SlenderKitchen)
- Pumpkin Spice Mug Cake (EatYourselfSkinny)
Today's Food for Thought
Eating great, losing weight, and keeping it off require more than just the right low calories recipes, which is why I'm passionate about providing you with a "little something extra" when you visit my recipe pages. I call it "food for thought"...
"Start Where You Are. Use What You Have. Do What You Can." ~ Arthur Ashe
Many people never get started with the thing they want to do because they feel overwhelmed or are waiting for perfect circumstances to begin. But if you never get started in the right direction you will never get to where you want to be. The most tiny of steps in the right direction will eventually get you to the success you desire. Little things really can add up to big results.
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Sarah
LOVE this recipe! It's a staple for me...chocolate chips and marshmallow cream are two of my favorite additions. 🙂
With the new Smart Points (Beyond the Scale) WW plan, any idea how many points this would be? TIA!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Sarah, I'm not sure how many points this will be with SmartPoints, but more for sure given the reality that foods with added sugars are now higher!!
Lifetime member
I think it is 6 or 7 I really loved this with old point system but can not use that many points now.
Cheryl Mattingly
3 Smart Points
Brenda
I put this recipe into the WW app recipe builder and came up with 5 smart points per serving. I used angel food cake mix and red velvet cake mis.
Carol
I don't know who or how they calculated the points on this, but it comes out to 7 smart points every time I calculate it. I've also seen it listed on other sites as 7 points also.
Carol
I get 7 smart points
Karrie
am trying to figure the smart points for this too! Anyone have any success with this?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Karrie, I get 3 SmartPoints. Hope this helps.
Renee
Could you use a larger container other than a coffee cup? If so, would you just increase time by the amount of TBSP used?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Renee, yes I imagine you can use a larger container than a coffee mug, but I haven't tried it so I'm not sure how much extra time would be required. I would say add less time and go up incrementally to prevent overcooking. Hope this helps.
Joy hines
Does anyone know how long the balance of the batter can safely stay in the fridge?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Joy, I wouldn't suggest making the batter ahead. What I did was just mix the two dry cake mixes together and store them in a plastic container in the pantry. Then I just stir together the dry mix and water right before I want to make a little cake. Hope this helps.
Wendy
Thanks for this recipe! I just used a Devil's Food cake mix (no angel food mix) and instead of water, I used 2 T of unsweetened applesauce. It fluffed up just as well without the angel food mix. I threw in 10 milk chocolate chips when it was done so they could get melty, then added sliced banana. It was GREAT! (And only 3 points!)
Heather
I have a question... i am the overthinking type. S looking at the recipe i really needed to know how many servings were in this. I counted out 93 tablespoons which would be 31 servings and would make it 5 smartpoints per serving and not 3...? Could you tell me how you got to the 46 servings and 3 smartpoints??
Heather
I think it was divided by the water and not the mix which would make it 46 servings...
Martha McKinnon
Hi Heather, To be honest, I don't really remember but I probably used my scale, which I tend to use a lot for baking. I think I combined the two cake mixes - 18.25 ounces plus 16 ounces = 34.25 ounces. Then I probably weighed out 3 tablespoons of the mix to determine the weight per serving and then divided the total of 34.25 by that number to come up with 46. Of course, you need to do what works best for you. If you came up with 31 servings and 5 SP, of course go with your number to be safe. Hope this helps.
Heather
Thank you for the clarification!
Erin
Mine calculated to 5 smartpoints as well.
🙁
Kelly
The regular cake mix does not have oil in it. The instructions say you have to add oil is that right?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kelly. No you just stir/whisk together the two dry cake mixes. Then you take 3 tablespoons of this dry mix and the 2 tablespoons water specified in my recipe and microwave it for 1 minute. Then just store the dry cake mix mixture in an airtight container so it's ready and waiting whenever you want to make a little mug cake. Hope this helps.
Susan Hill
I'm confused.
Angel food box cake mix ,you say use the one that you just add water type box mix.
Now the any flavor cake mix ,you say has oil in it already? I thought you add oil when you make it the traditional baked cake.Do you have to use an just add water type regular cake box mix also?
Thank you
Martha McKinnon
HI Susan,
Sorry for your confusion. No, just a regular cake mix. Hope this helps. - Martha
Linda
Hello! Can you tell me how you got the 3 Smart Points without adding the amount of sugar in grams to your calculations? I do not see sugar in your nutritional facts at all and that needs to be calculated in the total of calories, fat and protein to get the correct Smart Point value.
Thanks for clearing this up for us!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Linda, I'm a Weight Watchers member. I use the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder to calculate the SmartPoints values of my recipes. Hope this helps.
Lourdes
When I add my cake mix I get 2 sp. in the weight watchers app.
Pam
Am I doing something wrong? I get 8 smart points per serving. I added the grams for each of the cake mixes together for a total of 885gm. I then used an online conversion calculator and converted grams to tablespoons (59.851). Then I divided by three (for the number of tablespoons in each mug cake) and I come up with 20 servings in the recipe and 8 smart points when putting the ingredients and servings into the recipe builder on the WW site.
The recipe is delicious and I look forward to it in the evening or when I need a quick sweet fix.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Pam, I calculated this a very long time ago and actually weighed out the ingredients with my kitchen scale. I guess there could be some variation depending on how much you scoop up in a tablespoon. I think the variation you are experiencing is in the conversion of grams to tablespoons. I think the online calculator gave you a conversion based on volume not weight. To double check the math I think you would need to weigh out your 3 tablespoons of cake mix to see how many grams it weighs. Since this cake is only 80 calories, I can't imagine the SP would be 8. In my experience most sweet treats at worst doubled in points in the conversion from PP to SP so something that was 4PP might have gone to 7 or 8SP. Because this was only 2PP I think at worst it would be 4SP. But again, this is only my best guess. Hope it helps.
Laurie
Love this recipe, but am so confused by the actual Smart Points it should be. When I use the WW recipe builder I come up with 81 SP for the Angel Food cake mix (12 servings), 71 SP for the Chocolate cake Mix (10 servings). After mixing them together I measured out 27 (3TBS) SERVINGS. Doing it this way comes out to 6 SP per cake. Why am I coming up with a much higher SP count than what you are getting?
Cathy
I measured 38g BC Angel Food mix=7SP
43g BC Strawberry cake mix=7SP
Mixed together =81g/16 Tbsp
16divided by 14 pts.=1.143x3Tbsp= 3.43. Round to 3SP
The measurements chosen was nutritional value for one serving dry mix on box.
Hope this helped to e how I did.
Laura
Because you are the only one doing it correctly. Weighing it is the only proper way to do this.
Peggy
Our leader gave us this recipe awhile back ,it is 3 smart points
Donna
I like mug recipes but don't have a microwave how can I use my oven or toaster oven?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Donna, I've never used the toaster oven to make this mug cake. I'm thinking 350 degrees, but not sure how long it will take. If you do try it, would love to have you tell us how long it needs to bake. Thanks so much. - Martha
Jenn
I tried this with sliced strawberries and whipped cream. It was so delicious!!! It really satisfied my craving for chocolate cake!! I will definitely make this again when I'm craving something sweet!!
Wendie
Can you bake a couple mugs at one time?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Wendie, I haven't tried more than one at a time. I imagine you can. You will just need to experiment to determine how much time to cook them for.
Sandra
Just wondering if the assumed smart points value is still 3?
Martha McKinnon
Yes, Sandra according to my calculations it is 3 SP.
Kait
I only have angle food cake on hand. Can I just use this without mixing in another cake? Will it still be 3 sps?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kait, I've only tried it with the two cake mixes. Don't think the
result will be the same with just angel food cake.
Annette pusateri
Can't wait to make this 321 cake and is it is three smart points right thank you sounds delicious
Ava lansbery
Could I use the sugar free cake mixes? What would the points be then?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Ava, I haven't tried with sugar free cake mixes so really not sure. If you try it please let us know how it turns out!
Diane
Have you tried the sugar free cake mixes, if so how were they ?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Diane, I haven't tried them. Splenda/sucralose gives me a terrible headache! If you do please let us know how it works for you!
Arlenr
Can't seem to find Angel Food cake mix. Will another white cake work?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Arlenr, I've never tried this with anything other than angel food cake mix.