Pumpkin Spice Mug Cake: A Two-Minute Treat for October Evenings

A pumpkin spice mug cake in the My Little Pumpkin Mug, topped with cream cheese and a drizzle of maple syrup, with a teaspoon beside it, on an orange background.

It's the second Saturday in October, and in our house the yearly argument about putting the heating on has officially started. One of us says it's "not cold yet". The other is wearing a dressing gown over a jumper. Something warm and cakey made in a mug usually ends the argument.

So here it is: a pumpkin spice mug cake. It's soft and gently spiced, a bit like the inside of a muffin, and ready in about the time it takes the kettle to boil. No egg, no oven, one mug to wash up. Pumpkin spice gets a lot of stick, I know, but I'd argue it's just cinnamon and ginger in a seasonal hat.

Time2 minutesMakesone mug cakeMade inMy Little Pumpkin Mug

Ingredients

  • 40g self-raising flour
  • 25g light brown soft sugar (about 2 tbsp)
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • A pinch of ground nutmeg
  • A pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp pumpkin purée (about 50g)
  • 2 tbsp milk (30ml)
  • 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil (15ml)
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • To serve (optional): a spoonful of cream cheese, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, and a drizzle of maple syrup
The empty My Little Pumpkin Mug with small measured amounts of flour, sugar, spices, pumpkin purée, milk, oil, cream cheese and maple syrup beside it.
Everything you'll need

A word about the pumpkin

Tinned pumpkin purée turns up in most of the bigger supermarkets around now, usually near the baking things. If you're tempted to use the insides of your Halloween lantern, we'd skip it. Carving pumpkins are grown to be big, not tasty, and the flesh is watery. If you can't find a tin, roasted and mashed butternut squash does a much better job.

Method

  1. Step 1
    Pick a microwave-safe mug, and a roomy one. The batter rises as it cooks and you don't want it climbing out. If you're not sure a mug can go in the microwave, check the bottom or use one you know is fine.
    Hands place the empty My Little Pumpkin Mug on a wooden board.
  2. Step 2
    Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in the mug and stir with a fork until the sugar has no lumps.
    A fork stirs the dry ingredients together in the mug.
  3. Step 3
    Add the pumpkin purée, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix well until you have a thick, smooth batter, scraping round the bottom edge where the flour likes to hide.
    A fork stirs the thick orange pumpkin batter in the mug.
  4. Step 4
    Microwave on high for 60 to 90 seconds. Microwaves vary a lot, so start with 60 seconds and check: the top should be risen and springy. A slightly damp top is fine. If it still looks wet, carry on in 10-second bursts.
    A fingertip presses the risen top of the cooked mug cake to check it springs back.
  5. Step 5
    Leave it to stand for a minute, because it keeps cooking. The mug will be hot, so lift it out with a tea towel.
    A hand lifts the hot mug with a tea towel while the plain cooked cake stands.
  6. Step 6
    Add a spoonful of cream cheese or ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup, then eat it straight from the mug with a teaspoon. Plates are for people with more time for washing up than us.
    Cream cheese is spooned onto the mug cake and maple syrup is drizzled over it.

Tips, tweaks and what to do with the rest of the tin

  • All spoon measures are level.
  • Don't overcook it. A mug cake goes from fluffy to rubbery in about fifteen seconds. Take it out a little early rather than a little late.
  • Dress it up a bit. A few chocolate chips or chopped pecans stirred in at step 3 work well. We're split in the office on raisins. I'm not saying who's wrong.
  • Use the spices you've got. If you have a jar of mixed spice in the cupboard, use about ¾ tsp of it instead of the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
  • Freeze the leftover purée. You'll have most of the tin left. Freeze it in tablespoon-sized dollops on a lined tray, then bag them up, and your next few mug cakes are sorted. It's also lovely stirred into porridge with a pinch of cinnamon.

Mugs to make it in (or give with it)

Whatever mug you bake in, check it's microwave-safe before it goes anywhere near the turntable. That said, a mug cake tastes better in a mug with a bit of personality. We made ours in our My Little Pumpkin Mug, which is microwave and dishwasher safe.

It's October, so our Halloween mugs are the obvious place to start. Pumpkin cake in a spooky mug is about as seasonal as a Saturday night in gets. For the friend who's always pottering about in the kitchen, our food and cooking mugs are a nice nod to their skills, or at least their enthusiasm.

We all know someone who guards their mug like a dragon guards its gold. A personalised mug settles whose it is, or you can look for their name among our hashtag name mugs.

Here's a gift idea we're rather fond of. Weigh out the dry ingredients into a small jar or bag and tuck it inside a mug. Add a handwritten tag with the rest of the recipe, and maybe a tin of pumpkin if you're feeling generous. It's a present and pudding in one.

Right, I'm off to put the heating on while nobody's looking.

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