Healthy Pineapple Upside Down Mug Cake
I don’t know what’s better: a wholesome breakfast that tastes like dessert, or a microwaveable breakfast-in-a-mug?! With this easy pineapple upside down mug cake recipe, you get the best of both worlds. Satisfy your sweet tooth first thing in the morning with a deliciously nutritious breakfast that only takes five minutes to make! A fluffy, tropical, gorgeous gluten free mug cake that’s a true treat to eat.
Craving more easy gluten free mug cake recipes? Try my festive funfetti mug cake, a comforting banana mug cake, or my vegan chocolate mug cake!
A Gluten Free Breakfast Mug Cake!?
Seriously, you just can’t beat breakfast mug cake recipes. Because let’s be real: mornings are BUSY. Whether you’re rushing to work, headed to school, or just have things to do and places to be, there’s not always time to get in the kitchen and cook breakfast.
But, sometimes skipping breakfast comes back to bite us! We might get hungry and cranky halfway through the morning (a.k.a ‘hangry’), and it’s tough to get through the day when the belly is rumbling. Or, we end up over-snacking and overdoing it later in the day! That’s where mug cake recipes come to the rescue.
How to Make a Pineapple Upside Down Mug Cake
For all of the pineapple fans out there, this is totally the healthy mug cake for you. It’s made with pineapple chunks, pineapple juice, AND a pineapple ring on top, so you get that yummy tropical flavor in every bite. Plus, pineapple upside down cake is truly the PERFECT mug cake recipe. The final result is so elegant and impressive!
First, spray the inside of your mug with cooking spray. Then, trim a pineapple ring to fit the bottom of your mug before pouring in your batter. Once the mug is prepared, just mix your pineapple cake batter together, pour it into the mug, and pop it in the microwave! Once it’s cooked, flip your mug over onto a plate to reveal a steaming, gorgeous, microwave pineapple upside down cake.
What flour to use in a gluten free mug cake?
Some mug cake recipes turn out dry and gummy, especially if they’re gluten free. But this pineapple upside down mug cake has an unbelievably soft and springy texture—just like a freshly baked cake. You’d never guess it was cooked in a microwave!
That’s because of the oat flour, which is much lighter and fluffier than traditional flour. And it’s naturally gluten free! For anyone with Celiac or a gluten sensitivity, be sure to choose certified gluten-free oats or oat flour. Plus, you can save a few bucks by tossing oats into a blender and making your own oat flour at home.
If desired, you could also make this breakfast mug cake with coconut flour instead. Just keep in mind that coconut flour is denser than oat flour, so you’ll need to use less coconut flour than you would oat flour (1/4 cup vs. 1/3 cup).
Watch how to make this pineapple upside down mug cake in my 5 Minute Summer Breakfasts video!
Healthy Pineapple Upside Down Mug Cake
Ingredients
Mug Preparation:
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 pineapple ring, fresh or from a can, that will fit in a mug
Mug Cake Batter:
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp almond milk, or milk of choice
- 1 Tbsp pineapple juice
- ⅓ cup oat flour, (or 4 Tbsp coconut flour)
- 1-2 Tbsp sweetener of choice
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp chopped pineapple
Optional Topping:
- 1 maraschino cherry, for topping
Instructions
- Spray a mug (12-16oz) with cooking spray, then sprinkle inside of mug with coconut sugar. Add pineapple ring to bottom of mug.
- In a mixing bowl, combine egg, oil, vanilla, almond milk, and pineapple juice and stir to integrate.
- Add sweetener, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well to combine. Fold in fresh, chopped pineapple.
- Pour batter into mug. Microwave 2½ -3 minutes. (150-180 seconds in my 1000-watt microwave. Adjust according to your machine's wattage.) It should be soft and springy to the touch.
- Flip mug over a plate, remove cake from mug, and enjoy topped with a cherry!
- Yields 1 pineapple upside down mug cake.
Notes
Microwave Wattage Conversions
Check the wattage on your microwave and use the cook times below as a starting point. At first, microwave for less time than what’s listed, then continue cooking in short intervals until the cake is light, springy, and cooked through. Microwave mug cakes can be tricky, so you’ll need to do some experimenting to figure out the right time in your machine!- 700-watts: 3 minutes 30 seconds
- 800-watts: 3 minutes 5 seconds
- 900-watts: 2 minutes 45 seconds
- 1000-watts: 2 minutes 30 seconds
- 1100-watts: 2 minutes 15 seconds
- 1200-watts: 2 minutes 5 seconds
- 1300-watts: 1 minute 55 seconds
7 Comments on “Healthy Pineapple Upside Down Mug Cake”
Excellent! To lower cholesterol I only used egg whites. Also used olive oil instead of coconut oil. Great heart healthy dessert! Thanks!
Hi Pam, thank you for trying our pineapple upside down mug cake recipe! We also appreciate you sharing the substitutions you tried & that they worked well – that information will surely be helpful to others who want to make the recipe 🙂 So glad you enjoyed this treat as much as we do!
This says 50 carbs, can that be right? Is it the same if you use coconut flour?
Hi Janet, yes 50 carbs is correct! Some from the oat flour, some from the coconut sugar, and also natural sugars from the pineapple and pineapple juice.
If you use coconut flour, the total carb count will go down. The 1/3 cup of oat flour contains about 26g carbs and 4g fiber. Whereas 4 Tbsp of coconut flour would contain about 18g carbs and 10g fiber (so fewer net carbs overall as well). Just keep in mind, the texture of a microwave mug cake with coconut flour vs. oat flour may be slightly different – but still delicious!
Hi! This recipe looks delicious! Any chance that there is an oven/toaster over version?
Thanks for sharing your wonderful creations with us.
Hi Rebecca, so glad that you like the recipe! Unfortunately we haven’t tried making this recipe in the toaster oven or standard oven, so I can’t speak to how you might translate this recipe from the microwave to a different appliance.
It is possible to prepare mug cakes in a traditional oven, if you have an oven-safe mug and are willing to do a bit of experimenting. The general recommended temperature and cook time for an oven mug cake is 350°F (180°C) for 15-25 minutes. Again, I can’t speak to how this would work with this specific pineapple upside down mug cake recipe, but you can give it a try – just be sure to monitor as it bakes until you’ve got a sense for how long it needs in your oven! Hope this helps 🙂
Can we use honey instead of coconut sugar, and use it as the sweetener in the recipe