High Protein Birthday Mug Cake

This recipe has been at the top of my request list for quite some time. I’ve experimented with a high protein birthday cake plenty of times, but the problem was always maintaining the white birthday cake color. Since most of my microwavable mug cake recipes call for pumpkin, banana, and the obvious key ingredient—chocolate—the birthday cake usually fell flat in terms of flavor.

But not anymore. Thanks to two key ingredients (more on those in a second), this high protein birthday cake tastes amazing and is far from rubbery like many healthy mug cake recipes. I’ll give you a few different options in terms of calorie and macronutrient composition in the recipe notes, but the recipe as is will only cost you 265 calories and packs 26 grams of protein in a single cake.

Quick note: I know you’re here for an easy mug cake but if you have the extra time to bake a full cake, my Oreo Protein Cake and Carrot Cake with Sugar Free Cream Cheese Frosting are amazing recipes!  

High Protein Birthday Cake Ingredients

The biggest question I foresee with this recipe will be about the light butter. While I use light butter every now and again, it’s not a staple ingredient in my recipes. So if you don’t have any, you can swap apple sauce for it. I’ve included the macros with 100% apple sauce instead of a mixture in the recipe notes. If you go this route, be sure to double the amount of apple sauce used instead of subbing gram for gram with the butter.

I will add that the butter really plays a key role in the texture of the cake. So if you can work this in, do it.

Coconut Flour 

Outside the fat sources for your high protein birthday cake, another common question is about coconut flour. Coconut flour is a unique ingredient that’s super absorbent and works amazingly well in baked recipes. If you don’t have any on hand and want to substitute all purpose flour for coconut flour, you’ll likely want to use at least double and maybe triple the amount gram for gram.

This swap would definitely add some calories and carbs, so if you’d like to order coconut flour for future recipes, this is the flour I use.

Swerve Confectioners

If you’re familiar with my recipes, you know I typically recommend stevia as a zero-calorie sweetener option. I still love stevia and use it regularly, but I understand that some don’t enjoy the taste. So, I’ve been experimenting with other low-calorie sweeteners and have fallen in love with Swerve’s confectioner’s blend.

Swerve is a sweetener that subs 1:1 for sugar and is made from erythritol and oligosaccharides. If you don’t have an issue with artificial sweeteners, I would highly suggest picking some of this up. So far, I’ve found it works a bit better in baked recipes than stevia. I got mine on Amazon here.

It’s also perfect for everything you’d use powdered sugar for. Such as icing something like my monkey bread pizookie or copycat Domino’s cinnamon bread twists. It’s also great as a coating for things like my low carb gingerbread protein balls.

And yes, I’m using the confectioners blend. Since I rarely use large amounts of a sugar replacement, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and be able to use Swerve for both baking and icings/frostings. If you’re going to be using larger amounts of Swerve, like in full-sized cakes, you’ll probably want to get the granular version.

Protein Powder

You can use any protein you’d like, but I usually go with PEScience Select Whey and Casein. You can use my discount code ‘mason’ to save 15% on PEScience products.

Okay, that’s all ya need to know. If you make this high protein birthday mug cake, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your friends. You can take a photo and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff, join my free Facebook group and share it with the Proton Party, or pin this recipe to Pinterest.

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Microwavable High Protein Birthday Cake

Yield: 1 cake

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 4 minutes

A high protein birthday mug cake with 26 grams of protein per cake. 

Print

Ingredients

• 1/2 scoop (16g) Protein Powder, vanilla or birthday cake if you have it
• 1 tsp Swerve Confectioners, or 0-Calorie Sweetener
• 1 Tbsp (14g) Light Butter
• 1/4 C (60g) Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• 1 Tbsp (7g) Coconut Flour
• 1/2 Tbsp Imitation Vanilla

Icing

• 1 Tbsp (15mL) Fat-Free Evaporated Milk, or any low-cal liquid
• 1/2 scoop (16g) Protein Powder , vanilla or birthday cake if you have it
• 1 tsp Swerve Confectioners
• 1 tsp Rainbow Sprinkles

Instructions

1. Mix all cake ingredients in a small bowl. Spray the edges with nonstick cooking spray. For best results, mix ingredients in a separate bowl than you cook the cake in. 
2. Microwave the cake for 45-60 seconds, watching for overflow. If the cake starts to bubble over, stop the microwave and cook it in 3-5 second intervals until finished. (If you're doubling the recipe, cook the cake for 90-120 seconds. Do not overcook. 
3. Once the cake is finished, mixed your icing ingredients except for the sprinkles in a small bowl. Top the cake with the icing before adding the sprinkles. Dig in! 

Notes

• The entire cake has 5 Smart Points.
• Entire cake with double apple sauce in place of butter: 245 Calories | 26P | 28C | 3F
• Cake without icing: 180 Calories | 13P | 14C | 8F
• If you'd like another frosting option, check out my birthday cake protein cupcakes recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 1 Cake Serving Size: 1 Cake
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 265Total Fat: 9gCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 26g

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