There’s only one thing hotter than football this fall…crockpots. Yes, CROCKPOTS. They are blowing up all over the Internet like they were invented yesterday. And there are many reasons to love crockpots…they require simple/few ingredients most of the time, they cook for you while you’re at work and it’s all done in one single piece of equipment. Yay! And there are soooo many recipes that you can make in a crockpot…from apple cider, to mexican casseroles, to appetizers and meatloaf, the possibilities are endless. And I recently discovered another use for my crockpot–cake!
Who would have thought you could make a cake without turning your oven on?? Simply amazing. Now this cake isn’t winning any beauty pageants any time soon, but in the taste department it takes home the gold! I literally threw the ingredients together for this cake in 30 minutes over my lunch break, went back to work for a couple of hours and when I got home my whole house smelled like chocolate. Yeah, I could come home to that smell every day.
It’s an interesting recipe because you make the cake batter and put it in the crockpot and then pour this water/sugar/cocoa mixture all over the cake. I mean, it’s a LOT of liquid! But amazingly enough while the cake cooks, the liquid turns to a yummy fudge sauce underneath. It’s hard to capture the full deliciousness of this cake in a picture just ’cause really, it’s not pretty, but alot of ugly recipes taste the best. This is one of those.
Enjoy!
- 2 c. AP Flour
- 4 t. Baking Powder
- ½ t. Salt
- 6 T. Unsweetened Cocoa (I used 4 T. regular unsweetened cocoa and 2 T. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
- ⅔ c. Semi-Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
- 1½ sticks Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks
- 1 t. Instant Coffee Granules
- 1¼ c. Granulated Sugar
- ⅔ c. Whole Milk
- 2 Large Egg Yolks
- 2 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 3 c. Hot Water
- ⅔ c. Granulated Sugar
- ⅔ c. Packed Brown Sugar
- ⅔ c. Unsweetened Cocoa (I used half regular unsweetened and half Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
- 1 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
- Coat the inside of a 2½ quart to 5 quart slow cooker or crockpot with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
- In another large bowl melt the chocolate chips, butter and instant coffee granules in the microwave at 20-second intervals, stirring between each until melted and smooth. Whisk in the sugar thoroughly and then the milk, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix thoroughly with a spatula. Pour into the bottom of your slow cooker and spread evenly.
- Combine the hot water and both sugars and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the cocoa and vanilla. Pour over the cake batter.
- Cover the slow cooker with a tea towel and then put the lid on top of that (the towel will absorb any condensation that occurs). Cook for 2½ hours on high. You will know it's ready when nearly all of the cake is set and the edges begin to pull away from the sides. Let it set for 30-45 minutes and then serve in bowls with whipped cream or ice cream.