Thursday, November 1, 2007

Crockpot Chocolate Cake

Well, I think I have redeemed myself. Here is todays version of my "bake a cake in the slow cooker" experiment.






A MUCH better outcome wouldn't you agree?

Here it is all iced with the most buttery, chocolatey icing.......




It took around 2 hours to cook in the slow cooker using a combination of high and low settings (high for 45 minutes then low until done). Test for "done-ness" with a skewer. It is hard to tell from looking at it as some moisture condenses on the glass lid and drops on to the top of the cake, making it look "uncooked" when it is in fact cooked. As long as you plan on icing the cake, that small amount of moisture won't affect the outcome of your masterpiece. :-)

This time I sprayed the crockpot/slow cooker insert with oil, then lined with baking paper and then sprayed that with oil before pouring in the cake mixture. Might have been overkill but at least it didn't STICK!

I used a double quantity of the following recipe:



CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

1.5 cups SR flour

3 Tbsp cocoa

1 cup castor sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp imitation vanilla essence

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil


Chuck everything in a bowl together and mix until there aren't *too* many lumps. LOL. You can mix until smooth but I'm a lazy cook. :-) You don't want to overmix it either.

This is a fudge cake so expect it to be a heavier, fudgier type consistency than a regular cake. I just tasted a bit and I think it tastes even better having been cooked in the slow cooker than when I cook it in the oven.

I love the oval shape as well. It would have come in handy a few years back when I made a football oval for DS's birthday cake!

DH is happy because now I'll be able to bake cakes while we're away on our "big trip" in the caravan. :-)

Mission Accomplished!

It was his idea that I attempt to cook a cake in the slow cooker in the first place. LOL. Works for me. Now I only have to use 4c electricity to bake a cake as opposed to around 36c. And bake in summer without heating up the house!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

oooo that looks YUMMY!! I'm coming to your place for afternoon tea!

Rachelle said...

Wow, that looks GREAT. I'm going to have to try that. Happy first day of NaBloPoMo! I'll try and check in with you as often as I can.

Tracy said...

I am going to have to try that, but it reminds me how different things are in other countries (I'm in the USA). Castor sugar? SR flour?

I can do vanilla essence - I think that's vanilla extract. What fun to read though!

Anonymous said...

Hmm.... a recipe for something chocolate... *makes note*

Good luck NaBloPo'ing!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! That looks great. I actually made a perfect cake this week (honestly, best one ever!) and Hubby moved it and I couldn't find it. So it got left for a few days. Sigh.

Maybe I'll have a go in the slow cooker. I like the idea of not heating up the house...

Unknown said...

mmmmmm,that cake looks scrumptious!

Scott said...

Looks good Lightening! I love buttery icing! YUM

Kez said...

Yummy! Yay you :)

Kez said...

Yummy! Yay you :)

Anonymous said...

I would never have thought to make a chocolate cake in a crockpot! Ingenious! Looks like it was a success - and that icing looks delicious! Was it home-made from scratch? Mmm :D

lightening said...

Tracy - I'm sorry. I need to remember that I have international readers now (which kind of really blows my mind).

SR Flour = flour that already has a raising agent in it. SR stands for "self raising". You could use plain flour and add your own raising agent.

Castor Sugar = sugar that has been ground a little more finely than regular sugar. It dissolves a little easier, especially in a cake like this where you aren't creaming the butter and sugar together. Having said that, I just use regular sugar because castor sugar is more expensive so I only use it in "special" cooking. I don't seem to have any trouble using regular sugar with this particular recipe.

Katie - yes it is a cake made from scratch. :-) An easy one of course. LOL.

Precious - I'll put the kettle on. Better come quick though - it's more than half gone already!!!

Thanks everyone else for your kind comments. :-)

Jade said...

That looks great!! Its a perfect shape for kids cakes too. I gotta make a cake for Lachy in a few weeks, so I'll definitely make a crock pot cake!! If it doesnt work, then we'll have trifle lol