Crockpot Lava Cake — This is an easy, no-mixer cake that’s super soft, gooey, moist, rich, and fudgy. As the cake cooks, it creates its own hot fudge sauce! For the full experience, serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
My Favorite Crockpot Dessert
This is only the second dessert I’ve made in my slow cooker and it certainly won’t be the last. It’s an easy, no-mixer Crockpot lava cake that’s super soft, gooey, moist, rich, and fudgy.
It’s a unique cake in that there’s no butter or eggs (an accidentally vegan cake) and you pour boiling water over the cake batter before turning on the slow cooker. It’s the boiling water that creates rich hot fudge while the Crockpot cake bakes.
There are other non-slow cooker recipes that utilize the same boiling water technique, including the decades-old infamous Hershey’s cake, but it was a first for me. It reminds me a bit of my Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes because it’s so fudgy and gooey.
I loved the hot fudge that formed and that was waiting for me underneath the slow cooker cake. Who can resist chocolate cake studded with chocolate chips, dripping with hot fudge, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream?
My family raved about this Crockpot lava cake and said it’s better than any you’d get in a fancy restaurant. Despite how fudgy the cake is, the texture of the crumb is surprisingly soft and light.
It’s a perfect party cake that you can easily make at the beginning of a dinner party or event and when you’re ready for dessert, the Crockpot chocolate lava cake is done and everyone can dig in. It’s my new go-to cake that will both impress guests and is a cinch for me to make. Set it and forget it.
What’s in Crockpot Lava Cake?
To make this Crockpot hot fudge cake, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Milk
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Boiling water
How to Make Crockpot Lava Cake
To make this easy Crockpot cake, first stir together the dry ingredients and then mix in the wet. Turn the batter into your slow cooker.
Then, whisk together a mixture of sugar, cocoa powder, and boiling water and carefully pour it into the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on high for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
Can I Cook This Crockpot Lava Cake on Low for More Time?
I have not tested the Crockpot chocolate lava cake recipe using the low heat setting and can’t speak to baking time or results.
Can I Make Hot Fudge Cake Without a Crockpot?
If you want to make a similarly gooey chocolate cake recipe, I recommend making my Easy Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes instead.
Tips for Making Crockpot Lava Cake
You can use any type of milk you’d like in this Crockpot dessert recipe. I used cashew milk, but regular milk can be used as well. For an even richer cake, use chocolate milk.
Once you whisk together the cocoa powder and boiling water mixture, pour it over the cake batter already in the Crockpot but DO NOT stir. If you stir the sauce into the cake batter, you won’t wind up with a proper hot fudge cake.
Lastly, note that all slow cookers vary so cook just until the Crockpot lava cake is done. Start checking at just over one hour to ensure you don’t overbake the hot fudge cake. My cake was done at 90 minutes.
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Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Chocolate Cake
This is an easy, no-mixer cake that’s super soft, gooey, moist, rich, and fudgy. As the cake cooks, it creates its own hot fudge sauce! For the full experience, serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 3/4 cup milk (I used cashewmilk; chocolate milk may be substituted)
- 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- ice cream and/or whipped topping or whipped cream for serving, optional but recommended
Instructions
- Line a 6-quart slow cooker with a liner if using one. I prefer to use liners for easy cleanup and storage, see step 8. Spray liner or base and sides of slow cooker with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a medium bowl, add the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and whisk to combine.
- Add the milk, oil, vanilla, and stir until just moistened.
- Turn batter out into prepared slow cooker and spread it into a smooth, even, flat layer.
- Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips; set aside.
- To a medium bowl (the same one you already used is fine, just wipe it clean with a paper towel), add 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, the boiling water, and whisk to combine.
- Carefully pour the hot cocoa-water mixture over the batter in slow cooker. Do not stir. This mixture turns into hot fudge while the cake bakes; do not stir.
- Cover and cook on high for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Start checking at just over one hour to ensure you don’t overbake (no raw egg issues to worry about). My cake was done at 90 minutes. All slow cookers vary so cook until cake is done.
- Remove the top portion of the slow cooker (the ceramic bowl the cake is cooking in) from the base (heating element) to allow cake to cool momentarily before serving. I recommend serving with ice cream and/or whipped topping or whipped cream.
Notes
- I have not tested the recipe using the low heat setting and can’t speak to baking time or results; nor have I tested it using smaller-sized slow cookers.
- Cake is best warm and fresh but will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temp, noting the sauce absorbs into the cake by the second day. Storage is much easier if you use a liner because you can lift the entire liner out, cake and all, and place in an airtight container.
- Adapted from BHG and Betty Crocker
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 336Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 225mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 2gSugar: 41gProtein: 4g
More Easy Chocolate Cake Recipes:
Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Cup Swirl Cake — Yellow cake is spiked with peanut butter, hot fudge, topped with a peanut butter glaze, more hot fudge, and sprinkled with peanut butter cups.
The Best Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache – The best chocolate cake I’ve ever had and the easiest to make! Nothing fussy or complicated and delivers amazing results every time!
Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake — This Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake is loaded with juicy cherries and topped with an easy homemade chocolate frosting. I used a few shortcuts in this recipe to save time, but this cake tastes completely homemade!
Turtle Chocolate Poke Cake — This decadent poke cake is topped with whipped topping, salted caramel sauce, mini chocolate chips, and chopped pecans. It’s so easy to make, and a huge hit at parties!
Flourless Chocolate Cake – A classy, elegant cake that’s ultra rich, fudgy, and tastes better than what you’d get in a fancy restaurant and it’s so EASY!!
The Best Triple Chocolate Layer Cake — This is the chocolate layer cake to beat out all others. It’s rich, decadent, and everything you want in a triple chocolate cake!
Cabernet Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Ganache And Sea Salt – Now you don’t have to choose between dessert or wine since this is BOTH!! Rich chocolate cake spiked with Cabernet and topped with a silky ganache that also has Cabernet in it!
Oh man…this is SO good! I’m eating mine right now! I made this as written except that I used AP flour instead of self-rising. This definitely caused the cake to be a little flatter and most of the sauce stayed on top. However, no complaints here, it’s still delicious! I cooked it in my Ninja Foodi on the slow cooker setting and it took 3 hours on high. This is a definite repeat! Averie, I love making your recipes when I want something super decadent and want no surprises during the cooking process. Your recipes are so solid…I’ve made many throughout the years! (I also made your cream cheese-filled blueberry cake this morning to take to work tomorrow…that looks amazing!)Thanks!
I am so glad you’ve been a fan of my recipes over the years and have enjoyed a lot of things! I appreciate your readership and support!
I doubled this recipe, using stevia for the sugar, Gluten free flour, and cut down on the chocolate chips. I think my crock pot is 3 or 4 quarts. It worked great! Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and great to hear that it worked well with GF flour as well as stevia for the sugar!
I have a 4 quart slow cooker. Do you think it would fit? Thanks!
My guess is no but you could always make 1/2 or 2/3 of the recipe, or make the full recipe, pour in the batter until you think it’s enough, and go with that.
Hi can I double this recipe at all?
Not sure how you’d do that in a slow cooker unless you have a super jumbo slow cooker. Or, divide the doubled batter between two slow cookers.
Should the fudge mixture be like a liquid
It’s cake batter so yes it’s pretty thin/liquidy.
I just made this and the fudge sauce stayed on top instead of forming on the bottom. I’m not sure what I did wrong. It was more like a steamed pudding than a cake. The sauce on top made it difficult to gauge when the cake was cooked so the edges came out overdone so that they were chewy, but in a pleasant, toffee-like way.
Still delicious despite the result being different to what the recipe intended. Will give it another go some time and see what happens.
All slow cookers (and cooks) are different so it’s hard to say exactly why yours came out the way it did. It’s definitely a very casual and not at all a fussy cake, i.e.messy but good, and it turned out pleasantly enough for you.
In hindsight the cake batter was very runny and I didn’t have to spread it out at all so I think that affected the sauce. I’m not a baker so I’m meticulous at following baking recipes but I must’ve added too much liquid.
It’s still a gorgeous recipe and so brilliantly easy! Thank you for that. Next time I make it I’ll bear the consistency in mind. Now it’s fab that I’ve got another ‘version’ of the recipe that makes a chocolate pudding
I think you added a bit too much liquid based on what you said but glad you will try it again and enjoyed it!
My slow cooker’s ceramic bowl can’t be removed. Any suggestions?
Then leave it in the cooker since that’s the only option.
I made this for dessert tonight and, holy yum! I used a gluten free flour blend and it still came out great – the cake rose up nicely and the sauce was gooey and perfect. My boyfriend (ok, I did too) even had seconds. It is his birthday weekend, so we felt justified in the extra indulgence! A definite keeper recipe, thanks Averie!
I’m so glad this recipe came out great for you since it was a birthday recipe and that gluten free flour worked just fine!
I don’t comment on recipes very often but had to on this one. It’s so so easy and so good. It was a huge hit for the family, thanks so much!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
My husband and eight year old daughter made this for me for Mother’s Day and it was AMAZING!!! It was so moist, delicious, and fool proof for a novice. My old cake recipe for the slow cooker has been replaced. I think this would be prefect for those hot days of summer when you want a goey fudgy cake but do not want to turn on the oven. I can’t wait to have it again.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I had never made many slow cooker cakes until just recently and love them and as you said, perfect for hot summer days and you don’t want to crank the oven!
Can I use butter instead of the oil?
I would make the recipe as written, with oil, so you know it will turn out properly.
I have made this twice and it is amazing, I have been wanting to try a slow cooker for cake for ages but never saw one I really liked the look of any that I’ve seen before but this looked so good and it was. Amazing recipe Averie :D
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Twice!
Wow, it looks so tasty on the pictures… I feel like going home immediately and starting preparing this cake… but, I’m going to wait until tomorrow. haha
YUPP-this fits all my decadence and “OMG I MUST EAT THIS OR I WILL DIE” requirements!
I want to jump into that slow cooker and eat the whole thing. Is that bad? I hope not, because that’s what I’m going to do. :)
oh yummy for my tummy!
Man, oh, man! I’ve never thought about making a slow cooker cake before, but now I really want to. Ooohhh what about a slow cooker gooey butter cake? I’d love to see you whip up something like that!
That sounds awesome and maybe one day I’ll try my hand!
Years ago, my mom made a fudge bottom cake that was so gooey good! I like your crockpot version, too!
Looks amazing! How can I make this without a slow cooker?
Not sure since I’ve only made it with one. Try the Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes instead, which I linked in the post, that don’t require a slow cooker.
Made the slow cooker Chocolate fudge cake yesterday in a conventional oven at 325 F or 170 C . Cooking time 1 hour 10 mins as I used a smaller dish than recommended. Turned out perfectly and yummy. Next time will try it out using melted butter in place of the oil.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you in a regular oven! Oil keeps cakes softer and more tender than butter does.
This would be amazing for a casual dinner party. I bet it smells heavenly while it is baking (cooking? I’m never quite sure what the proper term is when you cook something in a crockpot).
It would be so good for a casual dinner party, yes! It has the crowd appeal factor too because that sauce that’s on the bottom of the cake just begs for people to dig right in with a spoon!
Hi Averie…this recipe looks AMAZING!! Do you think I could use ALMOND flour instead?
Thanks so much!
No because it has no gluten and the cake will not rise and will be dense and heavy like a lead balloon.
You’re on a roll!! This cake is perfection. I can’t get enough crockpot desserts either!!
You have so many amazing slow cooker desserts and I want to try them all!
I had no idea a chocolate cake could turn out looking so heavenly when baked in a crock pot….all while making its own fudge sauce! Funny you posted 2 crock pot recipes this week because I am buying a new one today so I can make your orange chicken for dinner?
I went on a slow cooker rampage about a month ago after hearing what that’s what people wanted and am now trying to space them out as much as possible but this week ended up with two :) Enjoy your new slow cooker and LMK what you think of the chicken!
Self-saucing cakes are the best. With ice cream, even better! I’m really loving this slow cooker cake kick you’ve got going on!
Thank you! All of a sudden I wanted to make all recipes slow cooker recipes :)
Came out great. Made it in my 3.5 litre slow cooker and it was cooked in 75 min. Was appreciated by all and it’s a no fuss recipe. Will make again. Thank you for a great and easy dessert idea.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was well appreciated and that you’ll make it again!
This looks like a giant gooey brownie! #LOVE