Make a Cake in a Slow Cooker

Did you know you can make a cake in a slow cooker? Many cake recipes are successful in the slow cooker. For some ideas, have a look at my post all about baking and making cakes in the slow cooker here. I have lots of other slow cooker cake recipes too, see my slow cooker archives to find more!

What Shape Slow Cooker Do I Need to Bake a Cake?

You can use a round or oval slow cooker to make a cake. Oval cakes tastes just as good as the round ones so it doesn’t really make much difference apart from the look of the final cake. A round cake might well be a bit deeper though, so you can slice it in half and fill with jam and cream or icing.

Cake made in a round slow cooker (this one is a slow cooker Victoria sponge):

Cake made in an oval slow cooker (this is an upside down strawberry cake):

What Size Slow Cooker Do I Need to Make a Cake in a Slow Cooker?

I find I get the best results with a 3.5 litre (medium sized) slow cooker. You can bake the cake directly in the pot with this size slow cooker.

If you have a larger slow cooker e.g. 6.5 litre or bigger, then you can put a baking tin inside the slow cooker pot and bake your cake in that. This will give you a great looking cake! You can either use metal or silicone baking pans.

I have also made a cake in a 1.5 litre slow cooker, I find in this size the cake is more likely to burn before it has cooked through completely, it must be the ratio of contact with the sides of the slow cooker to the small amount of cake mixture you can get into the pot.

What Do I Need to Make a Cake in a Slow Cooker?

All you need is the ingredients to make your cake (flour, caster sugar, butter, eggs plus anything else required by your recipe, or a cake mix), something to line your slow cooker pot with (baking paper or a large cake case) and a slow cooker. A tea towel will also be useful to stop drips from falling onto the top of the cake and making it soggy.

How to Make a Cake in a Slow Cooker

Make the cake up following your recipe, then line your slow cooker pot. I usually use a large cake case, the kind you can get from pound shops or supermarkets in the UK, as shown in the picture below. I use two for an extra layer of protection for the cake.

You can also use baking paper. I usually crumple my baking paper up, then open it out again, it is more pliant that way. Or you can also cut deep slits in the sides, as if if lining a deep baking tin, and arrange it that way.

If you have a big slow cooker which can fit a tin, you could also put the cake mixture in a metal or silicone cake tin inside your slow cooker pot, with some water under the tin if needed by your slow cooker. I sometimes put my silicone pans on top of a small upturned saucer or small flat baking tin.

Pour the cake mixture into the lined pot. Turn the slow cooker onto high. Place a clean tea towel under the lid to catch drips, and replace the lid. Ensure the edges of the tea towel are not hanging down over the slow cooker. I fold mine up like this.

Cook on high for 1-2 hours until a skewer comes out clean. The time it takes really depends on your slow cooker and whether it runs very hot or not, so keep an eye on it! If you think the edges are burning and the centre still doesn’t look firm, you could turn it into low for the second hour.

Or, if you find you have a hotspot where the edge is burning, carefully rotate the pot within the slow cooker casing (for a round one) or lift it out and turn it, for an oval one.

Once the cake is done, turn the slow cooker off and let it cool for ten minutes or so, then carefully pull on the edge of the case or baking paper to remove the cake from the pot. Place it on a cooling rack to cool fully, just like you would for an oven-baked cake.

Once cool you can split it in half, ice it and so on again as you would with a cake baked in the oven.

If you have any questions let me know and I’ll try to help! Tag me on social media if you make a slow cooker cake (@bakingqueen74).