Slow Cooker Red Velvet Cake

So my latest slow cooker cake is a slow cooker red velvet cake! Red velvet cake of course is a rich chocolate cake with a vibrant red colour, often with buttercream or cream cheese icing. My version has an easy vanilla buttercream icing which takes minutes to make.

As usual for my slow cooker cakes, this cake is made from scratch, no box mix here.

I find there’s no need to use one of those expensive cake mixes when you can make it so easily yourself with basic store cupboard ingredients!

Red colour

To achieve the red colouring for the sponge cake you will need to use a red gel colour or paste for baking.

Make sure you don’t use just normal food colours in the little bottles, those are not vibrant enough and usually not bake stable.

Sometimes you will get a deep reddy brown colour in the cake, as in my cake here, rather than a vivid red.

If you are aiming for a really bright red colour then use a little more of the red gel colour next time. I find it is best to use a little as you can get away with though as otherwise the colour can leave a taste in the cake.

You can also use natural colourings such as beetroot if you prefer to keep it natural. But the colours might not be so intense.

Slow cooker baking 

So have you baked a cake in your slow cooker before?

Check out my posts on baking in the slow cooker and also making a cake in the slow cooker for loads of tips and tricks for baking in a slow cooker, plus loads more recipes to try out.

If you can’t bake for toffee in an oven and are always burning things or your cakes don’t rise, try it in a slow cooker and marvel at what you can achieve!

Your slow cooker uses less electricity than your oven as well, so you’ll save a few pennies by not turning on your main oven.

Cakes based on buttermilk or yoghurt (as used here) stay really moist and so work well in the slow cooker.

My slow cooker Baileys chocolate cake is also based on buttermilk, as is my slow cooker Creme egg cake!

You can serve this cake scooped straight from the bowl for a delicious pudding with custard or cream, or slice it and fill and top it with buttercream as a standard cake.

The sweet vanilla icing just sets off the rich flavour of the cake perfectly. Try this recipe for slow cooker red velvet cake from scratch and you won’t use a box mix again!

Ingredients

Here’s what you will need for this recipe – get the quantities in the recipe card below.

• butter
• caster sugar
• eggs
• self-raising flour
• red colouring
• natural yoghurt
• vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• cocoa powder
• icing sugar
• milk

Method

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, stir in the colouring, yogurt and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.
2. Butter your crock pot and line with grease proof paper or a large cake case.
3. Cook on high for approx 1.5 to 2 hrs until a skewer comes out clean. Put a tea towel under the lid to catch moisture during cooking.
4. Remove from the slow cooker and allow to cool completely.
5. To make the icing, use a hand mixer to mix the butter or margarine until it is soft an fluffy.
6. Add the icing sugar bit by bit, mixing until each part is fully combined. Once you have added all the icing sugar, continue to mix for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
7. Add the vanilla bean paste (this adds wonderful vanilla speckles to the icing) and milk and mix again until fully combined and still light and fluffy.
8. Split the cooled cake, and fill with buttercream and spread a layer on top.
9. Serve and enjoy!

Also check out my recipe video for this recipe.

Pin this slow cooker red velvet cake recipe for later!

Recipe

Slow Cooker Red Velvet Cake

A rich and moist red chocolate cake that's so easy to bake in your slow cooker

4.37 from 19 votes

Print Pin Rate Save Saved!

Course: Baking

Cuisine: American, British, Slow Cooker

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 473kcal

Author: Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 100 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 155 g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• 175 g self-raising flour
• red gel colouring I used about 3 tsp
• 200 g Greek style natural yogurt I used fat free
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 30 g cocoa powder

For the icing:

• 100 g unsalted butter (or margarine) at room temperature
• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 0.5 tsp milk

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Equipment

round slow cooker

cake liners

mixing bowl

Video

Instructions 

• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, stir in the colouring, yogurt and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.
  100 g unsalted butter, 155 g caster sugar (superfine sugar), 2 medium free-range eggs, 175 g self-raising flour, red gel colouring, 200 g Greek style natural yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 30 g cocoa powder
• Butter your crock pot and line with grease proof paper or a large cake case.
• Cook on high for approx 1.5 to 2 hrs until a skewer comes out clean. Put a tea towel under the lid to catch moisture during cooking.
• Remove from the slow cooker and allow to cool completely.
• To make the icing, use a hand mixer to mix the butter or margarine until it is soft an fluffy.
  100 g unsalted butter (or margarine)
• Add the icing sugar bit by bit, mixing until each part is fully combined. Once you have added all the icing sugar, continue to mix for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
  200 g icing sugar
• Add the vanilla bean paste (this adds wonderful vanilla speckles to the icing) and milk and mix again until fully combined and still light and fluffy.
  1 tsp vanilla bean paste, 0.5 tsp milk
• Split the cooled cake, and fill with buttercream and spread a layer on top.
• Serve and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is made in a round 3.5 litre slow cooker. You can of course also make it in an oval slow cooker. For a larger slow cooker, use a baking tin inside the slow cooker pot.

Cooking times really depend on your slow cooker so check your cake often and take it out if it is burning.

Did you try and love this recipe?Then please leave a star rating and comment below to let me know how you got on!