Easy slow cooker chocolate lava cake recipe with cake mix and other simple ingredients. It's warm and ooey gooey with thick fudge sauce. Basically, it is a cross between a fudgy brownie, soft chocolate cake and a soufflé. Also known as pudding cake, hot fudge cake, self-saucing cake.
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This classic, old fashioned dessert is totally different than any other cake recipe I have ever shared here. The cake batter cooks in the crockpot instead of the oven in such a way that at the end, there is a soft cake layer on top with a rich, creamy, ooey gooey chocolate filling or sauce at the bottom. This is best served with vanilla ice cream. It's just as delicious as my Chocolate Bundt Cake.
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Key ingredients for molten cake
- Cake mix- Use chocolate flavor.
- Oil- Should be neutral tasting.
- Eggs- These should be large and at room temperature.
- Pudding mix- This should be chocolate flavored.
- Milk- I prefer to use whole but have successfully used 2% too.
- Toppings- Such as chocolate chips, caramel sauce, fudge sauce, ice cream.
How to make easy slow cooker chocolate lava cake recipe with cake mix?
- Prepare the cake mixture and pour it in a slow cooker.
- Prepare the pudding mixture and pour it on top of the cake batter.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips.
- Cover and cook for about 3 hours.
- Serve warm.
Tips and techniques
- IMPORTANT: DO NOT mix the layers!!!!!
- IMPORTANT: Your cook time may vary, depending on the brand of your slow cooker, size and shape. It's typically 2.5 hours for me and I use a large, oval 6 quart crockpot. Some of my friends prefer to cook it for a little longer up to 3 hours.
- Grease crockpot generously with oil to prevent the cake from sticking.
- For easy clean up, you can line the slow cooker with parchment paper, which also prevents the sides of the cake from burning.
- Do not over-cook the cake because it will not remain as ooey gooey at the bottom any more and the edges will start burning and drying.
- Cake is ready when the top sets up like a sponge and an inserted toothpick only halfway through the center comes out clean.
Variations
- Instead of chocolate chips, add your favorite chopped candy bars like Rolos, Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey's Kisses e.t.c.
- Use a combination of various chocolate chips like semisweet, milk, white, butterscotch, peanut butter e.t.c.
- Ice cream- Tastes best when served with vanilla ice cream but can also be served with other flavors of ice creams.
- Topping options- When the cake is ready, drizzle caramel sauce or fudge sauce or melted peanut butter pr melted Nutella and even sprinkles. Kids love sprinkles!
- Fruit toppings- When the cake is ready, top off with fresh fruits like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries.
- Instead of ice cream, serve with Homemade Whipped Cream.
Souffle can be sweet or savory and are light and fluffy in texture. Lava cakes, on the other hand, are ooey gooey, fudgy and dense and have a molten lava center.
No. Traditional recipes which require baking in the oven have ganache that's placed in the center of the cake batter. When the cake cooks, the batter bakes and becomes fluffy and the chocolate becomes molten in the middle.
More doctored cake mix recipes
- Red Velvet Cookies (With Cake Mix)
- Red Velvet Truffles (With Cake Mix)
- Chocolate Banana Bread (With Cake Mix)
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts (Cake Mix)
- Easy Pumpkin Cake (With Cake Mix)
- Easy Apple Cake (With Cake Mix)
- Cake Mix Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
- Cake Mix Chocolate M&M Cookies
- Easy Cake Mix Brownies
- Cake Mix Champagne Cupcakes
- Christmas Cranberry Cake (With Cake Mix)
- Eggnog Cookies (Cake Mix)
- Easy Gingerbread Cookies (With Cake Mix)
- Pistachio Cake (With Cake Mix)
- How to Make Box Cake Better (Taste Homemade)
Recipe
Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake (Cake Mix)
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Ingredients
Cake Layer
Pudding Layer
- 1 box Instant chocolate pudding mix 3.9 oz. box
- 2 cups Milk Whole or 2%
Toppings
- 2 cups Chocolate chips
- ¼ cup Caramel sauce Optional
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add cake mix, milk, oil, eggs and mix until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a greased/ oiled slow cooker (large oval slow cooker- I used a 6 quart one).
- In another mixing bowl, mix together pudding mix and milk and gently pour the pudding on top of the cake mixture. DO NOT MIX TOGETHER!
- Sprinkle chocolate chips on tip and once again, do not stir or mix.
- Cover and cook on high for 2.5 hours - 3 hours. I love the texture at 2.5 hours but you can cook for longer if you want it to be a bit more firmer. Cake is ready when a toothpick inserted ONLY HALFWAY in the center comes out clean.
- Drizzle caramel sauce and sprinkle more chocolate chips on top, if you like.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Tastes best and is the most ooey gooey, when served immediately. However, leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheated in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Dawn Adams
Love the ease of this recipe! Can I prepare ahead of time and store the crockpot bowl in the refrigerator until ready to cook?
Abeer Rizvi
No, I have tried that before and the texture was just not right. Something was "off."
jeannine
Mine was ready in 2 hrs..... another 30 min. it would have burned. Can't wait to try it.