This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
This Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake is a game-changer: Warm, gooey chocolate cake (made from scratch!) nestled in a river of thick fudge sauce. Make this easy, luscious dessert right in your crockpot. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, or both for an extra special treat.
Meggan’s notes
Many Lava Cakes start with a cake mix and a box of pudding, but I don’t usually keep those around much. As a classically-trained chef with plenty of pastry experience, I wasn’t settling for anything less than a from-scratch chocolate lava cake.
I also thought the idea of doing it in a slow cooker was so great! Fun, unique, interesting, and EASY. So fire up your crockpot and try out this self-saucing chocolate cake. It’s amazing!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Cocoa powder: Look for the unsweetened baking cocoa powder, not the mix for making hot chocolate. Both natural and Dutch-process cocoa powder will work in this recipe.
Step-by-step instructions
To make the cake batter:
- Coat a slow cooker with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, and vanilla.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredient in to the well and whisk until smooth.
- Pour into the bottom of a slow cooker.
To make the topping:
- Whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder until evenly combined. Sprinkle evenly over the batter in the slow cooker.
- Pour the hot water over the top of the batter and topping. Do not stir.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 5 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in to the middle of the cake comes out clean with a few crumbs attached (see recipe notes).
- Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, spooning the chocolate sauce from the bottom of the slow cooker over the top. Garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 gooey, delicious Chocolate Lava Cake, enough for 8 generous servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
- Keep it warm: If your crockpot switches to “warm” after it’s done cooking, you can leave it in the crockpot on the “warm” setting for at least 2-3 hours without changing the cake. For example, I cooked the cake on LOW for 5 hours, then left it in the crockpot for 2 more hours on the “warm” setting, and it was still perfect.
- Double recipe: Double the ingredients and it will still fit in a 6-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 5 hours or LOW for 4 to 6 hours (or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with a few crumbs attached.)
- Half recipe: Half the ingredients fit nicely in a 2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 3 to 4 hours (or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with a few crumbs attached.) A perfect dessert for your romantic Valentine’s Day meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, that’s not a good idea. At the request of a reader, I tried it out. The “sugar topping” is actually the underlying fudge layer. If you make just the cake, it is not sweet enough, the chocolate flavor is lacking, the whole cake is dry, and it might even burn in the bottom of your slow cooker. I suggest making the cake as written, sugar topping and all.
More clever desserts
Cookie Recipes
Lemon Cookies
Chocolate Recipes
Oreo Brownie Trifle
Eats
Scotcheroos
Cake Recipes
Texas Sheet Cake
Join Us
Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (see note 1)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the cake topping:
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 1/4 cups hot water
For serving:
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
- Maraschino cherries optional
Instructions
To make the cake batter:
- Coat a slow cooker with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, and vanilla.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredient in to the well and whisk until smooth. Pour into the bottom of a slow cooker.
To make the topping:
- Whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder until evenly combined. Sprinkle evenly over the batter in the slow cooker.
- Pour the hot water over the top of the batter and topping. Do not stir. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 5 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in to the middle of the cake comes out clean with a few crumbs attached (see recipe notes).
- Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, spooning the chocolate sauce from the bottom of the slow cooker over the top. Garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Cocoa powder: Look for the unsweetened baking cocoa powder, not the mix for making hot chocolate. Both natural and Dutch-process cocoa powder will work in this recipe.
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 gooey, delicious Chocolate Lava Cake, enough for 8 generous servings (see Tips and Variations for double and half recipe information).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
So good, so simple. Eat it with ice cream.
Thanks, Casey! It’s so good with a scoop of ice cream! – Meggan
Hello! I am so excited to try this lovely recipe, as I don’t have an oven and have been craving a luscious homemade chocolate cake. I do have a question: do you think it would be alright to increase the amount of cocoa in the cake batter (and perhaps decrease the flour correspondingly)? I need my chocolate cake to be super duper chocolatey, and would like to put more than 3 tbsps of cocoa in it. (I’m not worried about upping the sugar, as I think that beautiful fudge sauce will make it plenty sweet for me.) Thank you so much for your help and for the recipe!
Hi Inga, I haven’t tried that substitution as it is chocolately and rich already. I would try the recipe as written and then adjust to your preference. Take care! I hope you love it! – Meggan
I made this per the recipe, but used oat milk instead of regular milk. It ended up being extremely runny in the end. Almost like it didnโt bake at all. I had it on High for 4 hours so it should have been fine. Would the oat milk make that much of a difference?
Hi Martin, I haven’t tried it with oat milk, so I can’t say for sure. I looked through other reader comments, and one reader made it with almond milk successfully. I’m so sorry it didn’t come out right. – Meggan