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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.
- 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 about 6 cups of Lava Cake, enough for 6 servings, 1 cup each. If you’re serving this at a party with other desserts, you can probably feed 10 to 12 guests.
- 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.
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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.
- 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 about 6 cups of Lava Cake, enough for 6 servings, 1 cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
I am going to make this for the office for an early lunch tomorrow. Would I be able to make it tonight and just warm it up tomorrow? Would it still have the lava at the bottom or would it be absorbed overnight?
Hi Kim, I haven’t tried to make this ahead of time and reheat this myself, sorry! I’m not sure if there would be any lava left. If you do want to prepare some parts in advance, you can combine the dry ingredients for the batter and the topping separately so they will be easy additions tomorrow. Hope this helps, sorry again! – Meggan
Excellent recipe! My oven had stopped working and I wanted a homemade cake for my birthday. Made a double recipe, cooked on high 3 hours, and it fed 7 people easily. We added a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream — perfect! Definitely a keeper!
Happy belated birthday Tammy! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, the ice cream addition sounds amazing. Thanks! – Meggan
I made this last night…
It’s an absolute winner…
The cooking times were a bit confusing because one part says 3-4hrs on high, and another part says 2hrs on high.
So I checked it at 1.5hrs. Next time, I’ll check it after an hour.
It’s really tasty. The base is a delicious, gooey chocolate combination…
Thank you for sharing.
Hi there, sorry about the confusion. The full recipe cooks 3-4 hours on high. If you are doing half of the recipe it will cook in 2 hours on high. Hope this helps! – Meggan
The Lava cake was good. I cooked for 4 hours on high. My crockpot goes to warm automatically after the time goes off but I would recommend turning it off because the edges got a little crunchy and chewy.
Thanks for the tip Kathy! – Meggan
This recipe does not call for eggs? I made a different recipe for one of these chocolate lava cakes and it called for 2 eggs…so before I make this I am just checking to make sure this recipe does not call for eggs😊THANK YOU
Hi there Shawna, no eggs in this recipe! Hope you enjoy. – Meggan
This is a family favourite now. Thank you sooo very much for sharing.
I triple the fudge part. Mmmmm delicious.
Thanks Delia, it’s one of our favorites too! – Meggan
Have the times been updated? I’ve made it before and it was gooey and this time it wasn’t. I used the original recipe and did it on low for 5 hours. I did notice the doubled recipe says 4-6 on low so maybe it was done sooner?
Hi Martha, it’s possible it was done sooner. Slow cooker powers vary, so it’s possible it was done closer to the 4 hour mark. I’m sorry about that! – Meggan
Love this recipe, it was my 11 year old’s wish for his birthday cake. I’m experimenting cook time with my instant pot, hoping it’ll cook right! Last time was an 8 minute, good but extra gooey, this time I’m going to try it for 15 and see.
Love this recipe!! Made it over the weekend for a dinner party, served with vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream. It was a hit!!! Love that it’s from scratch!! Super easy to make and loved your directions for doubling the recipe. I will Definitely will make this again!!
Can I use unsweetened cocoa powder? If so, will I need to adjust/increase the sugar (by how much)?
Hi Dee, yes! This recipe is written for unsweetened cocoa powder. You would not need to adjust the sugar. 🙂 Enjoy! – Meggan