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This Chocolate Lava Cake is absolutely fabulous. It’s served warm, has a moist top layer, and an ooey-gooey bottom that is rich, smooth and full of chocolate goodness. Add a cool scoop of ice cream and you will be in heaven, my friends. Not only is this cake delectable, but you can put it together in just about 15 minutes. Then it cooks in the crock pot for 2 1/2 hours. It’s great for summer gatherings when you don’t want to heat up your oven. Make it for Sunday dinner, make it for a friend, make it for your 4th of July celebration!
Let me show you how to make it happen. 🙂
1. Grab a 3-4 quart crock pot and line it with parchment paper. Spray the inside of the paper with cooking spray. The parchment paper helps the cake cook without burning along the edges. You can make it without the paper, just be sure to watch it closely.
2. Find yourself a nice chocolate cake mix and pour it into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. Add 1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs. Beat on low-speed for 1 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the batter in nice and glossy.
4. Pour the batter into the lined crock pot.
5. Pour one small box of chocolate pudding into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl. Add 2 cups cold milk and beat it until the pudding thickens. Should take about 3-4 minutes.
6. Pour the pudding over the top of the cake batter. Don’t stir it. Really, cross my heart and hope to die. It will cook up best if you leave the layers be.
7. Grab a bag of milk chocolate chips and pour the pretty little things all over the top of the pudding. Again, please do not stir it.
8. Cover the crock and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake is set. ***NOTE: Some readers have had a hard time getting this cake to cook in the 2 1/2 hour allotted cooking time. Every crock pot cooks a little differently. You may want to leave yourself 3-3 1/2 hours cooking time. If your cake isn’t cooking quickly enough, you could also turn the crock pot setting to high for the last 15 minutes or so. This recipe takes a little experimenting with, depending on how fast your crock pot cooks.***
Like this. 🙂
The bottom layer of the cake will be all gooey and soft. Yum.
Double yum.
9. Place some on a plate…
and add a cool scoop of ice cream or whipped cream right on top.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 1 1/4 C milk
- 1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 (3.9 ounce) instant chocolate pudding
- 2 C milk (I used 1 %)
- 1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
- parchment paper
Instructions
1. Grab a 3-4 quart crock pot and line it with parchment paper. Spray the inside of the paper with cooking spray. The parchment paper helps the cake cook without burning along the edges. You can make it without the paper, just be sure to watch it closely.
2. Find yourself a nice chocolate cake mix and pour it into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. Add 1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs. Beat on low-speed for 1 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the batter in nice and glossy.
4. Pour the batter into the lined crock pot.
5. Pour one small box of chocolate pudding into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl. Add 2 cups cold milk and beat it until the pudding thickens. Should take about 3-4 minutes.
6. Pour the pudding over the top of the cake batter. Don't stir it. Really, cross my heart and hope to die. It will cook up best if you leave the layers be.
7. Grab a bag of milk chocolate chips and pour the pretty little things all over the top of the pudding. Again, please do not stir it.
8. Cover the crock and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake is set. ***NOTE: Some readers have had a hard time getting this cake to cook in the 2 1/2 hour allotted cooking time. Every crock pot cooks a little differently. You may want to leave yourself 3-3 1/2 hours cooking time. If your cake isn't cooking quickly enough, you could also turn the crock pot setting to high for the last 15 minutes or so. This recipe takes a little experimenting with, depending on how fast your crock pot cooks.***
The bottom layer of the cake will be all gooey and soft. Yum.
9. Place some on a plate and add a cool scoop of ice cream or whipped cream right on top.
Enjoy!
Notes
***NOTE: Some readers have had a hard time getting this cake to cook in the 2 1/2 hour allotted cooking time. Every crock pot cooks a little differently. You may want to leave yourself 3-3 1/2 hours cooking time. If your cake isn't cooking quickly enough, you could also turn the crock pot setting to high for the last 15 minutes or so. This recipe takes a little experimenting with, depending on how fast your crock pot cooks.***
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Jamie, I was wondering if this could be done in a Dutch oven? We have a family reunion to attend at the end if July and I am in charge of dessert and would love to make this while camping.
Hi Niari,
I haven’t ever tried it in a dutch oven, but my thoughts are that it would work out nicely. I would suggest giving it a trial run before you head to your reunion just to be sure. Good luck! Hope you have a great time with your family.
~Jamie
normally i can make all your recipes but this one did not turn out right put every thing in the crock just like recipe said and cooked for 3 hours and still was not done. does this need to go on high ? any suggestions please looks way good !!! would like to try it again with success:)
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your question. It sounds like perhaps your crock pot cooks a little bit slower than most. I would give it a try on high and see how that works out. Just watch it closely so it doesn’t burn. Better luck to you the second time around!
~Jamie
My husband made this yeaetrdsy. He doubled the amounts of the vegetables and used a pork loin instead. We loved it! The apple cider gives everything such a nice flavor. Thank you and keep up the great work.VA:F [1.9.20_1166](from 0 votes)
I just made this tonight and mine required 4 hrs to fully set, so I guess it depends on your slow cooker. Maybe next time, I’ll try it on high. Delicious!
I had the same problem… After 2.5 hrs it was still very runny so I just cranked it up to high! Here’s hoping! It looks so delicious!!
I cooked this for the 4th of July – I had to make it gluten free for some family members so I followed the recipe exactly the same just used gluten free stuff and it turned out so so good! Super easy too! There wasn’t any left by the end of the night.
Do you refrigerate the left overs (if there are any:))? Also…do you leave them in the crock or a separate container? Just curious. This looks DEEE-LISH!!!:) I can’t wait to make it tomorrow! Thank you!!
Kris,
Yes, you can store leftovers in the fridge. I would put it a gladware container and then pop it in the microwave to reheat it when you are ready to eat it again. Good luck!
~Jamie
I really want to try this recipe. Problem is I only have a 6 quart crock pot. Will this work? Should I modify the recipe?
Terry,
I would imagine a 6 quart crock pot would still work, however I think it would cook quite a bit faster so watch it carefully. Good luck!
~Jamie
This looks SO good, wow! Very similar to a chocolate cake my favorite cafe serves, maybe this is their secret recipe? 😉
What size crock pot are u using and oval or round?
Made this tonight for my husband’s birthday. Needless to say, he was a happy, happy man!! He LOVES the molten lava cakes on the Carnival Cruise ships and this tastes JUST LIKE THEM!! Even as some who doesn’t really like chocolate cake, I cleaned my plate! This was our first married birthday together, so I wanted it to be extra special. It definitely was with this one!!
So I made this today for the Steelers game and I put it on at 10:50am and well it’s still cooking and not done! I now have it on high….have you had others with this problem??