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Chocolate Lava Cake (Crock Pot)

by Jamie

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. 🙂

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Chocolate Lava Cake (Crock Pot)
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***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.

Time: 15 min. prep + 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 hours cooking
Yield: 12 servings
Recipe from Betty Crocker

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
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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.

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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.

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4. Pour the batter into the lined crock pot.

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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.

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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.

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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.***

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Like this. 🙂

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The bottom layer of the cake will be all gooey and soft. Yum.

Double yum.

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9. Place some on a plate…

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and add a  cool scoop of ice cream or whipped cream right on top.

Enjoy!

 

Leave a Comment

131 comments

Churchy February 23, 2014 - 12:07 pm

Tried this recipe this weekend. Deeelish! However, after 2.5 hours on low setting, only the edge seemed to start cooking. Turned to high at that point & 2 hours later, it was done. Should have started on High temp setting to finish in the time suggested.

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Heather February 25, 2014 - 5:06 am

My daughter made this for my birthday yesterday and it was the best b-day cake ever!! So glad to have found this recipe. Cook time is a little longer than what is mentioned, but well worth every hour we waited for it. C

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Kourtney March 4, 2014 - 2:57 pm

Just got the stuff to make this. We love lava cakes. Are left overs good the next day or should I just pitch what’s left?

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Rebecca March 4, 2014 - 3:30 pm

I thought that the leftovers were great! I was able to make four little containers full to throw in mine and my husband’s lunchbox for the next few days after 🙂 Just pop it in the microwave and it’s good as new! 🙂

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Kourtney March 4, 2014 - 6:58 pm

Thank you 🙂

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Kristal March 25, 2014 - 5:22 pm

Just wanted to add, I made this tonight and after all the comments I saw on this I was very hesitant that it would not turn out. But I followed the instructions, except I put my crock pot on medium to start, after 3 hrs, I knew it was cooking but it was still so gooey. So I turned it up to high and left it for another 3 hrs but kept an eye on it. I was so glad I cooked it longer. I tested it by pulling at the parchment paper to see the cake pull away from it, and it did. My family and I absolutely love this recipe. So glad I tried it and will definitely be making this again soon.

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Kristal March 25, 2014 - 5:23 pm

Just wanted to add, I made this tonight and after all the comments I saw on this I was very hesitant that it would not turn out. But I followed the instructions, except I put my crock pot on medium to start, after 3 hrs, I knew it was cooking but it was still so gooey. So I turned it up to high and left it for another 3 hrs but kept an eye on it. I was so glad I cooked it longer. I tested it by pulling at the parchment paper to see the cake pull away from it, and it did. My family and I absolutely love this recipe. So glad I tried it and will definitely be making this again soon.

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Jeanette May 10, 2014 - 10:14 pm

Oh my goodness!!!! Made this tonight and was a HUGE hit!!!

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Trudy Wood May 31, 2014 - 8:25 pm

I have made the Choc lava cake as well as a white chocolate and raspberry version. Both really good.

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Rebecca June 1, 2014 - 3:57 pm

Ohhh!! Would you mind sharing those recipes?! They both sound amazing!

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Ashley June 30, 2014 - 11:08 am

Any estimates for the number of servings? Would love to make it for the 4th!

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Jamie July 2, 2014 - 10:22 am

Ashley,
It should serve around 12. Good luck to you! Happy Fourth!
~Jamie

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Beth July 6, 2014 - 9:57 am

I made this for the first time on Friday. The 2 1/2 hours on low cook time was way off for me though. It took 6 hours at least before the top was set. I really am unsure of the exact time. I just kept adding hours to the timer and I even put the temperature on high for awhile. I have a regular crock pot so that can’t be it. It was absolutely delicious though and I will make it again. And again. LOL but people are asking me for the recipe and I have no idea what to tell them in regards to cook time.

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Joe July 12, 2014 - 1:14 pm

Hi all, crockpot size doesn’t matter but the time does when it’s hi vs low.
its 2 1/2 to 3 or 3 1/2 hrs on hi and up to 6 -7 hr’s on low.

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Hillary July 13, 2014 - 8:51 pm

Oh man! I really should have checked the comments. The 2 1/2 hours on low was way off.

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jill July 16, 2014 - 7:11 pm

Can you make this in the oven to do it faster?

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Lexi July 19, 2014 - 4:25 pm

So for the second step, (mixing the cake mix with the milk and such,) do I make it like that? Or should i make it the way that the box says to make it? I got the “chewy fudge brownies” and not the dark chocolate fudge, and they have different requirements.

Reply
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Kelsey October 28, 2014 - 10:33 am

This looks delicious! Any best practices for storing leftovers?

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Jamie October 29, 2014 - 7:40 am

Hi Kelsey,
Store leftovers in a microwave safe container, in the fridge. It’s best if you warm it up a bit before you eat it. Best of luck. Hope you love it!
~Jamie

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Parker November 22, 2014 - 6:51 pm

Very sad.
I ruined Family’s dessert because the time said 2.5 hours on low. Turns out in the comments it had the correct cook time/temp. Looks like I’ll have to wake up in the middle of the night to turn it off or stay up and family doesn’t get dessert. Maybe next time we can try this.
It looks like it’ll be good

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Chris December 22, 2014 - 11:52 am

I had made this before and thought I had cooked it on high but this recipe said low, it also said to make the cake according to the directions on the box and I used the exact same cake mix but the box said to use water instead of milk. Anyway, yes the cooking time is off on this recipe – I have a crockpot full of chocolate soup which I hope will salvage if I keep cooking it on low for another 3 hours. 🙁

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Heather December 31, 2014 - 7:41 pm

The recipe says 2.5 hours on low. Only after seeing it not setting have I just read the comments where it now says high….

Please change the recipe instructions so that others don’t make this same mistake, especially if it’s a special occasion.

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rick January 2, 2015 - 3:02 am

Just wanted to inform others I noticed the ingredients listed milk twice. Once was 1-1/4 cup and once was 2-cups. So the first ingredient lists 3-1/4 cups total. So if you are not careful, you will use 2-cups of milk and not 1-1/4 cups in the cake mix. This could cause the longer cook time. We cooked it for 3 hours on high and it still was not done so we transferred it to the oven at 3:50 to finish. We now just cook it in the oven at 350 which is faster for 40 to 45 minutes. Insert toothpick halfway from the center to the outer edge and if no cake sticks it is done.

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Nikki January 3, 2015 - 5:24 pm

I’m not a fan of chocolate cake. But when I saw this on Pinterest I said I had to try this. It came out perfect! I used a 7 qt. crock pot and cooked it for 2 1/2 hours on Hi. The kids love it!! I’m on my second serving since this evening!!

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Mary January 14, 2015 - 7:05 pm

Do you have to use instant pudding? Has anyone not used the instant? Thanks!

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Taylor January 28, 2015 - 1:46 am

I made this recipe the night before and put it in the crock pot at 330 am so it would be ready for the next morning for a class party… I read the comments then I’m so glad I did because I had it on low it would have never been done in time so I put it on high hope it turns out OK. Should really change that in the recipe so people know.

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Alyssa February 4, 2015 - 3:33 pm

Is it possible to use brownie mix instead of cake mix? I have both and was wondering what it would taste like if I switched them out.

Reply
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Amanda February 13, 2015 - 1:45 pm

Making this for Valentine’s tomorrow… my husband will FLIP. 🙂 Excited!

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Shannon February 15, 2015 - 8:12 am

I made this for Valentine’s Day, and it was amazing. It is important to mention that after reading so many of the comments on this page, I was hesitant to make this recipe. I decided to go on Pintrest and look at what other similar recipes said. All of the other recipes I read said to cook for 2.5 hours on HIGH. I did that, and it turned out perfectly. I actually took another website’s advice and cooked for 2 hours on high and then turned it off and put the lid on for another half hour to an hour while we ate supper. **I think based on so many comments and other similar recipes that this recipe is incorrect. I used a standard Crock Pot brand crock pot and this recipe would have never cooked on low in the 2.5 hours. It would have taken all day.
Still, with the one adjustment, this by far is my favorite chocolate cake recipe.

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bonnie February 18, 2015 - 10:54 pm

I thought this recipe was horrible! I was surprised with all that chocolate and it wasnt sweet at all. Needless to say all 6 of my kids took 1 bite and threw it away.

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effie March 21, 2015 - 11:50 am

I didn’t have parchment paper so lined my crock pot with alumnium foil. Its still cooking Iit turns out ok my kids amd husband are excited.

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Shannon March 22, 2015 - 7:59 pm

Please change the cook time. It’s 6:55pm, I’ve been cooking on low for 3 hours, after reading the comments I turned the heat up to high! No dessert tonight, the kids are bummed as dessert is not on the menu daily, let alone weekly at our house!! Maybe I’ll have a midnight snack while they sleep!!

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Trista Taylor April 17, 2015 - 10:54 pm

I started cooking it at 9 pm and it is 1 am now. I turned it on high about an hour ago and the edges are getting done so maybe it won’t be too much longer. The smell was so tempting I couldn’t take it anymore so I got a little of the edge..hehe. It is absolutely delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!!! 🙂

Reply
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Maureen November 18, 2015 - 10:40 am

Are you able to just double the recipe to make for a large group? If so, would the cooking time change at all? (I’ve made it before and it’s awesome!)

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Tara February 9, 2016 - 6:40 pm

I hate the taste of instant pudding. Anyone have any suggestions on what I can use instead??

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Kim August 24, 2016 - 12:35 pm

Tara, You won’t taste the instant pudding. It mixes with the cake and chocolate chips…its more to help with the texture of the “lava.”

Reply
April Driggers October 6, 2016 - 10:49 am

Would LOVE to know if this could be prepped ahead and frozen to then pop in the crock pot? Looking for some desserts to prep/make ahead that would be good for the slow cooker.

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Jamie October 10, 2016 - 8:18 am

Hi April,
Thanks for your question. I wouldn’t suggest freezing it in the prep stage. Not sure how it would defrost in that form. Best to prep it just before it goes into the crock pot.
Best of luck!
~Jamie

Reply
Jennifer C. December 29, 2016 - 4:30 am

My oven is sadly not working at the moment, I wanted to make a dessert in the croc pot that my family would love, this looks like the one! However, I only have a box of ‘cook and serve’ pudding, and no chocolate chips, but I do have a jar of hot fudge sauce, I’m wondering if anyone has tried the cook n serve pudding and if you think just putting hot fudge on top at the end of cooking would be an ok substitute for the chocolate chips?

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Justine August 20, 2017 - 3:52 pm

It was AMAZING! Ours were finished 2 1/2 hours on high. It was so easy to make and so worth the wait. It was -surprisingly- not too sweet and turned out so rich and decadent. We had ours with vanilla ice cream-which helps us cope with the richness- and homemade caramel. It looks just like the photo and we will DEFINITELY be making again very soon!

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Jessica September 28, 2017 - 3:38 pm

Can i use a crock pot liner instead of parchment paper?

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Kala December 13, 2017 - 9:38 am

I have made this recipe several times and I absolutely LOVE it. I’m thinking about adding nuts to the recipe. I’m not sure at what point in the recipe I should include the nuts. Has anyone tried this?

Reply
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