This slow cooker pudding cake frees up your oven and cooks away while you are doing other things. It is very forgiving, so if it overcooks for 20 minutes, you will still have a delicious fudgey dessert to serve. You can substitute a can of cherry pie filling for the fresh or frozen cherries.
Servings: 6-8 servings
Author: Mary Gillespie
Ingredients
Cherry Layer:*
1cup/ 250 ml fresh or frozen cherriespitted and halved
1/2cup/ 125 ml orange juice
1/2teaspoon/ 2.5 ml cinnamon
1/4cup/ 60 ml brown sugar
1tablespoon/ 15 ml cornstarch
2tablespoons/ 30 ml cold water
*you can substitute 1 can of cherry pie filling for these ingredients
Cake
1cup/ 250 ml flour
1/2cup/ 125 ml granulated sugar
1/3cup/ 80 ml cocoa
1-1/2teaspoons/ 7.5 ml baking powder
1/2teaspoon/ 2.5 ml salt
1cup/ 250 ml milk
1/4cup/ 60 ml oil
1teaspoon/ 5 ml vanilla
Topping
1/2cup/ 125 ml brown sugar
1/4cup/ 60 ml cocoa
1-1/4cups/ 310 ml boiling water
Instructions
Cherry Layer
Place cherries and orange juice in small saucepan.
Mix together cinnamon and brown sugar and add to pan.
Heat over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Simmer for five minutes.
Stir together cornstarch and water. Add to cherries and reduce heat. When mixture has thickened, remove from heat.
Put cherries into bottom of 3 - 3.5 quart / 3-3.5 liter slow cooker.
(If you are using canned cherry pie filling, simply empty content of can into bottom of slow cooker.)
Cake:
Stir together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
In separate bowl, combine milk, oil and vanilla.
Stir milk mixture into flour, and mix until combined.
Gently spoon batter over cherries in slow cooker.
Topping:
Mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup / 60 ml cocoa. Sprinkle over cake batter in slow cooker.
Gently pour the boiling water on top of all ingredients. Do not stir.
Place lid on slow cooker and turn heat to high.
Let cake cook for 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
When the cake is done, there should be no water on top, and cake should look puffed up.
Turn off the heat and remove slow cooker insert from the heating element. Remove the cover. Let the cake sit for 20-30 minutes before serving.