This slow cooker cake recipe may just be the best low carb hocolate cake I’ve ever made. So rich and moist, it doesn’t need any frosting. And no need to heat up the kitchen when you make a low carb chocolate cake in your slow cooker or crock pot!
There is a serious dearth of low carb slow cooker recipes here on All Day I Dream About Food, and for that I apologize. See, slow cookers aren’t really my thing. At least, they weren’t until about a month ago. I know people who love them and swear by them and there are whole blogs devoted to them, but I never really saw the appeal.
I understand the attraction of popping a whole bunch of ingredients into a slow cooker, setting the timer and walking away, but all the recipes I ever tried turned out rather flavourless and uninspiring. The most action my old slow cooker got was when I went through a bout of making homemade crockpot yogurt. It turned out to be pretty useful in that regard. But most meals were best made on the stove top and in the oven, in my opinion, so my slow cooker hung out down in the basement, gathering dust.
I now think that part of my prejudice against slow cookers was due to not having a particularly good one. The old crock pot we had always gave off a funny smell when it was heating and it took forever to cook things through. I mean, I know slow cookers are supposed to be slow, but this one truly took ages. I finally gave up on it completely after a recipe for slow cooker cabbage and sausage never truly cooked at all and had to be finished off in our oven. That was it for me and slow cookers, I thought.
But this slow cooker cake recipe changed my mindset and my opinion on making low carb chocolate cake in a crock pot is forever changed.
Game Changing Slow Cooker Cake Recipe
Fate, however, thought otherwise. I was invited to be a part of a slow cooker charity cookbook that will be coming out in the fall, and Hamilton Beach very kindly supplied me with a brand new slow cooker to test out for my recipes. I’d met the good folks from Hamilton Beach at a recent conference and they showed me then and there that slow cookers have so much more to offer than I ever thought. They were whipping up plenty of tasty items right there and one of them happened to be a crockpot chocolate cake recipe. Um, chocolate cake in a slow cooker? I was floored. And determined to make a low carb, gluten free chocolate cake to rival it’s high carb, sugary counterpart.
Oh. My. Word. This low carb chocolate cake was so good, so unbelievably moist and rich, I actually made it twice within three days. That is saying a lot, my friends. I love experimenting with recipes so much that for me to make something twice, exactly the same way, is a really big deal. It was a huge hit with the whole family, and if you own a slow cooker, you are going to want to make this as soon as possible. Like…right now! And if you don’t own a slow cooker but are looking for one, I highly recommend the Set & Forget 6 Qt Programmable Slow Cooker from Hamilton Beach.
PLEASE NOTE! I’ve updated this recipe to make the low carb cake a little smaller and a little less carby. Although I loved the original, it was pretty big and each serving came in at a whopping 11.5 total carbs (about 5g net carbs). So I decided to try making it with ¾ the amount of batter and you know what? It was just as good. Possibly better, because then I could top it with some ice cream and chocolate sauce and not feel overly full afterward. And interestingly, the cook time was exactly the same.
Watch and see just how easy this slow cooker cake recipe is to make!
Video: How to Make Low Carb Chocolate Cake
But for those of you who loved the original recipe, don’t worry…just scroll a little further down, it’s still there!
Slow Cooker Dark Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon almond flour
- ½ cup Swerve Granular
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoon unflavoured whey protein powder can sub egg white protein powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon butter melted
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sugar-free chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Grease the insert of a 6 quart slow cooker well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, whey protein powder, baking powder and salt.
- Stir in butter, eggs, almond milk and vanilla extract until well combined, then stir in chocolate chips, if using.
- Pour into prepared insert and cook on low for 2 to 2 ½ hours. It will be gooey and like a pudding cake at 2 hours, and more cakey at 2 ½ hours.
- Turn slow cooker off and let cool 20 to 30 minutes, then cut into pieces and serve warm. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Original (larger) Cake Recipe
1 & ½ cups almond flour
¾ cup Swerve Sweetener
⅔ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, melted
4 large eggs
¾ cup almond or coconut milk, unsweetened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips (optional)
Grease the insert of a 6 quart slow cooker well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, whey protein powder, baking powder and salt.
Stir in butter, eggs, almond milk and vanilla extract until well combined, then stir in chocolate chips, if using.
Pour into prepared insert and cook on low for 2 ½ to 3 hours. It will be gooey and like a pudding cake at 2 ½ hours, and more cakey at 3 hours.
Turn slow cooker off and let cool 20 to 30 minutes, then cut into pieces and serve warm. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Serves 10. Each serving has 11.65 g of carbs and 5.38 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6.27 g.
Food energy: 275kcal
Saturated fatty acids: 9.62g
Total fat: 22.94g
Calories from fat: 206
Cholesterol: 99mg
Carbohydrate: 11.65g
Total dietary fiber: 5.38g
Protein: 9.91g
Sodium: 209mg
Pam says
Thank you!! I have been searching for years for a keto cake recipe that is edible and I’ve finally found it! It’s very close to the “real” thing. I live at high altitude and baking is difficult. Cakes and bread are usually dense and half the size they’re supposed to be. Not this one!
Do you have any other flavor keto cake recipes made in the slow cooker ? Maybe Red velvet?
Marla Goss says
Any NUT free substitutes for the almond flour? I am also allergic to Sunflower Seeds…
Carolyn says
Sorry, that’s the best option here. Not really sure what to say…
Susan says
I haven’t made this yet, but all of the desserts I have made by you have always been top notch. Now that you’ve made this…..you have got to try making a Hot Fudge Cake in the crockpot! I have tried to change my old Betty Crocker recipe into keto and failed. However, YOU could absolutely do it. Looking forward to some future crockpot recipes from you.
Carolyn says
Thanks!
Yolanda Salas says
This cake was absolutely wonderful! My guests loved it and couldn’t believe it was low carb and gluten free. The fact that it didn’t heat up the kitchen was a plus. I used a crock pot liner which i buttered, then used it to pull out the cake from the slow cooker. Easy, peasy and no pot to clean up!
Anna says
Love how moist the cake turned out, also very chocolate-y! However, I cooked it for 2.5 hours and the edges turned out very dry and dark, almost burned. I just trimmed it up and served the slices with your Keto Vanilla Ice Cream (to which I added buttered pecans, made according to your Butter Pecan Ice Cream Pie recipe! :). Next time I bake this cake I will stop at 2 hours and see how it goes! Thanks, Carolyn, this was a delicious 4th of July dessert for us!
Carolyn says
I think it’s possibly your brand of slow cooker? But yes, do what you need to do!
Joyce says
This cake is delicious! Even my non-keto husband enjoyed it!
I do have one complaint… How do you get it out and serve neatly
from the crock pot???????
Alice says
Hi Carolyn, I don’t have a crock pot. Can I use the slow cooking function from my Instapot?
MAUREEN says
This is the best low carb chocolate cake I’ve made. Turns out perfect every time. Love that I can put it in the slow cooker and not worry about checking to make sure it’s done without overbaking it. So moist and chocolaty.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Sharon Lurie says
I can’t find either egg white protein powder or whey protein powder. What else can I use?
I saw some websites say I can use cottage cheese in place of whey protein powder, but none of them say if it is an even swap.
What should I do?
Thank you!
Carolyn says
Absolutely not! Sorry, but that’s terrible advice, since it would add a ton of moisture to the recipe and throw off the wet-to-dry ratio. If you have to, you can skip it but the cake won’t rise as well.
Cathy Forehand says
Hello, Carolyn, I made this recipe for the second time today. So moist. Love it. The first time I scooped it right out of the pot to serve. This time I wanted to take it to a gathering so I tried to ‘un-pot’ it….fail. I had greased the pot *very* well. I don’t think there is any way to get it out whole. I can live with that.
My question is, last time I made a note to increase the Swerve a little, so I used a *heaping* 1/2 cup this time—still not sweet enough IMO. I am using the ‘dark’ Hershey’s cocoa powder. Could this be the reason it’s not sweet enough? If not, can I increase the sugar to 3/4 c or 1 cup or will this interfere with the recipe too much? Also, I sprinkled the choc chips on top instead of folding into batter if this could have made a diff. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. Please advise. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes and advice.
Marie says
This recipe is a must for me! I do it every week. I don’t use chocolate chips but I substitute a tablespoon of cocoa with dark cocoa. And I substitute 1/4 cup of almond flour for lupine flour. I think the texture is softer after freezing. I eat it with keto granola and keto ice cream. A true delight!
Jane says
I haven’t tried any of your marvy desserts yet because I have a question about sweeteners . . . . . I NEED to cut back on sweeteners – period.
If I cut back – in any recipe – will it affect the end result, in any way, of a recipe?
Thanks for your fun site!
Laura says
Thank you for posting this recipe! It is incredible, so delicious and fluffy, everyone that had a slice loved it very much and asked for the recipe ????????????????
My question is: i made this cake today but have guests tomorrow, i know you said that it’s best enjoyed warm with whipped cream on top, I just don’t know if it’s ok to save it whole in a cake container out on the countertop or refrigerate it until tomorrow and take it out a couple of hours before serving it? What do you recommend?
Carolyn says
Either way works well enough! It should still be great tomorrow as long as it’s stored tightly without a whole bunch of air getting in, drying it out.
KP says
I made the full recipe in my 20-year-old crockpot. Took 5 hours! ???? so delicious. My husband hates all Keto desserts because he says he can taste the fake sugar. However, he absolutely loved this! It is fantastic! Thanks so much!
Laura says
How long will the cake take in a 4qt crockpot?
Carolyn says
Well I can’t tell you exact times, since i don’t have that size of crockpot. To be honest, I would cut down the recipe by about 25 to 30%.
Cheryl S says
perfect recipe for warm weather when I don’t want to heat up the house with the oven!
Renee Pajestka says
Thanks for the recipe. Can I use an egg to replace the whey?
Carolyn says
No, an additional egg adds too much liquid.
Taylor says
Absolutely love that this is low carb and made in the slow cooker! So easy and delicious!