Despite the success of this pumpkin cake, I’m not convinced that cooking cakes in the slow cooker has that much to recommend it. You essentially steam rather than bake it so it could easily be served as dessert. It’s probably more energy efficient if you’re baking just a cake in the oven. I’d lined the bowl with baking paper I didn’t have to wash it afterwards. A few cake crumbs in the rabbit soup didn’t matter. My slow cooker is a 3.5 litre round model – you’d need to adjust quantities and cooking times for a larger oval one.
If you want to get more from your slow cooker, Joan Bishop’s New Zealand Crockpot and Slow Cookbook may help.
Here’s the recipe I used:two eggs one cup brown sugar three quarters of a cup light olive oil one teaspoon vanilla essence 400g pumpkin flesh, steamed until tender one and a quarter cups flour two teaspoon each of cinnamon and mixed spice one teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda
Line the slow cooker with baking paper and set to ‘high’ to pre-heat. Put the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla into a food processor, blend until creamy. Add the cooled pumpkin and process again. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together into a bowl.Tip into the food processor and process to combine. I mixed in half a cup of dried mixed fruit by hand at this stage.
Cook for an hour and a quarter without removing the lid. Wobble the cooker to check the centre is set. If it is, turn off the cooker and remove the lid. Check that a skewer comes out clean. Stand for another fifteen minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
