Accidental Crockpot Chocolate Souffle

I have mentioned before how much I love my crockpot. And one thing I realized after perusing the internets and buying a few crockpot cookbooks is that you can make DESSERTS in the crockpot!!! What could be better than mixing up some sweet ingredients, letting them cook all day, and having a delicious dessert to come home to?? Nothing, I tell you, NOTHING.

So, I went to my trusty "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker" and looked through their dessert options. Unfortunately, there were few vegan options, and the vegan options that were there were not necessarily my cup o' tea. I like chocolate. I like brownies. I like cakes. I don't particularly like fruity desserts...they feel too healthy even if they are slathered in oil and butter and the like. BUT, I did find the recipe for "FUDGY CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE." Now, pudding? Not my fave, but sneak that word in amongst fudgy and chocolate and cake, and NOW you're speaking my language.

So I gave this a go.

My biggest problem with this recipe is that I did not have a dish that could easily fit in my crockpot on top of the rack. So I ended up using a regular old bowl that I had and this was not as attractive or useful as I would have liked. I couldn't really cut out servings when it was done which basically gave me an excuse to house half of it in one sitting because, hey, it was in a soup bowl and I couldn't store it that well.

I'm also pretty sure that cooking this in the crockpot was unecessary and actually complicated things more. I cooked it longer than 3 hours because I never use that thing unless I'm going to be gone for longer than 3 hours, so that too was a little weird.

This was...ok, not bad, but not great either. It had the consistency of a pudding/souffle, nothing cake-like about it. I'm still holding out for a more exciting and innovative way to cook desserts in my crockpot.

I obviously did not mix this together well enough either because there are white flakes in the stuff. Oh well.

Here's the recipe from "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker."

Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups boiling water
1 cup sugar or natural sweetener
2 tablespoons corn oil or other mild-tasting oil
1 1/2 cups soymilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or liqueur of choice (I used vanilla)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Place a rack or trivet in a 6-quart slow cooker. Pour in the boiling water, cover, and turn the heat setting to High. Lightly oil a baking dish that will fit inside the cooker.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and oil together until well blended. Stir in the milk and vanilla.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just blended. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil, making several holes in the foil for steam to escape. Set it on the rack, cover, and cook on High for 3 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with almonds and serve warm or at room temperature.