Weight Watchers Friendly Crock Pot Cooking Recipe of the Day – Slow Cooker Apple Cake
Check out this slow cooker apple cake!
It’s my first attempt at baking in the slow cooker. I’m really impressed with the results.
Weight Watchers Friendly Slow Cooker Apple Cake
This apple cake baked up moist, dense and delicious. Chock full of chunks of apples, it’s a perfect dessert for fall.
Every October, I find myself craving a piece of the fresh apple cake my mom made when I was a kid. So, it’s become a tradition to bake it or something similar.
For the past two years, I’ve made this Healthy Harvest Fresh Apple Cake, which is much lighter and healthier than Mom’s original, while still satisfying my craving.
So, I was excited to see this slow cooker apple cake recipe, in my latest cookbook find, Fix-It and Forget-It New Cookbook: 250 New Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes! by Phyllis Good.
Lightened Up Slow Cooker Apple Cake
Skinny on Slow Cooker Apple Cake
I loved the notes included with this slow cooker cake recipe. If they hadn’t been there I would have panicked too. “When I first made this cake I was sure I should have used more flour, sugar and eggs. But I decided to see if the apples were juicy enough to hold things together and wind up with a dense and delicious finish. And it worked!!”
It really is mostly chopped apples coated with what seems like too little cake batter. But go with it!
I made a few changes from the original recipe. I substituted 3 tablespoons canola oil for 1/4 cup melted butter. Decreased the sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup. And decreased the chopped nuts from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup, to save a few calories/Weight Watchers Points.
This apple cake turned out better than I expected. It was sweet, but not too sweet, with a nice hint of cinnamon.
Chock full of chopped apples, the texture was dense and moist.
According to my calculations, each slice has 235 calories, *6 Weight Watchers PointsPlus, *9 Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints.
Most sweet treats have doubled with WW New Beyond the Scale SmartPoints, so finding that this has only gone up by 50% was a nice discovery.
It’s relatively low in sugar and packed with apples, which are no longer counted in the Points calculation with SmartPoints.
Mom and Rod both gave it their enthusiastic approval. I will definitely be making this slow cooker apple cake again.
Enjoy!
Stephanie from JoyOfBaking.com demonstrates how she makes her apple cake:
If you like this easy slow cooker apple cake, be sure to check out some of my other easy, healthy Weight Watchers apple friendly recipes including WW 4-Ingredient Apple Pancake Puff, Slow Cooker Applesauce Spice Cake, Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Cake, Skinny Apple Brownies and Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Search for More Easy + Healthy Apple Dessert Recipes
Lightened Up Slow Cooker Apple Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chopped apples, peeled or not (2 to 3 apples, I used Pink Lady's)
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Grease and flour a bread pan or baking dish that fits in your slow cooker. Place a trivet or metal mason jar rings in the bottom of your slow cooker to support the pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until creamy and well blended.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the apples and walnuts. (It will seem like too little batter for so many apples, but it's not.)
- Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Cover the pan with foil. Set into the cooker.
- Cover the slow cooker with the slow cooker lid. Bake on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Begin checking after the slow cooker apple cake has been cooking 2 hours. If it isn't done, cover and continue cooking for 15 to 30 more minutes and then check it again.
- When the cake is done, carefully lift the hot baking pan out of the slow cooker and set it on a wire rack to cool for at least 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
- Cut into 8 slices and serve.
Recipe Notes
Source: Adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It New Cookbook: 250 New Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes!
*PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
Watch how you can make your own healthy, low calorie apple spice cake at home:
More Weight Watchers Apple Recipes:
Skinny Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze (SkinnyKitchen)
Cream Cheese Apple Coffee Cake (SlenderKitchen)
Caramel Apple Loaf (DrizzleMeSkinny)
Maple Glazed Apple Cider Doughnuts (LaaLoosh)
Apple Crumble in a Mug (HungryGirl)
Gooey Whole Wheat Apple Bars with Apple Cider Glaze (TheYummyLife)
Apple Sliced Scones with Spiced Glaze (SkinnyTaste)
Skinny Caramel Apple Pie Trifle (SkinnyKitchen)
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Hi, I'm Martha. Simple Nourished Living chronicles the easy and delicious Weight Watchers friendly recipes, tips & hints that help me balance my love of food and desire to be happy, healthy and slim. 
Decalo Weight Loss
October 6, 2013 at 6:44 pmGreat recipe. Will give this one a try.
Marylouise
October 7, 2013 at 1:05 pmMartha do you think I could use pears instead of apples for this great looking cake? It looks delish!
Martha McKinnon
October 7, 2013 at 1:42 pmHi Marylouise,
I don’t see why not. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out!!
Cammy@TippyToeDiet
October 7, 2013 at 5:22 pmThanks for the recipe, Martha! I might make this around the holidays.
I love those ‘Fix It and Forget It’ cookbooks! Just my kind of cooking! 🙂
Dr. Rogers
October 8, 2013 at 12:42 pmYum! This recipe looks perfect for fall! Love going to the orchard with purpose and this recipe gives me a good excuse to leave with too many!
Cami Felt
November 7, 2013 at 7:28 pmI love your crockpot recipes! I love the idea of this as a breakfast cake on the weekend. Do you think there’s any way to make this overnight in the crockpot (possibly on low heat)? I’ve never cooked a cake or anything similar in the crockpot so this is uncharted territory for me 🙂
Martha McKinnon
November 7, 2013 at 9:22 pmHi Cami,
I’m still learning about crock pot baking myself. I’m not sure if this would work. I’m afraid that overnight is just too long for this to bake, even on low.
Jane
January 2, 2014 at 1:01 pmCan you “cook” on warm for other things. I LOVE your recipes…but my concern is that I work and am away from home minimum of 9 hours a day….so the low for 4-6 isnt gonna work for me. Help with any ideas.
THANKS
Martha McKinnon
January 2, 2014 at 3:50 pmHi Jane,
Unfortunately, it’s not really safe to cook other foods on warm. The concern is that they won’t come up to a safe temperature to kill bacteria and could cause sickness. You may want to consider investing in one of the new fancy digital slow cookers. You can set them to cook for the required number of hours and then they switch to “warm” for several hours. If I was working away from home, this is definitely something I would be looking to buy.
Hope this helps.
Liz
March 26, 2014 at 10:19 amMade this last weekend directly in the crockpot with amazing reviews. I was very leery about a cake in the crock pot but I have been converted. Have been asked to try another this weekend.
Martha McKinnon
March 26, 2014 at 1:58 pmHi Liz,
I totally understand your leeriness and am so very glad it work well for you! I too was amazed at how yummy this slow cooker apple cake turned out the first time I made it 🙂
Liz
July 11, 2014 at 12:53 pmJust an update – have continued using this recipe these past 3 plus months with much success and amazement from those learing it comes from a crock pot. Have even doubled the recipe and used a larger crockpot with equal success. It has become one of my staples no matter the season.
Martha McKinnon
July 11, 2014 at 1:55 pmThanks, Liz! Love to hear that. You’ve brightened my day!!
kitchenhag
October 15, 2014 at 6:53 amDoubled the recipe and greased the ceramic insert of my crock pot. Baked the cake in the insert. Turned out great. Thank you for the recipe!
Martha McKinnon
October 15, 2014 at 10:30 amGreat idea to double the recipe and cook right in the ceramic insert! Glad it turned out great!
denise
October 3, 2016 at 6:31 amcould you use this recipe in the casserole type crock pot (13/9 casserole dish)
Martha McKinnon
October 3, 2016 at 2:45 pmHi Denise, I don’t think there’s enough batter. I haven’t tried it but think you would have to double the recipe to make it work for the casserole crock. Hope this helps.
Carolann
September 6, 2016 at 8:41 amCan you use splenda instead of sugar?
Martha McKinnon
September 6, 2016 at 6:08 pmHi Carolann, I haven’t tried it but think it should work. Let us know if you do try it!!
Victoria
February 9, 2017 at 12:48 pmThis would bake ok in the oven wouldn’t it? Maybe at 350.
Martha McKinnon
February 9, 2017 at 2:40 pmHi Victoria, Though I haven’t tried it, I think this would be fine in the oven on 350 until done -probably 45 minutest to 1 hour of cooking time.
Vicki
March 11, 2017 at 1:23 pmI love the cake, but trying to think of ways to make it lower in points.
Has anyone tried substituting applesauce for the oil, and Splenda instead of sugar?
Love the cake, but 9 points really cuts into my daily 30 point allowance.
Martha McKinnon
March 12, 2017 at 7:20 pmHi Vicki, I haven’t tried any of these changes. Please let me know if you discover a lighter alternative.
Vicki
March 13, 2017 at 8:38 amI made it yesterday and substituted applesauce for the oil, and used Splenda in place of the sugar (and I forgot to put in the nuts) – and it was still yummy for only 2 points! If I had hadn’t forgotten the nuts, it would have been better, I’m sure – and still only 3 points.
I love this recipe and the fact that I can enjoy eating cake everyday without blowing my diet.
Scott
October 26, 2017 at 7:05 amIs the crockpot empty aside from the cake, or do you fill it with water partway up the side of the cake pan?
Martha McKinnon
October 27, 2017 at 9:20 amHi Scott, no water necessary. – Martha