(Weight Watchers Friendly Crock Pot Cooking Day #6 – 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.
This slow cooker 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 apple cake, which is much lighter and healthier than Mom’s original.
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.
Slow Cooker Apple Cake
I loved the notes included with this slow cooker apple cake recipe. If they hadn’t have 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.
This slow cooker 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 and *6 PointsPlus
Mom and Rod both gave it their enthusiastic approval. I will definitely be making this slow cooker apple cake again.
Enjoy!
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chopped apples, peeled or not (2 to 3 apples. I used Pink Lady's)
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts.
- 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 hot 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.
Source: Adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It New Cookbook: 250 New Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes!
*PointsPlus® for slow cooker apple cake calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc.
*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.
If you liked this recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Cake, you might also like:
Healthy Harvest Fresh Apple Cake
Skinny Apple Brownies
Apple Pecan Muffin Recipe
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Great recipe. Will give this one a try.
Martha do you think I could use pears instead of apples for this great looking cake? It looks delish!
Hi Marylouise,
I don’t see why not. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out!!
Thanks 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! 🙂
Yum! 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!
I 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 🙂
Hi 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.
Can 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
Hi 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.
Made 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.
Hi 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 🙂
Just 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.
Thanks, Liz! Love to hear that. You’ve brightened my day!!
Doubled 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!
Great idea to double the recipe and cook right in the ceramic insert! Glad it turned out great!
Can you use splenda instead of sugar?
Hi Carolann, I haven’t tried it but think it should work. Let us know if you do try it!!