Hot dessert from a cool slow cooker

When it's summertime in Yuma, not many folks want to fire up the oven to bake a cake, because that would heat up the house and make the air conditioner work even harder.

So thank goodness for slow cookers, which use very little electricity and do not heat up the house. Though they are known for cooking plump, juicy roasts and moist, savory casseroles, they are also great for baking cakes.

With a little tweaking, an ordinary cake recipe can be easily modified for slow cooker baking. One such recipe is for Black Forest Upside-Down Cake, featured in “Busy People’s Slow Cooker Cookbook” by well-known cookbook author Dawn Hall.

It’s “my favorite,” Hall told the Yuma Sun via e-mail. “It definitely delivers what I call the ‘WOW’ factor!”

That wow factor, she explains, describes people’s reactions when they first see and taste this extraordinary recipe.

“What’s unique about this recipe is that we use ordinary and easy-to-find ingredients, yet it delivers an extraordinary dessert!" the Ohio-based author said. "It is absolutely gorgeous with the warm red cherries oozing down the side of the moist chocolate cake.”

Hall self-published her first cookbook in 1996 to raise money for her husband's brain cancer treatments and since then has sold over 1 million copies, even though she didn't know how to type or use a computer.

Though some of the cakes in Hall’s slow cooker book are "spoon cakes," which are simply spooned out of a slow cooker and served warm, the Black Forest Upside-Down Cake is a traditional-style cake.

After being baked in a slow cooker, a traditional-style cake is allowed to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then it is inverted onto a cake plate, according to Hall’s cooking tips in the dessert section of the “Busy People’s Slow Cooker Cookbook.”

Inverting cakes from a slow cooker can prove difficult, however. The cookers are heavy, and they create quite a bit of steam during the cooking process. So caution must be exercised to prevent burns or other injuries. Hall encourages people to consider whether they are physically capable of inverting a cake from a slow cooker before choosing to bake a traditional-style slow cooker cake.

For those who are up to the task, the preparation is quick and easy if Hall’s directions are precisely followed, and her cooking tips are considered in advance. While the cake bakes for two hours, something else can be done, such as enjoying dinner guests.

After the cake has finished baking and has been allowed to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, a knife should be run along the edges to loosen the cake. Next, very carefully using potholders to prevent burns, a cake plate with at least a half-inch raised lip around the outside edge should be placed upside down on top of the slow cooker.

Then comes the challenging part. Holding the slow cooker and cake plate firmly together, the cake must be carefully flipped upside down. Though the cake will slide easily out of the cooker onto the plate, the two utensils must be held tightly together, or else the hot, steamy, gooey cake will slip out and make a hot, steamy, gooey mess.

The handles on a slow cooker crock can make it somewhat difficult to properly hold a cake plate with a lip firmly to the cooker. So experimenting ahead of time with various cookers and/or cake plates might be a good idea.

If the inversion is successful, the warm, rich, moist chocolate cake will sit in all its glory on the cake plate while hot cherries on top slowly drizzle down the sides, creating an attractive dessert.

If the inversion is not successful, the baker could simply spoon the warm cake onto plates and serve it with a smile. It’ll taste so good, no one will ever suspect it wasn’t even supposed to be a spoon cake!

Besides the Black Forest Upside Down Cake, “Busy People’s Slow Cooker Cookbook” is filled with other quick, easy, low-fat recipes that use seven or fewer ingredients. Visit www.DawnHallCookbooks.com for more inf

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Black Forest Upside Down Cake
From “Busy People’s Slow Cooker Cookbook”
Makes 12 servings

6 egg whites
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup water
1 (18.25 ounce) chocolate cake mix, dry (author Dawn Hall uses Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe.) Do not make as directed on box.
1 (20 ounce) can light cherry pie filling
Nonfat cooking spray
Optional: Fat-free whipped topping or fat-free vanilla ice cream

  Preheat a slow cooker on high. Spray the slow cooker with nonfat cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites, applesauce and water together on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold the cake mix into the peaks.

Pour the pie filling into the bottom of the cooker. Pour the batter over the pie filling. Do not stir. Place a paper towel on top of the slow cooker, and place the lid over the paper towel to cover. Cook on high for two hours or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Turn off cooker. If possible, take the crock out of the slow cooker. Remove the lid and paper towel. Let sit for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the slow cooker to loosen the cake.

Place a large serving plate with an edge (so the sauce won’t overflow off the plate) upside down on top of the slow cooker. Holding the slow cooker and plate firmly together, carefully flip the cake upside down. It will be steamy hot, so be very careful. If desired, serve with fat-free whipped topping or fat-free vanilla ice cream. Good served hot, cold or at room temperature.

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Nutrition facts per serving: calories: 213; fat: 4g (17% fat); cholesterol: 0mg; carbohydrate: 39g; dietary fiber: 2g; protein: 4g; sodium: 364mg