Since I just proclaimed summer is the best time to use your slow cooker, I thought I better get some new recipes for you to try! I will have more not-so-quick bread recipes coming in the next few months. I have added detailed instructions to help you through your first few batches!
This one is great because the variations are almost endless. Think almond thyme, lemon basil, coconut lime-basil, vanilla mint… Of course, the best thing to do with a pound cake is to top it with fresh seasonal fruit from your local farmers market or from your own garden. It’s summer, so I take the lazy route whenever possible. Instead of topping it with vegan whipped cream I use So Delicious Vanilla Yogurt.
I made a lemon mint version and it has been my breakfast all week, I also have a pineapple-sage coconut one in the slow cooker right now – yum! Cakes in the slow cooker cook up extra-moist so the texture may be a little different than you are used to.
I am using unbleached flour to capture the full pound cake effect, but feel free to use whole wheat pastry flour instead. You can also try using a gluten-free baking mix in place of the wheat flour to make a gluten-free version.
If you haven’t baked in your slow cooker before, the first time will be a bit of an experiment. Some slow cookers run very hot and others don’t. This will make the time vary a huge amount. You’ll have a good idea on just how long it will take after your first try.
I like to use a loaf pan and one of my oval 6 quart slow cookers. It takes longer than putting it in the crock, but you have more control over the end result. Most slow cookers, like most ovens, have hot spots. If you are cooking in the crock make sure to turn it every hour or so it will cook evenly. In fact, you should do the same if you cook it in a loaf pan or one side may be darker than the other.
Vegan Pound Cake From Your Slow Cooker!
Ingredients
- 1 ⁄2 cup 112 g non-dairy butter (like Earth Balance)
- 1/4 cup fresh herb mint, thyme, basil, etc.
- 1 cup sugar 200 g sugar
- 1 box 12.3 ounce/349 g silken tofu
- 1 teaspoon extract of your choice lemon, vanilla, coconut, almond, rum, etc.
- 2 cups 240g unbleached flour (or Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Baking Mix)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Make sure to try putting the loaf pan you plan on using in your slow cooker before you start the batter! Some fit and some don't.
Instructions
- Add non-dairy butter to mixer and mix until creamy.
- Put the whole herbs and sugar into a food processor, pulse until the two are integrated together.
- Add the sugar mixture to the mixer and beat until creamy.
- Add the silken tofu to the unwashed food processor bowl and purée until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides so you get all of it the same silky-smooth texture. Then scrape the tofu into the mixer bowl with the rest.
- Add the extract of your choice and mix until everything is well combined.
- Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Add ⅓ of the dry mixture at a time to the mixer. Mix until just combined and repeat until all dry in mixed in.
- Remove bowl from the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and make sure everything is mixed in.
- Add batter to an oiled loaf pan that fits in your slow cooker, or directly to your pre-oiled crock.
- If you are using a loaf pan: take a long piece of aluminum foil, roll it into a snake, and pinch the ends together to make an 'o'. Put this on the bottom of your crock, then set the loaf pan on top of it. Press the pan so the aluminum foil is even and doesn't make your pan tip or sit at an angle. (You can reuse this when you make your next loaf.)
- Cook on high, with a clean dish towel doubled and placed over the top of the crock. Then place a wooden spoon on top on that, and finally the lid. The lid will be cracked open some to let the moisture evaporate, but will still hold the dish towel in place. What doesn't evaporate the dish towel will absorb. If you cook it normally with the lid closed the condensation will drop onto your cake and keep it from cooking.
- Cook until the edges start to brown and it's mostly cooked through, but the very middle will still be softer. (about 1½ to 2½ hours cooked in crock, 3 to 4 hours cooked in loaf pan).
- I touch it to see how springy it is. The edges will feel like a normal loaf from the oven and the middle you can still indent.
- Remember if you cook it as a loaf, it will continue to cook a little more after you remove it from the slow cooker. So you are taking it out of the slow cooker sooner than you would the oven.
Vegiegail says
OMG. That looks amazing.
the RA Vegan says
That looks amazing! I’m going to try it with a gluten free flour mix and will let you know how it goes!
Kathy Hester (geekypoet) says
That would be great! I’d love to add any comments or suggestions you have to the post for the other gluten-free readers.
Kourtney says
I guess finding useful, reliable inoframtoin on the internet isn’t hopeless after all.
H.Heiman says
I just made it with Pamela’s Gluten Free baking mix – I used ~1/4 cup extra mix, and no added leavening since the mix has it already and Im baking @ 7000′.
Used my fresh organic basil, vanilla, and will have fresh organic blueberries on top, no yogurt.
Kathy Hester (geekypoet) says
Thanks for letting us know!
Awilda Sanchez says
anyway sugar can be substituted by something else like dates or bananas??? this sound so good!
Kathy Hester says
In theory you can substitute other sweeteners for the sugar. You will probably have to make a few versions to get the dry/wet ingredients balanced with that change. Does that make sense?
Awilda Sanchez says
yes, thank you! i will give it a go with dates first. should the batter be cake-like? as opposed, i guess, to muffin or bread like… sorry for dumb q’s, but i try to avoid sugar like the plague… not because i don’t like it, in fact, i love it, but because i don’t feel very well after eating it 🙁
Kathy Hester says
When I’m working on a batter for a quick bread int he slow cooker I try to get a batter that’s thicker than one for the oven. If you have more liquid than needed it can take longer to cook it, but it should still work on high. Please let me know how it goes and I’d love it if you shared your changes too. Alot of us, me included, are trying to cut down on sugar!
Linda says
Do you cool it in the cooker or remove it… and if you remove it, what is the best way if the cake is done directly in the cooker (no loaf pan)?
Kathy Hester says
If it’s in the loaf pan I take it out to cool once I feel it’s done. If you make it in the crock you’ll want to take the crock out unless you want it to cook more. It will still cook some in the hot crock but not as much as if it were in the heating part.
Linda says
I think it would be great if you had a photo of the set up… the towel and the wooden spoon on top leaves a lot to my imagination! 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful recipe!
Kathy Hester says
Let’s see if I can explain it better. (I’m working on a new book, so I won’t have time to redo this recipe to take a pic until the fall…)
The clean dish towel is there to absorb the moisture that’s naturally created in the slow cooker. So your crock is in the slow cooker and you loaf pan with the batter is in there.
Then take the cloth (I double mine because they are long – if yours is shorter there is no need to do that.) and place over the crock so that it extends enough to be under the lid without slipping in.
You want the towel to absorb the moisture that forms on the lid, but you can help it form less by propping the lid up with a wooden spoon. So place the spoon on top of one “side” (with the dial being the front) about 1 inch form the edge of the slow cooker.
Depending on how moist it is you can use the spoon part or the handle to change the space in between the slow cooker and the lid.
You can do one or the other, but I like to do both when I’m baking. There’s nothing more frustrating than cooking a cake that never cooks because the moisture drips in to the center of the cake.
I hope this helps!
Sherry says
Does coconut oil work? Did anyone figure out the sugar thing? dates or bananas?
Anna Cordova says
Seriously? I was chatting with my mom yesterday about how I wanted to make pound cake, and I am a vegan with celiac disease. She said, how can you make a pound cake without butter? This looks ten times better than the original version. I can’t wait to try it! I have re-ignited my relationship with my slow cooker thanks to all of your great recipes. Thank you!!!!
Nona says
I have a Rival crock pot Bread’n Cake Bake pan with a vented lid. I am going to try it with this pound cake. Has anyone tried this container that you put in the slow cooker?
Kathy Hester says
I haven’t tried one, but I’d love to.