Slow Cooker Sticky Caramel Pumpkin Cake
on Aug 24, 2019, Updated Oct 12, 2021
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Pumpkin Cake is a crock-pot dessert recipe that came to me later in life but when it showed up, it did so in a big way. This pumpkin cake recipe was our first recipe to go viral, within our first year of starting Platter Talk, back in 2013.
Featured in Country Living, Better Homes and Garden, House Beautiful, MSN Food, and in various other high-profile media outlets, it is one of our most popular cake recipes. Best of all, you can make this easy pumpkin cake recipe in just two hours at home.
About this
Halloween is still a few weeks away, but suddenly there are gourds and pumpkins popping up all over the place.
Speaking of pumpkins, one of them ended up in the most unexpected places the other day – in my slow cooker. When it came out, it looked like this:
Growing up on a big Mennonite family farm, I always had a special relationship with pumpkins. And cakes.
In fact, homemade cakes are my favorite recipes to make. I’m talking about such yummy desserts as Chocolate Cake made with Whiskey and Coffee, Traditional Swedish Almond Cake, and Upside-Down Rhubarb Cake. They’re all so delicious!
Each year I would plant a row or two in my mom’s huge garden and as I grew older, I would try to grow the biggest pumpkins possible.
I tried milk-feeding them, like I read about int the Little House on the Prairie books, using fresh milk and cream from our cows via a bowl and a candle wick spliced into the pumpkin vines.
It wasn’t until the fall season when I first left for college that some of my pumpkins had tipped the scale at over 40 pounds!
As fate would have it, I was over 100 miles away and wasn’t even able to bask in the glory of my pumpkin pride.
And then 35 years later this pumpkin cake recipe showed up.
It was given to my recipe pimp and beautiful friend, Amy, who picked it up in the grocery store check-out isle.
I made this easy pumpkin dump cake for my new food and recipe blog, and all of the sudden, Platter Talk became real.
And so did this incredibly simple crock-pot dessert.
Ingredients
- Packed pumpkin
- Flour
- Sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Pumpkin Spice
- Salt
- Caramel Sauce (optional topping)
Recipe highlights
- This pumpkin dessert recipe is inexpensive or downright cheap at less than $10 for the whole thing.
- Make this crock-pot dessert in just two hours.
- You don’t need to be a baker to make this pumpkin dump cake, anyone can put it together!
- Much like our 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Most importantly, the taste of this pumpkin cake recipe is nothing short of a miracle, IMHO.
In conclusion, this pumpkin cake recipe pretty much has it all.
It’s affordable, it’s extremely easy to prepare, and it is scary delicious.
This is the perfect crock-pot dessert recipe to make for guests or family, for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any holiday.
If you were like me and thought that crock pots were just for making dinner and meals for the family while you are spending your entire day doing something else, I say, “Think again.
Oven method
If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this slow cooker cake in an oven. Here is how to do that:
- Bake at 350° F.
- The type of pan you have will determine how long to bake.
- A loaf pan will require 45 minutes, a sheet cake or double layer cake will take about 30 minutes.
- It is recommended that you not use a glass baking pan for this cake as metal and ceramic pans seem to help keep the batter from falling.
To avoid using processed (granulated white sugar), you can use 1/3 cup of maple syrup and 1/3 cup of honey.
If you don’t want to use butter, readers have used 2/3 cup of sunflower oil with great success.
Finally, some people have added a little extra pumpkin spice to the batter and a cap-full of vanilla.
Try this recipe and let us know how you make it!
See all of our Cake Recipes!
More of our Favorite Dessert Recipes:
- RumChata Cupcakes
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts
- Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts
- Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Forgotten Cookies
- Danish Kringle Recipe
Some of our Most Popular Holiday Recipes
- Giblet Gravy
- How to Roast Prime Rib
- Southern Cornbread Dressing
- Open-Face Apple Pie
- Cherry Christmas Cookies
- 101 Best Christmas Cookie for 2021
If you love caramel you have to have a taste of our homemade caramel popcorn. One handful is all it takes to get you hooked!
More slow cooker recipes
- Crock Pot Creamy Chicken
- Crock Pot Apple Butter
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
- Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes
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Slow Cooker Sticky Caramel Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 15 oz solid packed pumpkin, 1 can
- 16 oz caramel sauce, 1 jar
Instructions
- Coat 4 1/2 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, turn to “high.”
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in mixing bowl.
- Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer for about 3 minutes, until light.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
- Add packed pumpkin, blend until well mixed.
- Gradually add flour mixture and beat at low speed for a minute or so until smooth.
- Spread evenly in slow cooker and cover.
- Cook on high setting 2 hours or until center-inserted tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let cake stand, uncovered 10 minutes.
- Invert onto wire rack, invert again onto serving plate.
- Drizzle half of caramel sauce over cake. Serve warm with additional sauce.
Video
Notes
- Be sure to apply a generous coating of non-stick spray to your slow cooker before adding the ingredients for this pumpkin cake recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would be all over this dessert myself. I love pumpkin cake and I love sticky caramel. Love the pictures, makes me wanna pick it off the screen.
Oh wow, my family would go crazy for this dessert. I love everything pumpkin, this looks delicious.
I wanted to let you know I tried out the cake and it turned out perfectly. I would have never thought to make a dessert in my slow cooker. I’ll have to try my hand at more desserts.
Thanks for the feedback, Marisa! we’re happy you enjoyed this slow cooker dessert!
This dessert looks too good to pass up. I love how it’s made in the slow cooker too!
I have made slow cooker cheesecakes and chocolate cake and pumpkin is a favorite in our home I know this is going to be the newest loved recipe when I make it!
I’ve never made a dessert in the slow cooker but this one looks too good to pass up. We love pumpkin and the spices that goes along with it. I’m getting my crockpot out right now.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Marisa! You’re going to love this slow cooker dessert; enjoy!
Could this recipe be revised for a smaller slow cooker (like 1/2 quart)?
Sure, I would cut the ingredients by 1/3, and also reduce your cooking time to an hour. Check it at frequent intervals and if the edges start to look crisp then it should be done.
So, unlike most of the comments here, I actually made this tonight. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I generally look to comments for useful tips, tricks, and to get an idea on whether people liked the finished product. The only thing I changed was I used 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg because that’s all I had that was close to pumpkin spice.
I think it came out pretty well nonetheless. The rest of the recipe was followed as written. Even the 2 hour cooking time on high. For my crockpot, that happened to be a tad too long because I ended up with partially burnt edges that I had to trim off. That’s how I knew it was time. I started to smell the burning lol. I ended up with more of a pumpkin bread. That’s fine by us because it still tastes good. It doesn’t look super moist like Dan’s picture, though.
Out of 5 stars, I’d give this a 4. I’d make it again. Thanks for sharing. Oh and also, I love caramel but this by itself was plenty sweet.
Thanks for the comments and we are happy to hear that you tried and liked this recipe. It never ceases to amaze me that you can get a cake from a crock pot!
Ooh, this reminds me of sticky toffee pudding! Love that it’s made in the slow cooker!
Thanks, Christina. Give it a try and if will remind you of the best tasting and easiest-to-make cake that you’ve ever tasted!
I never would have thought to make a cake in the slow cooker but I NEED to try it now. Thanks for the idea!