A Pressure cooker chocolate cake without oven which is soft, moist and delicious. The recipe is also eggless.
One of the recipe requests I have got many times is on How to make cake without oven. So thought of adding the recipe and method of making cake in a pressure cooker.
I have made this cake many times in an oven. When I had first made this cake, I had made it in the pressure cooker. This recipe is roughly adapted from a cake recipe which I have been making many years back.
The recipe is simple and you do not need any special ingredients. This eggless cake is made with all purpose flour (maida). Do use if possible organic maida or unbleached all purpose flour.
You can also prepare this cake with whole wheat flour (atta) as I have made it before with whole wheat flour. You may need to add some more water if using whole wheat flour. You can also check this Wheat cake recipe.
The cake is soft, moist and light and tastes like dutch truffle cake. Basically this cake is best had directly from the pan. It is so moist that even when you slice you have to slice carefully and only once the icing sets. Even without icing the cake tastes good, but I do recommend the chocolate icing.
Cake Recipes Without Oven
- Cooker cake – spongy and a soft, light-textured delicious egg-free sponge cake recipe made in a pressure cooker.
- Biscuit cake – this is one of the easiest and yummy cake recipe one can make. This no bake biscuit cake has chocolate in it and tastes too good.
- Cucumber cake – a light, nutritious steamed cake made with yellow cucumber, semolina, jaggery and coconut. A traditional recipe from the Goan belt and is called as tavsali. In this recipe the cake is steamed instead of baking it.
This cake can also be made in the oven (Details mentioned in the recipe card & the step by step pics below). The recipe uses curd (yogurt) and vinegar. You can also use buttermilk instead of curd. Do use any good quality cocoa powder. I have used Hershey’s cocoa powder.
How to make Pressure Cooker Chocolate Cake
1. Grease a baking pan or baking bowl with butter or oil. Do make sure that the pan you use should fit inside a 5 or 6 litre pressure cooker.
2. In a bowl, take 1 cup all purpose flour (125 grams) and ¼ teaspoon salt.
3. Then add ½ cup sugar (100 grams).
4. Mix everything very well with a spoon or wired whisk. Keep aside.
5. Then in a pan, take ¼ cup unsalted butter (30 grams), ¼ cup oil and ¼ cup cocoa powder (20 grams). if using salted butter then skip adding salt in step 1.
6. Add ½ cup water.
7. Keep the pan on a low flame and with a wired whisk, continuously stir so that all the cocoa powder dissolves and the mixture becomes uniform. There should be no lumps.
8. The butter will start melting on a low heat.
9. Bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously with the whisk.
10. As soon as the chocolate mixture comes to a boil, immediately pour it into the flour mixture.
11. Just light mix. If you don’t mix, then also its fine. Keep aside.
12. In a 5 or 6 litre cooker, spread 1 cup salt evenly. Place the cooker on a low flame.
13. In another small bowl, take ¼ cup fresh curd or yogurt.
14. Add ¼ cup water to the curd.
15. Mix very well.
16. Then add 1 teaspoon vinegar to it. Mix again.
17. Next add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence.
18. Lastly add ½ teaspoon baking soda. Since only baking soda is used, do make sure that the baking soda is fresh and active. To check the freshness, just dissolve a bit of baking soda in solution of vinegar and water and it should fizz and bubble.
19. Mix very well. This mixture will begin to froth.
20. Immediately add this mixture to the flour+chocolate mixture.
Mixing and making cake without oven
21. With a wired whisk mix very well.
22. However do not over do the mixing.
23. Pour into the greased baking tin.
24. gently shake the pan.
25. Place a rack or stand on the salt layer.
26. Place the cake pan on the stand.
27. Close with the cooker’s lid. The rubber gasket (rubber ring) and the whistle should be removed.
28. Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes on a low flame. If baking in an oven, then bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 35 to 40 minutes.
29. Check with a toothpick to see if the cake is done or not. The toothpick should come out clean. In fact, even after 20 to 25 minutes, you can open the lid and check to see if the cake is done or not.
30. Remove the cake pan carefully from the pressure cooker. While the cake is still hot. Poke a lot of holes in it using a fork or a toothpick or a wooden skewer. Make a lot of holes as this is where the icing seeps into and they cannot be seen once the icing has been cooled.
To make the icing
1. In a saucepan, take ¼ cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence, 10 tablespoons brown sugar, ¼ cup milk and ¼ cup cocoa powder. Instead of brown sugar, you can also use regular white sugar or unrefined cane sugar.
2. Keep the pan on a low flame and with a wired whisk stir very well.
3. The sugar should melt and the cocoa powder should dissolve. Keep on stirring continuously to get an even mixture.
4. bring this mixture to a boil.
5. Once this icing mixture comes to a boil, then immediately pour it all over the cake. You don’t need to spread it as the icing seeps down inside the cake.
6. This cake tastes good warm also, but you cannot slice them and you can just have it directly from the pan. You can also cool the cake in the fridge and then have it. Cover the pan with a lid or foil when keeping in the fridge. I kept the cake in the fridge and thus I was able to slice them for the final pics 🙂
7. Slice and then serve the cake as a dessert.
More Cake recipes for you!
Pressure Cooker Chocolate Cake (Making Cake Without Oven)
Ingredients
1st mixture
- 1 cup all purpose flour (maida) or 125 grams maida
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar or 100 grams sugar
2nd mixture
- ¼ cup cocoa powder or 20 grams cocoa powder
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or 30 grams butter, if using salted butter then skip adding salt
- ¼ cup oil
- ½ cup water
3rd mixture
- ¼ cup curd (yogurt or dahi)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
icing for cake
- ¼ cup cocoa powder or 20 grams cocoa powder
- ¼ cup butter or 30 grams butter, salted or unsalted
- 10 tablespoons brown sugar - regular sugar can also be used
- ¼ cup milk you can also use cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
- Grease a baking pan or baking bowl with butter.
first mixture
- In a bowl, take the flour, salt and sugar.
- Mix everything very well with a spoon or wired whisk.
second mixture
- Then in a pan, take butter, oil, cocoa and water.
- Keep the pan on a low flame and with a wired whisk, continuously stir so that all the cocoa powder dissolves and the mixture becomes uniform. There should be no lumps.
- Bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously with the whisk.
- As soon as the chocolate mixture comes to a boil, immediately pour it into the flour mixture.
- Just light mix. If you don't mix then also its fine.
- In a 5 or 6 litre pressure cooker, spread 1 cup salt evenly. Place the cooker on a low flame.
third mixture
- In another bowl, take curd, water, vinegar and vanilla extract. mix very well.
- Lastly add baking soda.
- Mix very well. This mixture will begin to froth.
- Immediately add this mixture to the flour+chocolate mixture.
mixing and making cake without oven
- With a wired whisk mix very well. However do not over do the mixing.
- Pour into the greased baking tin. gently shake the pan.
- Place a rack or stand on the salt layer. place the cake pan on the stand.
- Cover with a lid. The rubber gasket and the whistle should be removed.
- Bake cake for 40 to 45 minutes on a low flame. If baking in an oven, then bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees f (approx 177 degrees c) for 35 to 40 minutes.
- Check with a tooth pick to see if the cake is done or not. The tooth pick should come out clean.
- Remove the cake pan carefully from the pressure cooker. While the cake is still hot poke a lot of holes in it using a fork or a toothpick or a wooden skewer. Make a lot of holes as this is where the icing seeps into and they cannot be seen once the icing has been cooled.
to make the chocolate icing for cake
- In a saucepan, take butter, vanilla extract,brown sugar, milk and cocoa powder.
- Keep the pan on a low flame and with a wired whisk stir very well. The sugar should melt and the cocoa powder should dissolve. Keep on stirring continuously to get an even mixture.
- Bring this mixture to a boil.
- Once this icing mixture comes to a boil, then immediately pour it all over the cake. You don't need to spread it as the icing seeps down inside the cake.
- This cake tastes good warm also, but you cannot slice them and you can just have them directly from the pan.
- You can also cool the cake in the fridge and then have it. Cover the pan with a lid or foil when keeping in the fridge.
- Slice and then serve the cake as a dessert.
Notes
- You can use whole wheat flour (atta) also to prepare this cake. If using atta, then sieve the flour once or twice with salt first.
- Then use ⅔ to ¾ cup water in the second mixture. The amount of water to be added depends on the quality of whole wheat flour. So you can keep some hot water handy, in case the batter becomes too thick.
- Nutrition info is for one slice of cake.
is there any substitute for oil that i can use?
use butter. so add 1/4th cup butter instead of oil. thus overall you will need to add 1/2 cup butter.
One more question.Can we use baking powder instead of baking soda and can u tell me a butter substitute as i usually do not have butter available at home
baking soda is required in the cake recipe. so it cannot be substituted with baking powder. instead of butter, you can use any neutral tasting oil like sunflower oil. another option is to use olive oil, but the aroma of olive oil will be there.
Hi Dassana i made this cake today it was spongy and moist but it had slight bitterness in it. Also the icing turned hard when it cooled down !!! Can u plz tell me how to prevent this.
hi shubha, the bitterness could be due to the quality of cocoa powder or butter. icing has turned hard as it was cooked more and thus the sugar has got cooked too much. the sugar on cooling thus has crystallized and hence the icing being hard. just cook icing till it begins to boil and then immediately remove from fire. cook the icing mixture on a low to medium-low flame. use a good quality cocoa powder. for the butter do check its aroma. if the aroma is slightly stale or not fresh, then avoid adding this butter as it will give a bitter taste in the cake. hope these suggestions help.
Hi Dassana,
The cake looks very good, and I wanted to try making i. I just wanted to ask why do you have to put the cake pan on top of a salt layer?
just to provide a layer so that the cake does not get burnt. thanks.
Hi Dassana,
I mostly visit your website first to check out recipes that I need. I really appreciate your candid manner of writing and the efforts you put in to photograph and publish the recipes so beautifully.
Im very new to baking.
I prepared the cooker cake in an electric cooker, just for trial and it turned out really well! Also got appreciations, thanks to you.
I’m glad that the comments section is easily available now. I’ll keep coming back!
thanks a lot hamsa. so glad to read your comment. yes we had removed the comments section as we were having some technical issues which we were not able to solve for a few months. sure, you can always give feedback or share any concerns or issues if you had with any recipe.
Hi Dassana, I’m planning to make this again but in greater quantity. Please let me know whether this recipe can be doubled.
hi hamsa, you can double this recipe. it will take more time to bake.
Hello mam plz tell me white sugar quantity measurement according to cup
use the same measurement as mentioned in the recipe which is ½ cup sugar and 10 tablespoons white sugar for icing.
The cake came out very well but it was very bitter if eaten without an ice cream. Sugar ratio is not right for this much cocoa powder I think.
But otherwise the softness and overall came out very well.
pallavi bitterness could be due to the type and quality of cocoa powder used and butter. for butter if it becomes rancid, then the cake will become butter. the amount of cocoa powder is not much, so i don’t think cocoa powder is the cause. while making cakes with butter always use fresh butter. it should have any off smell or a rancid smell. the taste should be sweet like butter and not bitter. bitterness can also be due to oil. oils like cold pressed peanut oil or sesame oil can give a bitter taste. sugar proportion is right for this recipe as icing is also added. curd can also be bitter if it is old and not fresh.
Thank you for the response.
Welcome Pallavi
Amazing recipe. The cake tastes so good.
Thanks Sheena
I dont have any baking pan….can i use any ordinary steel pan …and 1 more question i have read a ŕceipe of 3 steps choclate sauce can i use it for icing
you can use a steel pan. make sure its not thin or light as then the cake can get stuck in it. also grease it well with oil. you can use this 3 step chocolate sauce recipe.
Hi dassana,
Made this cake many times but the demand for it is never ending I even made two at a time but still everyone craved for more. Wonderful recipe. Keep it up. God bless you.
Tip: will look more amazing if you sprinkle some colored sprinkle on it with some gems.
Thanx 😉
thanks shweta and welcome. this is a favorite cake in my home too. i know colored sprinkles and gems will looks great on the cake. thanks for sharing the tip.
Thank you Dasana I will definitely try your biscuit cake recipie very soon and share my experience with you ,,,I know it will also be one of your amazing recipie,,One thing I wish to add is in this cake recipie I have used lime juice instead of vinegar as I didn’t have vinegar but still the recipie was amazing
welcome kavita. do let me know how the biscuit cake goes for you. both lime or lemon juice can be easily used instead of vinegar in any cake recipe. just some acidity is required to help the cake more soft and porous. i am glad that you liked this cake recipe.
Yummylicious what a recipie Dasana ????????and what delicious icing everybody was praising me but it’s because of your step by step photos and the simplicity of explaining the recipie ,Thanks a lot????????and Happy and prosperous new year May God bless you with good health,success and happiness
welcome kavita. thanks for your positive feedback and kind words. Wish you and your family a happy new year.
Its an Amazing recipe….i have tried so many recipies of various blogs…but yours is the best ever…the cake came out superbly delicious…
Thanks Karanjot for this positive feedback. Glad to know that you liked this cake so much.
Was my comment posted!
yes megha, i have replied your queries below.
Hi Dassana, I’m planning to prepare this coming week. 1. Should we powder the brown sugar? 2. Is that one cup of crystal salt used in the pressure cooker? 3. When we place the cake pan on the stand should the stand have pores in them or can I use a plate as the stand. 4. For the icing, can I prepare less icing mixture so that the cake doesn’t become too moist?
Looking forward for your reply. I will surely get back to you again after I prepare the cake and let you know how it was 🙂 Thanks a lot.
megha, your queries answered below:
1. brown sugar need not be powdered.
2. yes in the cooker i have used 1 cup of sea salt crystals.
3. it better for the stand to have some spaces or gaps in them. if you do not have such a stand, then you can use a plate.
4. yes of course, you can make less icing.
do let me know how the recipe turns out for you. happy baking ????
I just have a small doubt . Why do we use curd?? Is it necessary??
the acidity in curd helps in making the cake soft after reacting with baking soda or baking powder. in this recipe curd is required.
Hi…!! Can we replace maida with atta and steam this cake instead of cooker method?
for baking you can replace maida with atta. for steaming the recipe may change. i do not know how this recipe will work when steamed as i have not tried.
Hi! The recipe is excellent. I had doubled the quantity and the cake came out superb. Everyone loved it.
Thanks Suman. Glad to know this.
Hello,
Thank you for this recipe. The cake came out wonderful. I have only one trouble. The cake is very soft, i mean it’s like a cotton candy. I realised it was holding back a lot of moisture. So, i tried to adjust temperature and time and still turns out the same way. The same happened when i baked in convection mode in microwave. Can you help me out here please?
mangai, just bake for some more minutes or you can reduce the quantity of water used. but it is a moist cake and tastes too good.
Hiii ! The cake recipe was so good the cake was teasty and spongy .I love it . May I ask you a question ” instead of adding brwon sugar can we add iceing sugar to it?
thanks gargi for the feedback on the cake made without oven. you can add icing sugar in the chocolate icing.
Hi,
I followed this recipe, the cake tastes good but it smells something different. The smell is kind of rubbery or something of the cooker, I can’t figure it out. Any advice on this?. I used an Aluminium cooker and tin with salt at the base as given. I changed the cooker and the tin the second time I baked, but the same old smell again. 🙁
could be due to the tin or aluminium or the pan you are using. i suspect it is the pan which is used for baking. use a good quality aluminium pan which are actually meant for baking.
Alright. Thanks a lot!. I noticed that the smell was gone the next day.
Will change the pan, though.
Welcome Shruthi
Hi This cake recipe is awesome..I Have a Query!
Can u Please tell how to use condensed milk in this recipe and the alterations i will have to make when i use condensed milk please??
with condensed milk the recipe will change completely. i will not be able to tell you the exact proportions of the ingredients as i always add tried and tested recipes.
Hello. I find this recipe to be easy and I think I can do it on my first attempt.
Please can you tell me whether the cake made with the exact quantities given, will serve 8-9 people?
this cake can be easily cut into 8 to 9 slices. so one slice per person is possible.
Hi can we use greek vanilla yogurt and adjust sugar and water accordingly?
anita, i am not sure about using yogurt in this recipe. i guess some ingredients will change. so cannot say.
The cake was amazing i am only 14 years old and i want to suprise my dad with a cake for welcome back home party and i was searching for easy cakes and then this web came up and it looked very simple yet amazing and it went very well when i followed the method and my dad loved the cake i was so happy thank you for sharing the cake. For now on i will be awlays go on this web to cook/bake new and tasty recipes.thank you again????❤
Welcome Nikky. Glad to know that recipe helped you to make this cake at home. Thanks for your positive feedback.
Thanks ☺️
welcome divya.
Can I use normal Tata salt for spreading on cooker base?
you can.
I have a different kind of vanilla essence it has a white and light colour but it is Vanilla essence only so will that work ?
divya, it will work.
Looks tasty ????! ! !
Pressure Cooker or Rice Steamer?
Hi there,
I love indian recipes, so thank you for your side, that now belong to my beloved too.
Is it possible to cook the cake in a rice steamer? Since I got no pressure cooker and no oven (got a single student household). The most I would love to know how to make it in a pot, because yet I don’t owe a rice cooker, but am thinking a long time if it worth buying one and for tasty cakes SURE
Thank you
anna, i do not know how the texture of cake will be if cooked in a rice steamer. but you can use a large pot to cook this cake. just follow the same method as sprinkling salt on the base. keep a stand and keep the pan on the stand. cover the pot with a lid having a vent, so that steam passes through. also do use a heavy and good quality pot.
Hi,
I made this cake and it came out very well. Fabulous recipe. It was soft and sweet all in appropriate amount.
Just that – I had lined the mould with butter paper to be able to take out cake easily and I had kept the cake in fridge overnight in the mould itself. But even on the next day when I tried to take the cake out of the mould, the chocolate syrup wouldn’t leave the butter paper. Opening the paper didn’t spoil the cake much but it sure looked like chocolate design was all around the cake (due to semi-solidified chocolate syrup), and didn’t look much pleasing. Any suggestions to be able to present this cake better?
Thanks for your recipe!
thanks nikita. the chocolate syrup won’t leave the butter paper as it is not a thick chocolate syrup or a chocolate ganache. i would suggest not to use butter paper. the cake is also moist and soft, so if it is removed from the pan while still hot, it will break. basically this is like a pan cake, where the cake is had directly from the pan. so just don’t use butter paper.
Hi… thanku very much.. for the 1 st time I tried cake and it was superb..it was very soft n yummy.. ur recipe is very well explained.. I was praised by my all family members.. thanx a ton..
Welcome Dr. Nehal Mohata. Glad to know that everyone in your family liked this cake. do try some more cake recipes.
If i want to add dry fruits wat is the procedure if u can tell me plzz
megha, you can add dry fruits when you add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture.