Easy Stovetop Chocolate Cake

With a soft, tender, moist crumb and luscious frosting, this easy stovetop chocolate cake is an instant hit! Made with simple pantry ingredients and without an oven, this is the epitome of simple comfort baking. 

I love this cake. My self appointed, in house food critics love it too. But the truest mark of its success? My mother dubbed it as her new go-to tea cake. I truly can’t think of higher praise. 

Under our collective given circumstances, many people are turning to their kitchens for comfort. However, not everyone has the same appliances as the other to make everything they may want to. A question I have received from many readers is whether there is an alternative to the oven for making the baked goods I keep sharing. I’ll admit, other than my mugs cakes, I had not experimented with baking sans oven. 

It turned out to be a delightfully simple and fuss free process! With one bowl, a few ingredients and my stovetop baking contraption – a delicious cake was born. Given how it lasted only a few hours, this was definitely the first of many! 

How to make Easy Stovetop Chocolate Cake Ingredients

Start by sifting together your dry ingredients flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix in your sugar (I used brown sugar, but you can replace that with white sugar/jaggery powder). 

Add in a mixture of cocoa and hot boiling water (blend those separately first). 

Then stir in your vanilla extract, oil, and yogurt. If you have plain Greek yogurt, that’s great here. Otherwise, your regular homemade yogurt ( minus the water) works like a charm. That’s what I had, and so that’s what went in. Yogurt is what gives this cake a wonderfully moist texture, so you don’t want it to be watery.

Once the batter is smooth and ready, pour into a 6-inch cake tin. That is the size of the tin I used and it rose beautifully – make sure to not use a smaller tin if you are using the same ingredient measurements, otherwise this might just overflow! If you do not have a 6-inch tin, opt for something slightly larger. The cake will not turn out as thick as this, but still taste and look delicious. 

Baking the Easy Stovetop Chocolate Cake

Use a big, thick-bottomed pan, which has a lid that covers it completely. By the way, your pressure cooker, without the weight, does the trick too. The size of your pan should be big enough to fit the tin inside, as seen in the images. 

Create a little pedestal for your cake tin – I used a tart case, you can even use a trivet. Or an inverted plate…I would use a metal one.

(any heat proof, bake-safe utensil that can balance your tin can serve as your makeshift pedestal).

Preheat your stovetop pan on high for 5 -7 minutes, with the lid covered. Then place the filled cake tin on top and cover it again. 

Bake for 30-40 minutes on low heat. 

Mine took almost 40 minutes, but given that not everyone’s stoves have the same settings – make sure to check on the cake 30 minutes in. It might bake quicker for some!

Final Touches 

Now for the frosting! As my precious chocolate stash is gradually depleting, I have become extra careful about how much I use. With just a quarter cup of chocolate chips, heated with a couple of tablespoons of milk (I’m out of cream, but please use that if you have it handy) – you get a beautifully silken smooth ganache that is just the right amount to cover the cake. Not a drop too much or too less – just the right amount! 

I used 70% dark chocolate for this, to avoid making the cake too sweet. Please feel free to use any chocolate that’s available to you.

Quick Notes: 

I developed this recipe based on the most standard ingredients I was sure are accessible. That being said, it can easily be made gluten-free by swapping out all-purpose flour for buckwheat flour (or your choice of GF flour). For a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe, head to my most popular recipe.

To go vegan – replace the yogurt with vegan yogurt if you can get your hands on some! 

Variations 

This is the start of many stovetop baking recipes to come, which I will of course, share here. In the meantime, a few things that could work for switching up this recipe: 

Adding chocolate chips/chunks. 

If you want to forgo the frosting, add some extra gooiness inside the cake with some chopped chocolate! I know it’s tricky to find high-quality chocolate chips right now, so use whatever you can get your hands on. Everything works…and really well.

Adding nuts/spices

Add a dash of cinnamon, cardamom powder, maybe a touch of coffee powder. Nuts would be such a great addition to this cake – anything that’s available will be wonderful here.

So if you’re in the mood for dark moist chocolatey goodness, this is the cake for you. Eat it as is, frost it, serve thick warm slices with ice cream, this #TAFEverydayCake is definitely going to satiate your cravings!

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Print Recipe

Easy Stovetop Chocolate Cake

With a soft, tender, moist crumb and luscious frosting, this easy stovetop chocolate cake is an instant hit! Made with simple pantry ingredients and without an oven, this is the epitome of simple comfort baking.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time50 mins

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Natasha Minocha

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 cup Boiling hot water
• 1 1/4 cups All purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup Brown sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup Coconut oil You can use any neutral tasting oil

Chocolate Frosting ( Optional)

• 1/4 cup Dark chocolate chips or any chocolate bar cut into small chunks
• 2-3 tbsp Coconut milk You can use any milk or cream

Instructions

• Lay an upside-down tart case/plate or a trivet at the bottom of a wide and deep saucepan. The saucepan must have a tight-fitting lid. You can even use a pressure cooker without the weight.
• Very important - The saucepan should be wider than the cake pan, and deep enough for the cake to rise with the lid on.
• Put the lid on the pan and preheat it on high heat for 5-7 minutes.
• Now to the cake - In a small bowl, blend together the cocoa powder and hot boiling water.
• In a medium-sized bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Stir in the brown sugar.
• Now whisk in the cocoa water mixture, yogurt, oil and vanilla extract. You'll get a thick cake batter.
• Grease a 6" cake tin and pour the batter in.
• Place this tin carefully on the upturned tart case/ trivet in the hot pan. Cover with the lid, turn the heat to low. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until the cake is springy on top and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Wait for 10-15 minutes before turning the cake out on a cooling rack.
• If you are frosting the cake, then let the cake cool completely before spreading the chocolate ganache on. Cut into slices and serve. Enjoy!

Chocolate Frosting

• Combine the chocolate chips/chunks and the milk or cream in a small bowl. Place this on a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts and you get a shiny glossy ganache. Cool this for a bit before using on the cake. You can melt the chocolate and milk together in the microwave too, in increments of 30 seconds.