• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Instant Pot Eats
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • 100 Best Instant Pot Recipes
    • Chicken
    • Beef
    • Pork
    • Instant Pot Fish & Seafood Recipes
    • Soups
    • Stews & Braises
    • Rice
    • Pasta
    • Side Dishes
    • Desserts
    • Roundups
    • Duo Crisp + Air Fryer
    • 5-Ingredients
  • Instant Pot Basics
    • Instant Pot For Beginners Hub
    • What Is Instant Pot?
    • How To Use The Instant Pot
    • The First 10 Meals
    • Instant Pot Accessories
    • Instant Pot Water Test
    • Instant Pot Cookbooks
    • Instant Pot 101 Series
  • By Diet
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
    • Gluten-Free
    • Paleo
    • Keto
  • About
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Our Privacy Policy
    • Web Stories
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Instant Pot Basics
  • By Diet
  • About Us
×
Home » Instant Pot Recipes » Desserts

Instant Pot Chocolate Cake With Salted Caramel & Pretzels

Published: Apr 10, 2019 · Modified: Jan 10, 2024 by Irena Macri · This post may contain affiliate links · 3 Comments

267 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
Jump to Recipe

In this recipe, we show you how to make an incredible Instant Pot chocolate cake with salted caramel and pretzels that is an absolute crowd-pleaser. Perfect for any occasion!


Instant Pot Chocolate Cake With Salted Caramel & Pretzels

Chocolate Cake In Instant Pot

You might be asking yourself ‘Why would I use my Instant Pot to make a cake?’

First of all, why not? Your pressure cooker does an excellent job at making desserts and you’ll find plenty of fantastic Instant Pot cheesecake recipes and cakes around the web. Sometimes, it’s very handy when your oven is occupied (roast turkey, anyone?) or if you don’t have an oven (we’re looking at you small space dwellers and college students living away from home).

Then, during summer, it’s often way too hot to use the oven but there are still occasions that call for a delicious sponge cake or banana bread.

Instant Pot Chocolate Cake With Salted Caramel & Pretzels

Pretzel Cake Inspiration

This particular Instant Pot chocolate cake recipe is great to have in your repertoire as you can use it as a template for other desserts. In our case, we were inspired by the classic pretzel cake and used salted caramel (this complements the salted pretzels) and whipped cream and cream cheese to pimp up our chocolate cake. It looks and tastes fantastic, even though it’s not an oven cooked caked.

A quick note on the texture of the cake: Because there is a bit of steam during the pressure-cooking, the sponge is a little denser than an oven-baked version. It’s somewhere between a sponge cake and a steamed chocolate pudding cake. Make sure to cover the cake tin with foil as shown in the pictures as this helps to keep some of the moisture away from the cake mix.

Salted caramel pretzel cake in Instant Pot

How To Make Instant Pot Chocolate Pretzel Cake

You will find the full list of ingredients, instructions and nutritional breakdown for this cake recipe below. Here are some basic steps to guide you along.

Step 1. Soften the butter and mix the cake ingredients with an electric mixer/whisk.

Making Instant Pot chocolate cake steps 1

Step 2. Transfer the cake mix to a springform cake tin (we used 7.5" diameter one), lined with greased parchment paper. Cover the tin tightly with foil.

Making pressure cooker chocolate cake step 2

Step 3. Add a cup of water to the Instant Pot and place the trivet on top. Rip and fold another sheet of foil into a sling and place it under the tin. Lower the cake tin into the Instant Pot. Pressure cook the cake on HIGH pressure for 25 minutes with natural pressure release. 

Making the instant pot chocolate cake steps 3

Step 4. Open the lid and use the sling to lift the cake tin out on to a cutting board. Cool the cake for 5 minutes before releasing the springform. Turn the cake upside down onto a plate and cool down for another 15-20 minutes.

Step 5. Using an electric whisk, whip the frosting ingredients together in another bowl into soft peaks, thick and fluffy. Mix the caramel sauce with salt in a small bowl.

Step 6. Pour the caramel sauce over the cake. Spread the cream frosting mixture evenly. Decorate the sides and the top of the cake with pretzels and drizzle with a little more caramel sauce if you like. Crush a few pretzels over the top as well.

Decorating the chocolate pretzel cake

MORE INSTANT POT CAKE RECIPES

  • Instant Pot Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cake
  • Caramel Pecan Cheesecake
  • Instant Pot Carrot Cake
  • 15+ Instant Pot Bundt Cakes
  • Incredible Instant Pot Cheesecake Recipes

Full Recipe

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let us know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

Instant Pot Cake With Chocolate Sponge, Salted Caramel Sauce, Whipped Cream Frosting & Pretzels

Rate This Recipe

No ratings yet

Instant Pot Chocolate Cake With Salted Caramel & Pretzels

An incredible Instant Pot chocolate cake with salted caramel and pretzels that is an absolute crowd pleaser. Perfect for any occasion!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time45 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
Servings: 10 Servings
Calories: 505kcal

Ingredients

For the cake mix

  • 7 oz. unsalted butter plus extra for greasing (200 g)
  • 5 oz. plain flour we love this organic brand (150 g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 oz. cacao powder (50 g)
  • 7 oz. soft light brown sugar (200 g)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

On top of the cake for cooking

  • 3 tablespoons caramel sauce such as Carnation or dulce de leche
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes

For the frosting

  • 1 cup thickened cream or heavy cream for whipping
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 oz. cream cheese room temperature

Other

  • 2-3 tablespoons caramel sauce
  • A generous pinch of salt
  • 2 cups pretzels

Instructions

  • Dice the butter into cubes and allow it to soften out of the refrigerator. You can use a microwave for 15-20 seconds to warm it up.
  • Add all of the cake mix ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer/whisk, beat the cake mix until well combined and fluffy.
  • Prepare a springform cake tin (we used 7.5" diameter one). Grease a large enough piece of parchment paper with some butter and line the tin. Press it down inside the tin and cut away excess edges (see image below).
  • Transfer to the prepared cake tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Tap the tin against the bench to get rid of air bubbles. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of caramel sauce over the top and sprinkle with a little salt. Cover the tin tightly with foil.
  • Add a cup of water to the Instant Pot and place the trivet on top. Rip and fold another sheet of foil into a sling and place it under the tin. Lower the tin with the foil sling around it into the Instant Pot, making sure the sling edge stick out. We will use these to pull the tin out when the cake is ready. Check the foil is still wrapping the tin.
  • Close and lock the lid and set to Manual, HIGH pressure and adjust the time to 25 minutes. After 3 beeps, the Instant Pot will begin to build up the pressure and the cooking will commence. The pressurizing stage might take about 10 minutes, after which the timer will start. Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release naturally (NPR) before opening the lid. This should also take about 10 minutes or so. Note that the cake cooks during all of these stages.
  • Open the lid and use the sling to lift the cake tin out on to a cutting board. Remove the foil and let the cake to cool for 5 minutes before releasing the springform. Turn the cake upside down onto a plate and cool down for another 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the whipped cream and more salted caramel.
  • Using an electric whisk, whip the frosting ingredients together in another bowl into soft peaks, thick and fluffy. Mix the caramel sauce with salt in a small bowl.
  • Once the cake has cooled down, pour the caramel sauce over the top. Spread the cream frosting mixture evenly. Decorate the sides and the top of the cake with pretzels and drizzle with a little more caramel sauce if you like. Crush a few pretzels over the top as well.

Notes

Keep the finished cake in the refrigerator for 3-4 days covered loosely with foil or in a cake container. If making this ahead of time, cook the sponge and store in the refrigerator and decorate when serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 505kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 128mg | Sodium: 337mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 1045IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 3mg
CourseDessert
CuisineAmerican
KeywordChocolate, Desserts, pretzels, salted caramel
Made this recipe?Mention @instantpoteats or tag #instantpoteats!

SAVE THIS CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE TO PINTEREST

Instant Pot Chocolate Cake With Salted Caramel & Pretzels

More Desserts

  • 16 Easy Christmas Candy Recipes
  • chocolate cake
    How To Bake In Instant Pot? Find Out In Our Comprehensive Guide
  • Air Fryer S’Mores Dip
    Air Fryer S’Mores Dip
  • Instant Pot apple butter
    Instant Pot Apple Butter
267 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen at the Lazy Gastronome

    April 14, 2019 at 4:19 pm

    Cake in an instant pot?? It looks incredible! I'd be honored if you shared this recipe (and any others) at our What's for Dinner link party!
    http://www.lazygastronome.com/whats-for-dinner-sunday-link-up-196/

    Reply
    • instantpoteats

      April 17, 2019 at 1:56 pm

      Go for it!

      Reply
  2. Karly

    April 14, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    Yum! All the possibilities with this cake!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Us

We are a team of food enthusiasts, chefs and cookbook authors. On this blog we share a variety of Instant Pot recipes catered to different diets, budgets and needs, as well as roundups of our favourite dishes and ideas from around the web. You can find our Instant Pot 101 series here, which are useful for anyone mastering their new pressure cooker.


Popular Articles

  • 33 Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipes
  • display instant pot
    Understanding Instant Pot Settings And Instructions
  • How to use the Instant Pot for beginners
    How To Use The Instant Pot For Beginners
  • Instant Pot Chicken Souvlaki Rice
    Instant Pot Chicken Souvlaki Rice

Our Recipe E-Book

Fan Favorites Recipes eBook

GET OUR FREE 25-RECIPE EBOOK

Newest Articles

  • Wine Reduction with Sea Buckthorn and Prunes
    Seungje Han’s Wine Reduction with Sea Buckthorn and Prunes
  • Side Dishes For Fried Fish
    17 Side Dishes For Fried Fish
  • 6 featured images from 27 Best Side Dishes for Pork Chops
    27 Best Side Dishes for Pork Chops
  • Side Dishes for Chili
    19 Side Dishes for Chili

Footer

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

2024 © INSTANT POT EATS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required