Instant Pot German Chocolate Bundt Cake—an ultra chocolatey, moist chocolate cake with a pecan-coconut topping and slathered with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. Basically heaven in your mouth.
Instant Pot German Chocolate Bundt Cake
I wonder how many times a week I see some food or a recipe and think to myself, “I bet I could make that in the Instant Pot.” It’s a lot. When I saw the Best German Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe on A Bountiful Kitchen I knew that I needed to give it a shot in the Instant Pot. The results were a fantastic moist chocolate cake that was immediately consumed with the plate practically licked clean. I WILL be making this again this weekend. I think you should make it too.
There are 3 parts to this cake (it’s worth the effort). The cake batter is actually made with a cake mix and a pudding mix. Typically I like to bake from scratch and not use these types of ingredients but after tasting the cake I’m rethinking this. I used my half size (6 cup) metal bundt cake pan* to bake my cake. The cake is steamed in the Instant Pot using the pot-in-pot method. I used my OXO Sling* to drop the cake pan in the Instant Pot and to retrieve it. I also covered my pan with foil which prevents dripping condensation on the cake batter.
The second part of the cake is the lick-the-spoon pecan coconut topping. I used the saute function on my Instant Pot to cook the pecan topping after the cake was baked. Alternately you can cook the topping in a saucepan on the stove. Finally the cream cheese chocolate frosting is whipped together using a hand mixer and then slathered on the top of the cake and pecan coconut topping.
As you look at the recipe below you might be bummed that you use half a cake mix and half the pudding mix. That’s kind of annoying right? I thought so too initially but after I tasted the cake I didn’t care anymore. Because guess what? I can make it again next week with the remaining half of cake mix. Boom, drop the mic.
Try these other chocolate Instant Pot recipes…
Instant Pot Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Instant Pot Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Instant Pot Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake
Instant Pot German Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 47 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
An ultra chocolatey, moist chocolate cake with a pecan-coconut topping and slathered with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. Basically heaven in your mouth.
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 1/2 of one 15.25 oz devils food cake mix (7.8 oz or 1 2/3 cups of the dry mix)
- 1/2 of one 4 oz quick chocolate pudding mix (2 oz or 1/3 cup of the dry pudding mix)
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 6 Tbsp water
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp chocolate extract* or vanilla extract
For the coconut-pecan topping:
- 5 Tbsp heavy cream or half and half
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 Tbsp white sugar
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup shredded coconut
- 6 Tbsp chopped pecans
For the chocolate frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pour 1 ½ cups water into the bottom of your Instant Pot. Prepare a half size 6 cup bundt cake pan* by spraying it well with non-stick cooking spray.
- Prepare cake: Add the oil, 6 Tbsp water, eggs, sour cream and chocolate extract into a medium size bowl and mix until blended well. Add in the cake mix, pudding mix, cocoa powder and sugar. Mix for about 2 minutes on medium speed or until blended well. Turn beater on high for about 1 minute. Pour the cake batter into the prepare bundt cake pan and cover it with foil. Place the pan on top of a trivet and then lower the pan into the Instant Pot. Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 32 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit there for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid. Remove the cake pan from the Instant Pot. Remove the foil and place a plate on top of the cake pan. Invert the plate and the cake pan so that the cake comes out on top of the plate.
- Prepare pecan coconut topping: Dump the water out of the bottom of the Instant Pot and wipe it out. Then add the cream, egg yolks, and vanilla into the Instant Pot and whisk. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting. Whisk in the sugar and butter and cook 5 minutes until mixture is thickened and starts to turn a golden color. Remove Instant Pot insert from the heat and then stir in the coconut and nuts. Set aside.
- Prepare the chocolate frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat on low until smooth. Add vanilla and pinch of salt. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Top and frost the cake: Use a spoon to scoop the pecan topping over the top of the cake. Then frost the cake with the chocolate frosting. I slathered the chocolate frosting over the entire cake but you could also get fancy with a pastry bag. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
To make I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. You can also use an 8 quart pot. The 3 quart mini won’t work for this recipe because it is too small to fit the cake pan. However you can try the original version in the oven.
I used a bundt cake pan* for this recipe. I have not tried it with a regular cake pan. I like the bundt cake pan because the air can circulate freely through the middle of the cake which leads to a more evenly baked cake.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Can I use a regular Bundt pan or do I need a special one that goes with the 8qt Instant Pot I have and I’m enjoying. This is my sons favorite cake want to make it for his birthday on the 28th of this month. God Bless
Do you have a bundt cake pan that fits into your pot that you can easily set it and retrieve? If so, use that. If not you won’t be able to make this cake in the Instant Pot and may want to just search google for a german chocolate bundt cake for the oven. Thanks and God bless you too!
Do you have to use coconut? I like it but my family doesn’t.
★★★★★
No you don’t. You could just make the chocolate frosting if you want.
I seem to have a difficult time with your recipes in finding whether to cook items on High or Low Pressure. Am I missing something that I should just know or is there somewhere to look other than the recipe instructions?
Hi Callie, always use high pressure for my recipes 🙂
Did you let the cake cool at all before inverting it? I can’t wait to make this!
Besides the 10 minute natural pressure release I did not.
Thank you so much for all your helpful recipes. I just thought people would be wanting to know about the kind of pudding.
Yep they totally would need to know that! haha! I need a little help from you to keep me on track sometimes!
Did you use the quick pudding or the cooked variety? Why did you use the chocolate cake rather than the German Chocolate cake mix? I had never thought about making the frosting in the Instapot…good idea.
Hi Sharon, I used the quick pudding. I will correct that now it the recipe so people know. Really you can use whatever kind of chocolate cake mix you want. I just like deviled food cake.
For frosting you called for half and half,
but directions you said evaporated milk.
Is evaporated milk interchangeable?
oops I didn’t mean to write that but yes you could definitely use evaporated milk instead. Same result!