The Necronomnomnom: The Mounds of Tindalos

The Mounds of Tindalos

This recipe is actually a chocolate lava cake made in a slow cooker!

This delicious dessert is named for the Hounds of Tindalos, predatory creatures in Lovecraft’s stories that can travel through space and time, appearing at any point to feed upon its victims.  They always appear in a corner with smoke arriving first…and while this dessert is most likely being served on a round plate or bowl (not a sharp corner), it does let out some smoke when you lift that slow cooker lid!

This recipe is actually two separate recipes layered in a slow cooker, and then topped with chocolate chips.

First is the chocolate cake batter.  Wet ingredients are mixed together in one bowl, dry in another, and then the two are combined before the final step of adding hot water.  This is spread at the bottom of the greased slow cooker.

Next is the chocolate pudding.  The pudding ingredients, minus butter and vanilla, are cooked over the stove until thick.  Then the butter and vanilla are mixed in.  This is poured over the cake batter in a second layer.  I actually scooped it over the cake batter to avoid the two mixing and combining, as I felt “pouring” would be too forceful.

Finally, chocolate chips are generously sprinkled over top and the whole thing is cooked on low in the slow cooker until done.

At this point, the cake is scooped into bowls (or plates – your choice) and sprinkled with sweetened coconut before you dig in.

Taste: 10/10

I LOVE CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE!  And this was no exception.  While it didn’t look like regular lava cake (the pudding was on top instead of inside the cake) but it was really, really good.  It’s extremely chocolatey and sweet, and because it doesn’t scoop evenly you’ll get bits of pudding and chocolate cake in every bite.

Difficulty: Average

Making the cake batter is not challenging, but the pudding needs to be watched very carefully.  You don’t want to burn the milk, or over / under cook the pudding.  You’ll also want to be careful when layering the pudding over the cake.

The cookbook says 2.5 – 3 hours in the slow cooker, and I opted for 3 hours just to be safe, though 2.5 hours probably would have been good enough.  It says “until cake is set,” but unless you scoop out a chunk you can’t really tell!  And there was some liquid on the top, but it didn’t affect the cake at all.

Cost: Cheap / Average

Cost will depend on what’s already in your pantry and fridge, as this uses a lot of common ingredients.

Ingredients include butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cornstarch, milk, dark chocolate chips, and shredded sweetened coconut.