Everyone knows that a cast iron pot is great for cooking because of its ability to retain heat.
I have used my Le Creuset Cast Iron Enamel French ovens to cook many dishes and all came out so beautifully.
Today, I am going to show you how you can bake using the Le Creuset cast iron skillet!
Bake?
Yep.
As in a cake?
Yep!
The cast iron skillet is great for baking because of its unique ability to keep things hot on its entire surface, and this means that whatever you are baking will bake evenly.
One of the easiest things you can bake successfully using a cast iron skillet is gooey cakes. Every part of the resulting cake is tender and moist and super delicious.
Best of all, the cake can be made in the skillet itself, so if you are not intending to make the glaze, you literally will have only one skillet to wash up afterwards.
This will be a great cake for gatherings, like at Christmas, because it can feed so many people at once!
I reckon that most kinds of nuts go terrifically well with cakes. For this recipe, I used pecans. I think pecans do so well in any kind of bakes because they are flavorful and they impart a nice crunch. They are also very pretty to look at!
And here are the instructions on how to bake this awesome chocolate cake.
In a 24cm Le Creuset cast iron skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter with vegetable oil, cocoa powder and water.
Whisk and bring this to a boil.
Add the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract and whisk to mix.
Turn off the heat and stir in the flour, baking soda, sugar and salt.
Bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, or until an inserted skewer emerges cleanly. There may be a few moist crumbs – that is okay.
When the cake is baked, remove the skillet from the oven (remember to wear oven mittens!) and let it cool.
In the meantime, make the glaze by combining butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan. Bring this to a boil.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the icing sugar.
Also whisk in the chopped pecans and vanilla extract.
Pour the glaze on the warm cake and use a spatula to spread evenly.
Top with more chopped pecans and serve with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce if you like!
YUMMY!


- 125g Prima top flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 180g caster sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 56g unsalted butter
- 60ml vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 120ml water
- 60ml buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 56g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 45ml milk
- 62g pecans, chopped
- 250g icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla ice-cream
- Chopped pecans
- Caramel sauce
- Whipped cream
- In a 24cm Le Creuset cast iron skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter with vegetable oil, cocoa powder and water.
- Whisk and bring this to a boil.
- Add the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract and whisk to mix.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the flour, baking soda, sugar and salt.
- Bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, or until an inserted skewer emerges cleanly. There may be a few moist crumbs – that is okay.
- When the cake is baked, remove the skillet from the oven (remember to wear oven mittens!) and let it cool.
- In the meantime, make the glaze by combining butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan. Bring this to a boil.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the icing sugar.
- Also whisk in the chopped pecans and vanilla extract.
- Pour the glaze on the warm cake and use a spatula to spread evenly.
- Top with more chopped pecans and serve with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce if you like!
Diana, what an eye opener (and eye popping recipe)! It’s great that a cast iron skillet can be put to such good use 🙂 Love your cake. Wish I can have it for breakfast 😀