Whole-Orange Spring Pudding Slow Cooker

Whole-Orange Spring Pudding Slow Cooker. Drop a whole orange — yes, the whole thing, skin and all — into your slow cooker with just 2 more things from your kitchen. A few hours later, you’ve got a warm, sweet dessert that will wow everyone at the table.

I know what you’re thinking. An orange? With the peel still on? Yep! It sounds a little funny, but trust me — this is one of those recipes that feels like a little kitchen trick. There’s no peeling, no mixing bowls, and no complicated steps. You just scrub the orange clean, plop it in the crock pot, pour sugar and dry cake mix around it, and walk away. As it slowly cooks, the orange gets super soft and lets out all its sweet, tangy juice. That juice mixes with the sugar and cake mix to make the most wonderful, cozy dessert all on its own. It’s the kind of old-fashioned, simple treat that doesn’t need a fancy ingredient list to taste really, really good.

Whole-Orange Spring Pudding Slow Cooker

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pieces medium whole seedless orange, unpeeled and well scrubbed (about 6–7 oz)
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 pieces box yellow cake mix, dry only (about 15.25 oz)

Whole-Orange Spring Pudding: Steps

1. Scrub the orange: Wash the 1 pieces medium whole seedless orange, unpeeled and well scrubbed (about 6–7 oz) really well under warm water. Give it a good scrub to clean off any wax on the outside. Dry it off with a towel. Do NOT peel it or cut it — it goes in whole, skin and all!
2. Place orange in slow cooker: Set the whole orange right in the middle of the bottom of your slow cooker. Just let it sit there flat — it’s going to be the star of this dessert.
3. Add sugar: Pour the 1 cups granulated sugar all around and over the orange. Let the sugar pile up a little around the sides of the fruit, like a cozy sugary nest.
4. Add cake mix: Sprinkle the dry 1 pieces box yellow cake mix, dry only (about 15.25 oz) evenly over the sugar and around the orange. Try to keep the orange sitting upright in the middle. Don’t add any water or eggs — just the dry mix straight from the box!
5. Cook: Put the lid on. Cook on HIGH for 2½ to 150 minutes, or on LOW for 4 to 5 hours. Don’t add any liquid — the orange will let out its own juice as it cooks, and that juice mixes with the sugar to make a thick, yummy sauce all on its own.
6. Optional halfway spoon: About halfway through cooking, you can quickly lift the lid and spoon some of the warm sugary mixture from the edges up over the orange. Then put the lid back on fast so the heat stays in. This helps the orange get soft and flavorful all the way through.
7. Check if it’s done: When the cake mix around the orange looks set and a little golden at the edges, and feels soft (not wet) when you poke it gently with a spoon, it’s ready. The orange should feel very soft when you poke it with a knife.
8. Chop the orange: Carefully pick up the hot orange using tongs or two big spoons and put it on a cutting board. Cut it in half, then into quarters. Pick out any seeds. Then chop the whole thing — skin and all — into small pieces.
9. Mix it all together: Put the chopped orange pieces and all their juices back into the slow cooker. Gently mix everything together so the orange bits are spread all through the warm cake and sauce. The little pieces of peel give it a chewy, marmalade-like taste — so good!
10. Rest and serve: Turn off the slow cooker and let everything sit for 10 to 12m 30s (12:30). This lets all the flavors come together and the texture gets soft like a pudding. Scoop into bowls and enjoy as is, or add a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream on top!

Notes

Good to know:

• Make sure your orange is seedless, or just pick out any seeds before chopping it up.
• Don’t skip scrubbing the orange — since you eat the peel, you want it nice and clean.
• This dessert is great warm, but it also tastes wonderful the next day straight from the fridge.
• Try it with vanilla ice cream — the cold and warm combo is amazing!