You CAN Make Cake in the Air Fryer! Who Knew?!
Need yet another fun air fryer hack to try at home?! Introducing air fryer cake!
My air fryer is one of my small kitchen appliances that gets used the most in my house, and I’m always willing to try new recipes and hacks to make with it. We were curious if you could actually bake a cake for dessert in the air fryer, and the good news is…. YES, it totally works!
Air fryer cake is a thing, so I’m showing you how to make a convenient boxed cake mix in the air fryer! The result is a yummy mini single layer cake without even turning on the oven! Who knew?!
What kind of pan do I need to bake a cake in the air fryer?
As far as pans go, you can use any oven-safe pan that will fit properly inside your specific air fryer basket. I have a smaller 7-inch springform pan that I bought to fit my Instant Pot, and used it for my cake.
Check out this cake pan on Amazon that is specifically designed to fit inside air fryers and pressure cookers. This would be deep enough to fit more cake batter than my springform pan.
Tips for making the best air fryer cake:
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- I chose to use only half of my cake batter because I didn’t want my cake to overflow in my small-sized 7-inch pan. Cake batter can actually stay good in the fridge when covered for up to a few days, so I plan to store the remaining cake batter and make another mini cake soon!
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- Bake times will vary. My cake was completely done baking at 20 minutes. I started checking at 15 minutes to make sure it wasn’t burning. A toothpick inserted into the middle that comes back clean will let you know the cake is done baking.
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- Do I have to use a boxed cake mix? Nope. I am still new at cooking a cake in the air fryer, so I’ll stick with the inexpensive mixes for a while. I am sure from scratch cake batter will work too.
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- For frosting, feel free to use your favorite homemade or store-bought. On this cake, I made a 1/2 batch of yummy buttercream chocolate frosting!
Air Fryer Cake
yield: 5 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 22 MINUTES
total time: 32 MINUTES
Here's how to make an air fryer cake easily using a store-bought mix. No need to turn on the oven!
Ingredients
Directions
1
Grease a 7-inch cake pan or springform pan.
2
Use a hand mixer to mix together the cake mix and all the ingredients according to box instructions.
3
Pour about half the mix into the pan. Note: If you have a deeper air fryer cake pan, use more batter if desired. Just note that it may take longer to cook.
4
Bake at 300 degrees for about 22 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5
Remove pan from air fryer and let the cake completely cool.
6
Remove the cake from the pan, and frost it with store-bought or homemade frosting. Enjoy!
Horray for another great air fryer hack that works!
I fall in love with my air fryer more and more each day, and it’s fun to know you can bake cakes in it. I make everything from hardboiled eggs, a complete bacon egg and toast breakfast, juicy air fryer steaks, and even baked potatoes. There’s no pre-heating involved and it’s truly been one of my best purchases ever.
Baking a cake in the air fryer may be a great option for hot days that you don’t want to turn on the oven, or perhaps you’re in a small kitchen without an oven such as an RV. This is easy enough I think my teens could pull it off by themselves too.
For me, I just think it’s fun to try air fryer recipes in general!
Check out what my teammate Jenna had to say after trying this idea in her air fryer:
“Oh wow, I make a lot of things in my air fryer, but I have never thought of cake! Of course, this worked out beautifully! I grabbed a box of German Chocolate cake and a canister of premade vanilla frosting and this was such a fun & easy dessert. Another reason to not use my oven!
This could even work with Lina’s Cake Pop recipe to just bake the cake in the air fryer, then follow the steps for perfect cake pops! “
Check out this easy coconut sour cream cake your family will LOVE!
That is innovative! Maybe I will try. My Air Fryer just sits and collects dust!
Really?! I haven’t turned my oven in months (since the house just over heats or the smoke detector goes off lol) and use my air fryer for everything. Reheating food, chicken wings, toast, hot chocolate, cajun shrimp. It doesn’t smoke since the lid is closed tight and everything cooks super fast. Def recommend dusting that off!
Same! My airfryer is such a pain to clean, so I don’t use it very often! Maybe having the cake pan buffer instead of just dumping things into the fryer will would make my life easier! 😛
Aluminum foil wrap it all, and you never have to clean the air fryer.
Haha yes! They also do make paper liners for air fryer.
Really? Ha thanks Evie! I use it daily even to just reheat stuff ha!
I have an air fryer accessories kit with a cake pan in it. I need to finally get it out.
Same!
Oh ya that’s convenient!!
Excited to try this! My air fryer is smallish but I could fit a mini bread pan in it for a quick 2-serving cake. However because it is small it is a snap to clean. I love it!
Oh nice!! Yay! Enjoy 😉
I have been making nearly everything in my air fryer. You can also make cheesecakes. I love everything that comes out of it. At first, I had to play around with different recipes and cooking times but it is literally one pan (usually) to wash. I thought everyone knew about cakes, lol. Enjoy ladies. Air fryers are great!
Ohh a cheesecake would be fun to try! Thanks for sharing 👏
I need to know how
Long to cook things like chicken and pork chops. I’m never sure. My book doesn’t really help me
Look at Pinterest or one of the many groups on Facebook or Reddit. We do both of those plus pretty much everything else imaginable!
I made a peach crisp in the air fryer and it was amazing! I have a silicone pan that worked great. For everyday use, we bought aluminum take-out containers from Amazon (gave the paper lids to my son’s daycare to use) or parchment air fryer sheets to make clean-up a breeze. We use ours daily!
Thanks so much for sharing! Peach crisp sounds amazing Jenn. 🙌
Yay! Cannot wait to try. This is perfect for a onceinawhile treat. And so much better than a larger cake which usually ends up thrown away.
Well tried the air fryer cake and it turned out great! My pan was deeper than yours but only used half of the batter from an inexpensive cake box. Bought frosting and for one person perfect. I’ll bake the other half this week and add blueberries to it perhaps wrap it and freeze it for another time. Thank you for sharing your ideas so I can use this appliance more ways!
Oh thanks so much for letting us know Lorie! Sounds yummy!