Slow Cooker Cherry Bakewell Fudge

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I’ve got to the point where there is always slow cooker fudge in our fridge. It’s something I love to make, I love to create new flavour combinations and I love to give little batches of it to friends to let them know I’m thinking of them. Slow cooker fudges have become my favourite slow cooker recipes and one I am always varying to create new and exciting versions. My favourite fudge recipes are the ones using traditional flavour combinations – and he latest is Cherry Bakewell Fudge.

I wanted our Cherry Bakewell Tart Fudge recipe to be as close to a Cherry Bakewell cake as possible. Bakewell Tarts topped with icing and a glace cherry. So Dave and I created this fudge together – and it turned out pretty well.

It’s so different to a typical chocolate fudge made in the slow cooker with fudge pantry staples – just chocolate and condensed milk. It uses a lot more ingredients and you could add a few more if you wanted – topping it with flaked almonds or using a delicious cherry jam instead. This would be wonderful as part of an afternoon tea spread.

How to make Cherry Bakewell Fudge?

This slow cooker cherry fudge recipe has all the things I love about Cherry Bakewells – a wonderful rich almond and cherry flavor, shortcrust pastry, raspberry jam, icing and a cherry on the top. It’s made in layers to have a lovely jammy middle but the pastry crunch runs all the way through the fudge.

This definitely takes a lot more time to construct than our previous fudge recipes but it’s worth the effort! Our whole family love it. You really can’t beat a good Cherry fudge.

How long does slow cooker fudge keep for?

This slow cooker fudge keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container for a couple of weeks although you may find the jam slides out in places! The flavour matures over the first couple of days of it being in the fridge so you get the full flavour after it’s been in the fridge for a few days.

Can you make this fudge in the microwave?

Many people make fudge in the microwave but I much prefer the control I have when I make it in the crock pot or slow cooker. If you don’t have a slow cooker, make it in the fudge by putting the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heating on short bursts in the microwave, stirring in between. Then follow the instructions as per the recipe below.

Can you make slow cooker fudge with evaporated milk?

Our slow cooker fudge works because condensed milk has a really high sugar content, needed to create that beautifully rich fudge. Evaporated milk isn’t the same, doesn’t have that sugar content and isn’t thick enough to help the fudge thicken and set. You can’t use evaporated milk in these recipes – so get some condensed milk instead.

Do you cook slow cooker fudge high or low temperature?

We always cook fudge on a high slow cooker temperature setting and it takes around 40 minutes in total. You could make it on the low setting but it would take longer and would still need to be stirred regularly. You may as well keep the slow cooker on high and be done in under an hour!

When cooking, is the slow cooker fudge lid on or off?

When making slow cooker fudge, you need to remove the slow cooker lid otherwise excess moisture would be retained in the slow cooker pot and the fudge wouldn’t thicken as it needs to.

We love making fudge as a gift, cut into squares and put into individual bags tied with a ribbon or little gift boxes. It’s so much nicer then any shop bought products, especially at Christmas.

If you’re looking for other easy fudge flavours to try at home why not give our tasty Amaretto Cherry Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge or Slow Cooker Biscoff Fudge a go? I’m making a cookies and cream fudge just as soon as I can too.

What equipment do you need to make slow cooker fudge?

Slow cooker fudge doesn’t need anything special to make it, and you probably already have everything you need at home, but this is the equipment we use:

• A slow cooker
• A wooden spoon
• A spatula
• A square baking tin
• Baking paper sheets
• Food scales
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons
• Good quality knives to cut the fudge into pieces
• Airtight containers for storage
• Food gift bags to package it up and give the fudge as gifts

Once you’ve got everything you need to make the fudge you can just keep making it again and again – in so many different flavours too!

So here’s our perfect Slow Cooker Cherry Bakewell Fudge recipe:

Ingredients

• A 397 ml tin condensed milk
• 450g white chocolate – can be bars or sweet chocolate chips
• 150g milk chocolate – can be bars or sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp almond extract
• 100g cooked sweet shortcrust pastry broken into pieces. We bake a plain sheet of pastry and leave to cool.
• Strawberry jam or raspberry jam

To decorate

• icing sugar
• glacé cherries, halved

Instructions

• Break the chocolate up and add to the slow cooker bowl with the sweetened condensed milk and almond essence.
• Turn the slow cooker on to high and leave to cook for 40 minutes with the lid off, stirring every ten minutes.
• When melted, thick and well combined, add the pastry pieces and stir well.
• Pour half into a tin lined with parchment paper or silicone baking tray
• Add a thin layer of jam and top with the rest of the fudge mixture and put in the fridge to set.
• After at least 4 hours in the fridge add the topping.
• Mix icing sugar with a little water and drizzle over the top of the fudge.
• Cut the fudge into squares and top each with the glace cherries. Enjoy!

If you’d like to pin or print this Slow Cooker Cherry Bakewell Fudge recipe for later you can do so below. Happy baking!