After learning a lot about rice cooker baking from a great blog that's dedicated to no-oven baking (in Korean), here is what I came up with. Many of her rice cooker baking recipes center around foam cakes (folding in egg white foam to a base cake batter), so that's where I am starting. This makes a light, simple, moist, and not-so-sweet spice cake that's good for anytime.
The recipe below yields a small round cake of 1.5" (~4cm) height and 6" (~15cm) diameter. Feel free to convert the recipe based on the size of your cake mold, which is your rice cooker bowl.
Dry ingredients) 1/2 Cup (C) all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon (ts) baking powder, 1 ts ginger powder (optional), 1/2 ts cinnamon powder (optional) --> Sift together and set aside.
Other ingredients) 2 egg yolks, 4 Tablespoon (TBSP) grapeseed oil (or any neutral-tasting vegetable oil), 1 TBSP rum (or vanilla extract), 1/2 ts salt, 1/2 C grated carrot, 3 TBSP water, 3 TBSP toasted, finely chopped nuts --> Mix well.
Egg white meringue ingredients) 2 egg whites and 1/4 C sugar
1) Grease the rice cooker bowl.
2) Mix in Dry ingredients to Other ingredients and set aside.
3) Make egg white meringue by whisking 2 egg whites to a medium peak (when you lift the whisk, the tip will gently fall down) as you gradually add sugar. Here is a link to more information on egg white meringue.
4) Mix in 1/3 of the meringue to the cake batter well. Gently fold in the rest of the meringue to the batter only until well incorporated. Don't overmix.
5) Pour the batter in the rice cooker bowl. Tap the bowl down to the kitchen countertop and from the side to break big air bubbles in the batter.
6) Press the 'cook' button. When it's done, press the cook button again. The second time will be shorter. After the second time, test with a toothpick (should come out clean from the middle of the cake). If necessary, cook one more time. (You shouldn't need the third time cooking. After the 3rd time, if the middle of the cake is still wet, you're on your own - I don't know if it's your batter or your rice cooker.)
7) Flip the rice cooker bowl on a rack and cool to room temperature. Wait until the cake is cool before cutting it or putting any frosting on it.
I have an old model rice cooker that I can't press the cook button right after the first cooking. I had to wait about 15 minutes after turning off the machine in order to start the second cooking, which was fine - just in case you have an old model and can't start the second round right away, it's ok.
For storage, wrap in plastic and put it in the refrigerator. It tastes better and stays moist the next day. The cake can be cut and frozen for longer storage.
Whisking egg whites takes time and effort if you have to do it manually, which is the case with any foam cake. Other than that, rice cooker baking eliminates the concern about pre-setting the oven temperature, checking in the middle for color, or exact finishing time. When it's done, the rice cooker will let you know!
