With so many cooking functions, it seems there’s no end to the delicious meals that can be created in one of the best Instant Pots . They’re great for slow-cooked tender meat or fast pressure-cooked curries, but more often than not, we tend to dream of mouthwatering savory foods when thinking about what to cook next in this clever kitchen gadget.
An Instant Pot is one of the most versatile kitchen appliances around and with an army of fans worldwide, there are thousands of recipes online created especially for this popular multi-cooker. In fact, we've had great success cooking everything from mashed potato to hard-boiled egg s in an Instant Pot.
When I saw just how many cake recipes were on the Instant Pot website and app, I got to thinking, can you really bake a cake in one of these multicookers? Is an Instant Pot the answer to making bakes worth of the contenders on the Great British Baking Show or, if you’re in the UK the Great British Bake Off?
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Read on to discover what happened when we used an Instant Pot to bake cake and cookies, or if you’ve already decided you want to invest in one of these multicookers, check out the best prices right now:
How do you cook cakes and cookies in an Instant Pot?
You don’t need an Instant Pot with an air fry lid to make cakes, but I suspect you’ll get better results that way. In a classic Instant Pot without air fry capabilities, the majority of cake recipes utilize the pressure cook function.
Once you’ve made the cake batter and filled a cake pan, it then has to be covered with foil. This stops moisture from getting into the cake and affecting your bake. By adding water to the cooking pot and sitting the cake pan on the trivet, it’s kept away from the direct heat at the base of the pot and instead cooks gently in the pressurized heat.
Most of the recipes I tried, call for a 7 inch/ 18cm round cake pan, fortunately, I had one this size. However my 6 quart/ 6 liter Instant Pot was only just big enough for the pan. So while I could just about ease it in, removing it from the hot steamy pot at the end of cooking was tricky, to say the least. It involved the use of several kitchen utensils in an attempt to lever it out. So if you’re serious about perfecting cakes in an Instant Pot I’d highly recommend buying a silicone pressure cooker bakeware sling, which sits in the bottom of the Instant Pot and has handles that enable you to lift out the cake tin with ease.
So, how did the bakes turn out?
I envisioned impossibly moist and light cakes when I started this baking adventure. After all, if there’s no oven then the cake can’t burn or dry out. And it’s true, none of the cakes I made were burnt or overly dry, they just had other problems.
First up, let me tell you about my most successful creation, the fudgy chocolate cake . After following the recipe and pressure cooking for the required 30 minutes it didn’t look great. The top was bumpy and it didn’t appear to have risen much either. And while it would be a stretch to describe it as a cake, this chocolate treat actually tasted delicious. It was rich, dense, and fudgy with a pleasing brownie texture and a rich chocolate flavor, and I enjoyed every mouthful. But let’s be clear, cakes should be light and fluffy, which this was not.
Going into my second bake I was optimistic and after the rich chocolate cake, I landed on a recipe for what looked like a fresh and light orange olive oil cake . Again, I followed the recipe and pressure cooked it for 35 minutes, but this one ended up being the worst cake I made in the Instant Pot. It didn’t rise at all and what came out of the pan was very dense, rubbery, and completely inedible.
At this point, I didn’t know what to expect from the third cake. This time I tried one of my all-time favorites, a carrot cake , and had high hopes for a delicious bake. At 65 minutes, the cooking time for this one was double that of the previous two cakes and I wondered if this would be the key to creating the perfect cake. And the finished cake did actually rise much more than the previous two, it certainly looked far more like a traditional cake. But sadly it just wasn’t the real deal, it was denser and chewier than a carrot cake should be. I was left wishing I’d baked it in the oven instead, for a lighter springier result.
There aren’t many cookie recipes that don’t require the use of an air fry lid, but eventually, I found one for oatmeal raisin cookie which looked worth a try. Like the cakes, it gets cooked in a foil-covered cake pan using the pressure cook function. The end result did look like a giant cookie, but that’s where the similarities ended. It had the texture of a dry flat cake which although edible, was very disappointing and certainly didn’t feel like a treat.
I’d love to tell you that Instant Pot is the answer to all of your baking woes, but this experience showed me you just can’t create light and fluffy bakes in a pressure cooker. Instant Pot is a fantastic appliance for creating so many tasty dishes, but let’s face it, even die-hard Instant Pot fans have to admit that it can’t be good at everything.
Is the Halo TV show's Silver Timeline canon? It's complicated
The Halo Silver Timeline isn't officially canon within the Halo universe – but it will co-exist alongside, and potentially add to, the franchise's main timeline.
That's according to Frank O'Connor, Halo's Franchise Development Director, who has attempted to clarify how the upcoming Halo TV show fits into the series' established lore.
O'Connor, who also serves as an executive producer Paramount Plus 's TV adaptation of the beloved FPS series, was interviewed by the Halo Waypoint team to explain how the TV show's narrative fits into the wider Halo universe.
Asked if he could simplify where the Silver Timelines fits into the history of the franchise, O'Connor begun by stating that the Halo TV series is built on series' "core canon".
"One of the first things we realized... was that there were some real dangers of mapping a totally different medium – games – to a linear narrative format, TV or movie for that matter," he said.
"Halo’s core canon is extremely important to us and our fans, and we wanted to think of the simplest and most productive way to make sure we didn’t ‘break’ either medium by trying to force square pegs into round holes. The idea of the 'Silver Timeline’ kept resurfacing throughout that process.
"We wanted to use the existing Halo lore, history, canon, and characters wherever they make sense for a linear narrative, but also separate the two [timelines] distinctly so that we don’t invalidate the core canon."
So how does the Halo Silver Timeline actually fit into the extended universe? O'Connor stressed that the TV adaptation won't retcon any of Halo's pre-existing history, instead suggesting that it'll live alongside the main timeline already established in the games and novels.
"To be clear: these will be two parallel, very similar, but ultimately separate timelines whose main events and characters will intersect and align throughout their very different cadences," he revealed. "The TV show timeline – the ‘Silver Timeline’ – is grounded in the universe, characters and events of what’s been established in core canon.
"But [they] will differ in subtle and not so subtle ways in order to tell a grounded, human story, set in the profoundly established Halo universe. Where differences and branches arise, they will do so in ways that make sense for the show, meaning that while many events, origins, character arcs, and outcomes will map to the Halo story fans know, there will be surprises, differences, and twists that will run parallel, but not identically to core canon."
In other Halo TV series related news, we recently learned when the show's official trailer will be released . And check out why we think Halo's TV adaptation takes its cues from Star Wars series The Mandalorian , as well as how we think it'll build on John-117's backstory .
Analysis: A Halo story full of Silver linings
As with any movie or TV adaptation, diehard Halo fans were (and still are) naturally apprehensive about the prospect of a Halo TV series. This is an iconic and beloved gaming franchise, after all, so why would anyone want to tarnish its reputation and potentially retcon its canon with a TV adaptation?
Based on O'Connor's comments, though, fans should be resting a little easier now.
Yes, Paramount's Halo TV show will take plenty of cues from the games and novels, and it's likely to retell key events in the Halo universe, albeit with a unique television-based spin.
Given that O'Connor has confirmed there could be crossovers between the Silver Timeline and core canon – "Absolutely – and ideally both ways... story differences create great opportunities to make new things that could potentially feature in future games" – some fans may still have reservations about how the TV show will impact the already established Halo universe.
But the key takeaway here is that the Halo TV show will exist on its own timeline. As such, it's unlikely to have any major impacts on the overarching narrative that's come before in the games and books. Think of other recent TV adaptations, such as The Expanse on Prime Video or Netflix's The Umbrella Academy , and you'll catch our drift.
If anything, we suspect that the TV series will expand on key story material where some puzzle pieces have been missing. And it may introduce newcomers to the wider Halo universe, too, and entice them to play the games or read the books, which developer 343 Industries and various Halo authors will only see as a good thing.
So is Halo on Paramount Plus actually canon? No. Sure, O'Connor's long-winded answers – the whole interview is well worth a read if you require further clarity – leave things open to interpretation in some instances. But, for the most part, the Halo TV show is a separate entity to what's come before, and that should make hardcore Halo fans breathe a sigh of relief.
One of the biggest ever Netflix movies could be turned into a game
A game based on the hit Netflix movie Extraction is reportedly being discussed between Netflix itself and production company AGBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter .
This comes after Japanese vgame company Nexon made a minority investment of $400 million (approximately £295.6 million) in AGBO. Part of the reason for this investment is to "further support AGBO’s development, production, and ownership of tent pole-led entertainment universes appealing to worldwide audiences, including via games and Virtual World experiences," says Nexon .
It adds that, if requested, it's willing to invest upwards of a further $100 million (around £75m / AU$140m) in the first half of 2022.
"Film and television have been proven to drive higher engagement and longevity for game franchises, and we are now partnered with the best creators and adapters of franchise IP in film and television," says Nick van Dyk, president of Nexon Film & Television.
Netflix's most popular movie
Extraction stars Chris Hemsworth as a black ops mercenary hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian drug lord in Bangladesh. The screenplay was written by Joe Russo, with he and his brother Anthony Russo also serving as producers.
The Russo brothers, who run AGBO, are perhaps best known for their directorial work on several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, especially Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Extraction is considered to be one of, if not the most popular Netflix original movie. In July 2020, Netflix told Bloomberg that it had been watched by 99 million households in its first four weeks.
Unsurprisingly, a sequel to Extraction is in development, with the Russo Brothers' involvement and director Sam Hardgrave, who also directed the first movie. A teaser trailer released in September 2021 confirmed that Chris Hemsworth will be reprising the lead role.