Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite food is ... wait for it... CAKE! There was a while when I was baking cakes and cupcakes constantly - until I hit 50 and my body went to hell. Since then...I try to eat healthier...but can still be counted on to pull out a dynamo cake when asked to.
Today I had some friends over for dinner, and made a couple Mexican-inspired dishes. Wishing to manage my time well, I decided to make the cake in the slow cooker. I threw the ingredients in around 1 pm, and it made for an easy serve at dessert time! And I love chocolate with some heat added ... that's what you get here. I served it with current obsession - quick and easy homemade ice cream, here mixed with cherries and chocolate. YUM!
Make your Cake: In a standing mixer, combine a chocolate cake mix (I like the moistest one you can find), a 3.9-ounce box of chocolate instant pudding mix, 2 cups of sour cream, a tablespoon of chili powder, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 4 eggs, a cup of water, and 3/4 cups of vegetable oil. Mix well. Stir in a cup of chocolate chips (I like milk chocolate ones!). Get out your slow cooker, spray it with cooking spray, and pour your cake mix in. Cover. Cook it until it puffs up, around 5 hours on low heat. It should be a bit soft when done, and also you'll know it's done when it starts pulling away from the sides of the slow cooker.
Serve warm with ice cream! You can buy from the store off course...or use my handy dandy homemade, no-churn recipe:
EASY No Churn Ice Cream:
In a large bowl, whisk well one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one half teaspoon of salt. In another bowl, either using hand beaters, or a stand mixer, whip 2 cups of heavy crumb until the good old stiff peaks form.
Slowly fold the whipped cream into the milk mixture - don't over-mix - just gently stir it together, and then pour into a freezer container. At this point, you can just go as is, vanilla, or you can stir in anything you want. For this recipe, I added maraschino cherry juice, and a bunch of chopped up chocolate bar. Freeze until frozen, at least six hours (I'd go overnight at least).
Now wow that crowd!