Chocolate Crock-Pot Cake!

You read it right! Chocolate cake! In the Crock-Pot! Desert in the Crock-Pot? I don't think so! But several years ago I had some success with a bread pudding in the Crock-Pot as well as a Peach Cobbler! But after a failed cobbler, I hadn't ventured back into the desert world of Crock-Potting for a long while.
You must understand, the Crock-Pot is a foreign tool to me. Growing up we had a Crock-Pot! It was avocado green! But the only thing that came out of it was ham and beans or split pea soup. Neither of which are terribly wonderful entrees that will endear Crock-Pot cookery to a ten or eleven year old. In college several friends used their Crock-Pots for cheese dips and chili. It wasn't till I started hanging with teachers on a full-time basis that I discovered that the Crock-Pot can be a life and time saving device. Yet, I must admit, that until recently, I still used the Crock-Pot less than once or twice a month!
This semester has been a doozie! With teaching an extra class, a pre-teen navigating the jungle of middle school who has been mostly sick since Christmas of 2008, and all sorts of other unmentionables I have enlisted the help of the Crock-Pot and often, my husband!
So Saturday, while the Groovy Pork Loin was simmering away and making the entire house smell delicious, I thought I'd throw a cake together! I was going to make banana nut bread, but I had no nuts, and John dislikes banana bread. But I found this recipe that contained all sorts of 'so bad for you they have to be good' items. At first I was stunned that I actually had all of the items in my pantry! Pudding? I never make pudding? And I guess that is why I had a package in the pantry!
This recipe takes forever on low, but it is well worth the wait! John had trouble waiting and kept returning to the kitchen to lift the lid.
This recipe was adapted from one found in Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: Feasing with your Slow Cooker by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good. The book is packed full of recipes, however, there are NO pictures!

Chocolate Pudding Cake

What you need:

18.5 oz package of chocolate cake mix
3.9 oz package of instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup water
3/4 cup oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Whipped Cream or Ice cream to serve!

What you do:

Combine all ingredients except for the chocolate chips in mixing bowl. Mix on medium for about 2 minutes. The batter beats up light and fluffy! Definitely worth licking the bowl.
Stir in chocolate chips (I think maraschino cherries would be marvelous!)
Pour into greased Crock-Pot. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
Cake is done when bamboo skewer is inserted and comes out with moist crumbs.
Slide cake out of Crock-Pot or spoon out. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Note: Take 1/2 of what you think you want. This cake is really rich!