Crock Pot Lava Cake

***UPDATE – See this post about our new eating habits. (7/10/11)

Let’s end the week with a bang…….dessert. Yes, you can even make dessert in the crock pot. I’m telling ya, it’s like some kind of miracle appliance! I love Lava Cake, and I always make mine in the crock pot. It’s very easy and it cooks while you’re getting other things done. Miracles I tell ya! Be prepared to slobber.

We need a chocolate cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, instant pudding mix, milk, and chocolate chips. Can you tell this recipe is really going places? Even if all you did was mix this stuff up in a bowl and eat it, you’d be in 7^th heaven. ….and then maybe in the hospital, but that’s neither here nor there.

Just like you would grease a cake pan, you need to grease the crock. I just used some cooking spray. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – using cooking spray helps with cleanup later. I’m a wealth of information.

In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, and water. Stir until most of the lumps are gone. I always use a whisk, but you can use an electric mixer if you want.

Pour this batter down into the crock pot. Smooth it out so it’s fairly even. Ohhhh baby. I love chocolate! I wasn’t a huge fan before I had Annie, but since becoming a mama I’ve found that chocolate is highly underrated.

Wash the bowl, or just rinse it out and make your pudding in the same bowl. Mix the pudding mix and milk until no lumps remain. Don’t whisk until it starts to set up, because we need to pour it.

Pour this pudding mixture evenly over the cake batter layer. If you’ve washed it before making the pudding you can happily lick the bowl…….or you can lick it too if you didn’t wash it; just pray over it first.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top of the pudding and cake layer. Use the whole bag. Do it. Don’t skimp and be the Chocolate Grinch.

Stick the lid on the pot and turn it on High. Magic things are going to happen here people. Magic things…..your house will start to smell like an M&M factory. Your family might start to quarrel over who will get the first scoop. I made this on a Sunday at Barry’s parents’ house. My conversation with Barry’s sister went like this:

Misty – “How bad would it be if I dug into this cake now? Like, is it raw and the eggs would kill me?”

Me – “Well, it would be pretty bad. Considering I’m doing it for the website, I might drop-kick you in the kitchen if you mess with it.”

Misty – “I want that cake pretty bad. It might be worth it.”

So, just be prepared for the violence…..but trust me, the Lava Cake is totally worth it.

Cook it for about 2 ½ hours or until it starts to look dry on the top and you can see the chocolate spitting up around the edges. Hello. Spitting chocolate? I’m totally there.

Scoop it out and make sure you get all the runny goodness underneath. Hello mama! We served it with ice cream. I tried to convince Barry’s family that it was nasty and they didn’t need to waste their time……but something about the chocolate scent made them not believe me. Oh well. Misty was right – it’s totally worth a drop kick in the kitchen.