Rocky Road Chocolate Cake

I am lucky enough to have a group of wonderful friends... You know the kind - the ones that would do anything for you and the ones that you can call in the middle of the night if you ever needed anything. We play games, cards, watch tv and just hang out as much as possible! I am even more lucky that this group includes family - my brother and his wife and my cousin and his wife! Don't get me wrong, I have other friends and family that I hang out with but these are my "Friday night friends". Growing up, there was a group of eight that my parents spent pretty much every Friday night with. They had a core group that hung out together and I always thought that was so wonderful... Now I have my group (even though with all the craziness of our lives we don't always get to hang out on every Friday night) and I love it!!

Anyhow, the reason behind the story is that our group got together this weekend to play cards, hang out and since my brother's birthday was coming up, I made this cake! It was fabulous.... Wish the kids would have been up to share it with us, but unfortunately it was past their bedtime! :) This was super easy to throw together - it didn't look pretty dishing it up out of the crockpot, but it looked yummy in the crockpot and tasted fabulous with some ice cream!!



Rocky Road Chocolate Cake
(recipe found at www.myrecipes.com)

1 (18.25 ounces) package german chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 ounces) package chocolate instant pudding mix
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups milk, divided
1 (3.4 ounces) package chocolate cook and serve pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
vanilla ice cream, optional

Beat cake mix, next 5 ingredients, and 1 1/4 cups milk at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Pour batter into a lightly greased 4 quart slow cooker. Cook remaining 2 cups milk in a heavy nonaluminum saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, 3-5 minutes or just until bubbles appear (do not boil); remove from heat.

Sprinkle cook and serve pudding mix over batter. Slowly pour hot milk over pudding. Cover and cook on low 3 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, heat pecans in a small nonstick skillet over medium low heat, stirring often, 3-5 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant.

Turn off slow cooker. Sprinkle cake with pecans, marshmallows and chocolate chips. Let stand 15 minutes or until marshmallows are slightly melted. Spoon into dessert dishes and serve with ice cream, if desired.