Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. oil
1/2 t. vanilla
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour milk or buttermilk
2 c. grated zucchini
2 1/2 c. flour
4 T. cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. brown sugar


Cream shortening, oil, vanilla, sugar, and eggs. Alternate adding dry ingredients with milk. Add zucchini last. Mix together. Pour into greased and floured 9x13" pan. Combine chocolate chips and brown sugar and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.


Notes:
I tasted this almost a year ago at a church dessert thing. I loved it then and have wanted to try it for a long time. Now that zucchini is in season and it piling up on my counter, I thought it was the perfect time. My kids were getting tired of eating it on the side with dinner. The problem is, my oven has been broken for months! So...... (anyone living in a hot climate is going to LOVE this tip) I did it in the CROCK-POT! This was not originally a crock-pot recipe, but I thought, "what the heck?" I looked up a few slow cooker bread recipes for some tips and voila! It came out delicious! Moist, dense, a little chewy, oh so chocolaty, no funny aftertaste like some zucchini breads have. Mmmmmm... On another note I was out of oil and substituted an equal amount of unsweetened apple sauce, and being a chocolate lover, I used the 4 T. of cocoa direction loosely. Definitely 5 stars!


Slow cooker directions: grease your crock-pot well, turn on to high heat. Pour in batter, top with chocolate chips. Cover with lid (some recipes suggested skewing the lid to allow steam to escape. In our dry climate I figure we can use all the moisture we can get) cook for 2 hours (some recipes I looked at suggested low heat for 6 hours). Take lid off and allow to cool most of the way (until you can handle the crock pot) in the crock. Slide knife around the edge of cake to loosen, dump onto cooling rack. Enjoy!!!