Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

I had to run to "Wally World" last night to my dismay, as I try to avoid that store like the plague. And a trip to the store with three hungry and tired kids is never fun, especially when you get to the checkout line. You see the stores have it down, tempt the kids with a wide assortment of candy and treats when you are inevitably at your witts end after a long shopping trip. They also like to make sure that the lines are long so that your kids will have a half of an hour to ask you for said treats. I admitt, I usually give in, I mean a 50 cent piece of candy is worth my sanity right?! So, my point of the story is that I have my own temptation at the checkout line too, and more often than not I give in to myself. I love the food magazines that they place on the racks above all of the candy. I usually browse through them while I am waiting in those impossibly long lines and if they look good, I'll buy them. Last night I found one that I had to buy. It was a Betty Crocker Cakes mini magazine. It had all of these quick and easy cake recipes using, you guessed it, Betty Crocker cake mixes. I love homemade cakes, but sometimes you just need somthing quick and easy. As I flipped through it I found this chocolate zucchini snack cake recipe that I had all of the ingredients for, (well almost all of them, see below). It was a moist chocolate cake which was lower in fat and was topped with nuts. I'll tell you, I'm a nut lover anything with chocolate must have nuts so this one hit the spot. My kids loved it and had no idea that it has zucchini hidden inside. In fact, as I was typing this, my 2 year old climbed up onto the counter and began grabbing handfuls of the cake, what a mess! At least he is cute, so I'll forgive him.

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

(from the Betty Crocker Cakes magazine)

1 3/4 cup German chocolate cake mix
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 cup buttermilk*
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 in or 9 in round pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, zucchini, cinnamon, cloves, buttermilk, oil and egg with mixer until moistened. Beat on medium spead for 2 more minutes, scraping bowl ocassionally. Pur into pan. sprinkle evenly with nuts and chocolate chips.

3. bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completelt, about 1 hour.

*I was all out of buttermilk so I used 1/4 cup of sour cream and 1 Tbs. of milk. The recipe also says that you can use 3/4 tsp. lemon juice or vinager added to milk to equal 1/4 cup in place of the buttermilk. Just let it stand for 5 minutes before adding it to the cake ingredients.