Special Turtle Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Dissolve cocoa in boiling water; cool. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and cocoa mixture, beating well after each addition., Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For caramel layer: Line a 9-in. round pan with foil and grease the foil with butter. Sprinkle with pecans; set aside., In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, brown sugar, 1/2 cup cream, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until smooth and blended, about 5 minutes. Gradually stir in remaining cream. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 238° (soft-ball stage), about 10 minutes., Remove from the heat. Quickly pour into prepared pan (do not scrape saucepan). Cool., For ganache layer: Line a 9-in. round pan with foil and grease the foil with 1 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle with pecans; set aside. Place chocolate chips in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Pour over pecans. Cool to room temperature; chill until set., For frosting: In a microwave, melt unsweetened chocolate and chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, butter, milk, cocoa and vanilla until smooth; beat in melted chocolate., To assemble cake: Place one cake layer on a serving plate; remove foil from caramel and place on top. Top with another cake layer; remove foil from ganache and place on top. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake. Garnish as desired.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan.
• Mix cake mix according to package directions. Pour a little less than half of the batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) remove from oven.
• Melt caramels, margarine, and milk in the microwave on high (takes about 10 minutes), stirring a couple times. Or alternately melt in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Pour melted caramel mixture over cake, sprinkle with pecans, and chocolate chips, and pour remaining cake batter over the top.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 35 minutes.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan.
• Make cake batter as directed on box. Pour half of the batter into pan. Bake 22 minutes. Refrigerate remaining batter.
• Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat caramels and evaporated milk over medium heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted. Stir in pecans. Pour caramel mixture over warm cake in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Spread with remaining batter. Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cool at least 30 minutes. Serve with ice cream, drizzle with toppings and sprinkle with pecans. Store loosely covered.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Generously spray 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with baking spray with flour.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, oil, 1/4 cup caramel topping and the eggs with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in 3/4 cup pecans. Pour into pan.
• Bake 38 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 20 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Transfer cake to serving platter. In small microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 20 to 30 seconds or until thin enough to pour over cake. Pour over cake. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until chocolate is set.
• When ready to serve, pour 1/4 cup caramel topping over chocolate frosting; sprinkle with 1/4 cup pecans. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
• Cover the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, cut to size.
• In a medium bowl, combine the egg, oil, and buttermilk. In another larger bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until well mixed. Gradually add the hot coffee, and stir again to combine. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes rest in the pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
• Combine the milk and sugar together in a medium saucepan. Add the butter, and then bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolate chips to the pan and, using a wire whisk, mix until smooth. (Note: If frosting is too thick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons hot coffee.)
• Place 1 cooled cake layer with the top side down on a cake plate. Spread with 1/3 of the frosting, pushing it out slightly from the edges to make a ripple or petal effect. Sprinkle frosting with 1/2 cup toasted pecans and drizzle with 1/4 cup caramel. Add the next layer, again with the top side down. Repeat frosting layers. Place the top layer with the top side up. Repeat frosting layers.

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of two 8-inch round aluminum cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, oil, 8 ounces water, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk by hand until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and whisk once more to ensure no lumps.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake until the cakes are firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes.
• For the meringue frosting: Mix the sugar with about 1 cup water in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
• Meanwhile, whip the egg whites in a stand mixer until they just reach medium peaks. Adjust to low speed and leave running.
• Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches the soft-boil stage--the bubbles on the surface will start to pop more often but the sugar should not change color and caramelize.
• Adjust the mixer to high speed and slowly pour the cooked sugar into the whipped egg whites. Gradually add the butter, whipping until smooth. (Makes 28 ounces.)
• For the ganache: Bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan, and then stir in the chocolate and cayenne. (Makes 3/4 cup.)
• For the turtle filling: Combine the sugar in a large saucepot and mix with just enough water until it resembles wet sand. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture begins to caramelize.
• Allow the sugar to cook until it reaches a dark brown color. As soon as it JUST starts to smoke, remove from the heat and immediately add the cream, CAREFUL, the mixture will boil and bubble and is very hot. Once all the cream is added, whisk the mixture and then add the butter, whisking until fully incorporated.
• Toast the pecans in a 425-degree oven for 10 minutes, and sprinkle with salt as soon as they come out. Mix the pecans into the caramel and let cool to room temperature. (Makes 1 pound.)
• To assemble the cake: Slice the cakes in half horizontally to make 4 even cake layers. Pipe a ring of frosting around the edge of one of the bottom layers and fill the center with turtle filling--the buttercream ring will prevent the turtle filling from oozing out the sides of the cake.
• Spread a thin layer of ganache on top of the turtle filling and repeat with the remaining cake layers.
• Frost the entire cake as desired with the frosting.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan.
• Pour half of the prepared cake mix into the pan.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• In the meantime, place unwrapped caramels in a saucepan.
• Add 1/2 cup evaporated milk.
• Heat on low, stirring until caramels have melted.
• Remove cake from oven and pour melted caramel mixture on top of the cake.
• Sprinkle chopped pecans and chocolate chips on top of caramel layer.
• Press down lightly.
• Pour remaining half of prepared cake mix on top of the filling layer.
• Bake an additional 30 minutes.
• After removing cake from the oven, let the cake cool slightly (approx. 5- 10 minutes).
• Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake.
• This is an important step- otherwise you'll have a tough time removing the pieces later!
• Store at room temperature.
• Note: Please see your cake mix box for exact amounts of vegetable oil, water and eggs.

Steps:

• Combine all dry ingredients (except sugar); set aside.
• Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
• Gradually add flour mixture alternately with milk (not canned milk), just until blended.
• Spread half of the batter in a greased and floured 9x13 pan. bake for 12-14 minutes in a 350°F oven.
• Heat caramels and canned milk. Melt.
• Pour caramel mixture over cake, spreading to the edges.
• Sprinkle with 1 cup of chocolate chips and the 1 cup of the chopped pecans.
• Spoon remaining batter over top, carefully spreading to the edges.
• Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips. Spread over cooled cake.
• Sprinkle with the remaining pecans.
• I like to serve this with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.