Weekend Recipe: Chocolate Turtle Cake

This Chocolate Turtle Cake recipe from Cook's Country is candy-inspired cake at its best. 

Instead of making a caramel topping for our Chocolate Turtle Cake from scratch, we opted to melt caramel candies with some cream and a pinch of salt. Resting the cake in the refrigerator before serving made it sturdier and easier to slice.

Chocolate Turtle Cake
Serves 8 to 12

INGREDIENTS

1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups pecan halves, toasted
1 pound soft caramel candies
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 (8-inch) chocolate cake rounds

INSTRUCTIONS

1. FOR THE ICING: Cook ½ cup cream, chocolate, and corn syrup in medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to medium bowl and refrigerate until thickened but still spreadable, 1 to 2 hours.

2. FOR THE CARAMEL: Finely chop 1½ cups pecans. Heat caramels, remaining ½ cup cream, and salt in medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until smooth, about 6 minutes. Reserve ¾ cup caramel for topping. Stir chopped pecans into remaining caramel mixture, cover, and keep warm.

3. TO ASSEMBLE: Place 1 cake round on cake platter. Spread half of pecan-caramel mixture in even layer over top, leaving ½-inch border around edge. Place second cake round on top and repeat with remaining half of pecan-caramel mixture. Top with third cake round. Spread chocolate icing over top and sides of cake and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. Spread reserved ¾ cup caramel over top of cake (caramel should be no hotter than 120 degrees or icing will melt), allowing it to drip over sides. Garnish with remaining pecans. Slice and serve.

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