Chocolate Turtle Cake

Wow.  October has been flying by.  We've had a steady stream of company and a whole host of other things come our way in the last few weeks.  Consequently, there has not been as much cooking around these parts as eating out (or so it seems) and when I have been making food, there hasn't been a whole lot of attention paid to making sure to snap a pretty picture.

Sometimes, a recipe doesn't need a lovely shot to be enticing, though.  At least, that's what I would think when mentioning such a thing as Chocolate Turtle Cake.  While my parents were visiting, I really wanted to try out this recipe on them knowing that they have a weakness for the chocolate, caramel pecans combination.  I'm so glad I did (and especially glad there were extra people to help spread out the calories!).

Inspired by the beloved candy, this version consists of chocolate cake (use a box, if you please! I sure did.) is layered with gooey caramel and crunchy pecans, covered in rich chocolate frosting and then topped with a final dressing of caramel. 

Chocolate Turtle Cake
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups pecans, toasted
1 pound soft caramels (I used a 14 oz. bag of Kraft brand and it worked well despite not being quite 1 pound)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 recipe Grandma Kaye's Fudge Frosting (recipe below) or 1 recipe Chocolate Icing (also below)
2 (8-inch) baked chocolate cake rounds

Directions: 
For the caramel: Finely chop 1 1/2 cups pecans.  Heat caramels, remaining cream and salt in a microwave safe bowl by cooking on 50% power in microwave, removing bowl and stirring every 30 seconds until caramel is smooth and melted.  Reserve 3/4 cup caramel mixture for topping.  Stir chopped pecans into remaining caramel mixture. 

To assemble: Place 1 cake layer on cake serving platter.  Spread the pecan-caramel mixture in an even layer over the top, leaving 1/2 inch border around the edges.  Pour a very small amount of chocolate frosting around the caramel filling to keep it from spilling over the edges (see photo).  Top with second cake layer.  Pour or spread chocolate frosting over top and sides of cake, allowing to set slightly.  Spread reserved caramel mixture over top of cake, allowing caramel to drip over sides (reheat caramel in microwave for just a few seconds if it has gotten too stiff to pour).  Garnish with remaining pecans.  Slice and serve

Making a "dam" of chocolate frosting to keep the caramel from spilling out.  Kindly disregard the very torn cake edges.  I was meant to relearn a lesson in properly greasing the cake pans.  Oops.

Note: the original recipe called for a chocolate ganache icing instead of the "Grandma Kaye's Fudge Frosting."  I changed it up mostly for the sake of time (the ganache has to cool for much longer).  If you would like to use it instead, I've included it below.

Grandma Kaye's Fudge Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk (you can also substitute half and half)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup mini marshmallows
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips (or a combination of milk and semi-sweet)

In a medium saucepan over very lowest heat, combine sugar and evaporated milk. Stir thoroughly until sugar starts to dissolve. Add butter and marshmallows. Stir constantly until butter and marshmallows are completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in salt, vanilla and chocolate chips, stirring until chips are melted and frosting is smooth. Use immediately as it will stiffen up quickly.

notes: after a lot of experimenting, I have found that it is very important to make sure to combine the milk and sugar first, otherwise the sugar crystals will never fully dissolve and your frosting will remain grainy. It is also important to keep the heat as low as possible. Finally, you can certainly play around with the chocolate used. We just prefer milk chocolate. 

Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
In a medium saucepan, cook cream, chocolate and corn syrup over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until smooth.  Transfer mixture to medium bowl and refrigerate until thickened but still spreadable, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally (alternatively, refrigerate mixture overnight until set.  Let sit at room temperature until softened and spreadable, about 1 hour).

Recipe Adapted from: Cook's Country Magazine

Sweets for the Sweet Part II: Samoas Bars

See?  A heart, for Valentine's Day.  Precious, huh?

Growing up, I never got to be a girl scout.  My dad got me started in 4-H (the more rural, science-y, co-ed youth development organization that displays all kinds of things at fairs--someday, I'll have to tell you the tragic story of the rhubarb cake that never made it to judging at the Hennepin County Fair...) because he had very fond memories of showing calves at fairs through his 4-H club.  I digress... I don't know if Scouts do fairs...I think they might be too busy earning badges. 

Sadly, being in 4-H meant not getting to wear cute berets and sashes and have darling names like "Brownies" (makes me hungry every time...). Despite any competition between Scouts and Clovers (I think that's what 4-H kids are called, and no, I don't think there's any animosity), whenever our neighbors who were Girl Scouts came around with those cookie orders, I loved the Samoas (or Caramel DeLites, depending on where you are, right?) so much, that I would raid my own piggy bank just to make sure I got a box to myself.  Then, I would hide the box in some remote place just to ensure that no little sibling (or chocolate and coconut-loving dad) would get a hold of my twelve precious caramel-coconutty treasures.  No wonder I was a pudgy kid, I had some serious gluttony issues...

Well, I do still love Samoas cookies and since it will be a couple weeks still before our order will be delivered (along with the requisite box of Thin Mints), I thought I would give this recipe a try.  Variations of Samoas bars are all over the blogosphere and not wanting to be outdone, I came up with my own take on them.  Many of the recipes call for melting chocolate to replicate the chocolate-coated bottom and drizzle on the top.  Please feel free to do that.  I am lazy so I just sprinkled mini chocolate chips and that worked great for me! 

Samoas Bars
Crust layer:
1/2 cup (an 8 oz stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Caramel Coconut layer:
3 cups grated sweetened coconut
1 14 oz. bag caramel candies (like Kraft brand)
3 tablespoons milk
pinch of salt

miniature chocolate chips

To assemble: Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  On a baking sheet (easier if it has sides) covered with parchment paper, spread coconut in a single layer.  Toast in 300 degree oven, checking on it and stirring it every 3-5 minutes to prevent from burning until golden brown (about 20 minutes total and I'm sorry, you can not go far during this part because it can go from golden to burned too quickly!).  Remove from oven and allow to fully cool. This step can also be done in advance and then just store the cooled coconut in an airtight container until ready to use.

To prepare the cookie base,  grease a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix to thoroughly combine.  Stir in salt and flour until the mass comes together in a dough.  Spread dough in a thin, even layer in the bottom of the baking pan (it might be a bit sticky, just do your best).  Bake for about 25 minutes or until cookie base is light golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to fully cool.

Unwrap caramels and place in a medium, microwave-safe bowl.  Add milk and salt.  Microwave on high power, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds until caramels are melted and almost smooth (it should take between 3-4 minutes).  Once caramels are melted, stir in toasted coconut.  Immediately spread melted caramel-coconut mixture over cookie base.  While the caramel is still warm, sprinkle miniature chocolate chips over top in an even layer, pressing gently into the caramel so they stick.

Allow bars to fully cool before cutting (a pizza cutter works nicely) into bars.  I do not recommend using cookie cutters to cut into heart shapes for photographs, it's just plain wasteful for all those edges.  These were even better the second day!