25 March 2008

Explosive Turtle Cheesecake

Explosive Turtle Cheesecake
Each and every day out in the blogosphere I come across a recipe I feel the urge to try. I bookmark them and hope that I get around to making each and every one. How are you doing with that Val? Right now I have enough recipes from the Internet and the blogosphere to make something different for the next 2 years!!

From the time my daughter was a year old I would try my hand at making fancy cakes for her birthday. She had teddy bears for a teddy bear picnic; individual Hawaiian girls for a Hawaiian luau; little girls for a fancy tea party; swimming pools, school buses, unicorns.... She always delighted in each and every one. One day when she was about 8 she mentioned the fact that she didn't like icing...so then it was ice cream cakes and ice cream pizzas from Dairy Queen. Now she has moved on over to cheesecakes. It was inevitable this weekend when she was home from university that I should spoil her with her favourite Turtle Cheesecake...it was not her birthday of course...but the spoiling was inevitable.

I discovered this recipe at Elly Says Opa as an entry to her Eat to the Beat event. It was submitted by Amber of Amber's Kitchen . This is a "new to me" version of my daughters favourite Turtle Cheesecake that I thought I would give a try...caramel, chocolate. pecans...certainly droolworthy.

Speaking of Elly I won the latest cookbook "Cooking from the Hip" from Cat Cora on her site. Yay me!!! Cat was raised in a small Greek community in Jackson, Mississippi, by a family for whom cooking and eating were the center of life. It is no wonder she has become on Iron Chef on the Food Network. Look forward to some delicious and droolworthy recipes from the book!!

This version of cheesecake was delicious. I changed the original recipe ever so slightly.

**Explosive Turtle Cheesecake**

  • 1 -1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (recommended: Oreo or chocolate graham crackers)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar for crust
  • 1 cup sugar for cheesecake4 T unsalted butter, melted, plus 3 T
  • 2 -1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 more cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 more cup semisweet chocolate chips, for topping
  • 1 cup caramel, for topping
  • 1 cup pecans, for topping

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Lightly grease the bottom and side of a 9-inch springform pan. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, 4 tablespoons of sugar, and the melted butter and mix together well. Pour the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and press them out evenly. Once completed, set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, the rest of the sugar, and vanilla. Beat together until light and creamy. Add the flour and blend until smooth. Pour in a melted cup of the chocolate chips and sour cream and mix well. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing each at low speed. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips. Pour the filling into prepared pan, bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the center is almost set. (To prevent the cheesecake from cracking you can try several things; allow cake to cool in the oven once it is turned off; invert a large bowl over the springform pan to create an environment) Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and remove rim of the pan. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

4. In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and pour in remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips. Mix together on medium-low heat. Once chocolate and butter is combined, pour warm mixture onto chilled cake. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.

5. In another small saucepan, pour in caramel and chopped pecans, bring to a boil. Let mixture boil for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Let mixture cool for 3 to 5 minutes, and pour onto cake. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

10 to 12 servings

(I drizzled both the caramel and chocolate onto the cake and also put a border of pecans around the bottom outside layer)

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison. Best Blogger Tips

43 comments:

  1. Ooooh, you're pure evil for posting this so early in the day.

    I love Turtles and now I'm humming the jingle...again!

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  2. Turtles, turtles..yah, yah, yah....ooooohhh I love turtles. Did you know that the original top hat dancing girlin the commercial was from Kitchener? A friend of mine in highschool sang with her...not on the commercial.

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  3. I love Cheesecakes and still haven't posted the last two I have made. Next cheesecake I shall make shall try this one. The only thing I did not understand is about the caramel. Is this a ready made caramel sauce?

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  4. I used a caramel sauce that is premade that you use on ice cream sundaes Ivy. Makes it easy peasy:D

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  5. That looks delicious! I haven't had cheesecake in a while and that is my favorite kind. Its too early to want dessert this badly...

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  6. It's so true, there are so many wonderful recipes out there that I have starred!

    This turtle cheesecake looks absolutely wonderful!

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  7. That cheesecake is to die for Val! It looks amazing! Glad to hear you spoiled your daughter a lot while she was there.

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  8. That looks so good! I love turtles. Good idea on the caramel sauce!

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  9. I just saw someone else make this - now I really want it!

    I have Cooking From the Hip - I'm excited to see what you make from it! I've only made one recipe from it so far, but I liked it so much that I've made it twice!

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  10. Valli,

    Amazing looking cake and sounds even better! I'm adding it to my deli.cio.us! Thank you for sharing,
    Margot

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  11. Oh my gosh, that looks delish. What a good mom you are and what a lucky daughter! Congratulations on winning the cookbook too.

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  12. OMG. That's all I gotta say, Val.
    OMG.

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  13. That turtle cheesecake looks so amazing!!

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  14. Turtle cheesecake= YES!!
    Could you make me a cheesecake, please?

    Are you talking about the band, The Turtles? So Happy Together Turtles?
    They play that song all of the time at work. I've grown to hate it.

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  15. OMG, That will do some thigh damage for sure!! But worth every bite!!

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  16. No...I am talking about a commercial for Turtles candy...you're probably too young to remember it Emeline:D...ooooh I love Turtles.......

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  17. I'm not looking at your blog again ;)its an amazing recipe.

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  18. I understand your dilemma, sweetie: I have so many recipes bookmarked I would have to make 5 a day for years. :)
    This cheesecake looks incredible! And congratulations on winning the book.

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  19. Vall this looks sooo yummy!! I have a lot of recipes too Val, but sometimes I don't have time to make all there recipes but I love to collect them.xxxxGloria

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  20. I drool over cheesecakes and the one you've made is exotic..just missing biting into it!!
    Bellini it was great to know about the lovely cakes you made for your daughter..

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  21. Oh man - this is one serious chocolate treat! I can't wait to spoil my boys when they come home from Uni - just got to get rid of them first!

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  22. OMG!
    I gained 5 lbs just reading the recipe... dark chocolate, caramel, pecans....
    No offense, but I'm glad I can't get oreos here or I would be sorely tempted by this.....

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  23. Looking at this cheesecake gave me an "aha" moment. While away on a trip to the U.S. I picked up a ton of sugar free turtle chocolates - I only love them this much (see my arms stretched out). Your cheesecake made me crazy - I ran to the cupboard - took out my sugarless treats and ate a whole bag full. Now I'm happy.

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  24. *stomach grumbling* ... oh, I shouldn't have come by your blog in the middle of the afternoon :-) This looks amazing -- I'm sure it tastes even better!

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  25. This is truly a decadent cheesecake. Your daughter is very lucky to have such a good baker and cook as a mom.

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  26. Val, that needs to be on the front cover of a cooking magazine! My teeth hurt looking at that! Oh too great! And WOW, you won a cookbook! How fun! Looking forward to some of her recipes as I do not have any of her books!

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  27. Looks so amazing! I love the combination of caramel and chocolate...

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  28. That sounds absolutely amazing!

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  29. Hey Val...this is truely explosive. DROOOOOOOOL...make that BIG TIME droooool!!! WOW...congrats too on winning the book. Your daughter must be over the moon to have a Mom like you.

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  30. I thought I had the mother of all cheesecake recipes, but I think you have just kicked some butt....yummee

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  31. OOh, luscious caramel drizzle. I've never understood the term 'turtle' for these confections, but they're quite the combination of sweet treats.

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  32. Wow, this looks like a great recipe. This is too tempting to pass up.

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  33. They call them turtles because they are supposed to look like turtles Ann Marie. When you make them at home you use a pecan for the head and the legs:D Delish either way!!!!!!!!

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  34. Whoa that looks amazingly good! I'm almost glad I'm not cooking right now though because I would have to make it and it's probably 8 thousand calories! (but they're probably all worth it too!)

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  35. YUMMY!I love turtle cheesecake..happy weekend valli!

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  36. Oooooh. Turtle Cheesecake....I think my voiced has morphed into that of Homer Simpson when he's talking about potato chips or beer! LOL One of my absolute favorites, Val. Beautiful presentation and photo, too!!!

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  37. Oh my good gracious! That looks fantastic. That would be dangerous around here.

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  38. I love the way you talk about your daughter! That's love!!!

    And the cheese cake is glorious!!! I only have seen this good looking cakes in cake shops here!!!

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  39. I think you have a typo on this recipe.

    For the second ingredient, should it not read 1 cup sugar, plus 4 Tbsp???

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  40. Redforever: I switched the 4 T and 1 cup...when you read the recipe the first sugar used is only 4 T in the crumb mixture...you then use 1 cup in the body of the cheesecake. I started out by putting 1 cup of sugar in with my crumbs...in fact I think I will separtate them altogether. Thanks for pointing this out:D

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Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

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