Tasty Tuesday: Erika's 30th Birthday Cake - Chocolate Turtle Cake

My beautiful wife turned 30 on Saturday. If you've been reading since this time last year you might remember the "joys" of the "Perfect Chocolate Cake". This year there was the same debate over whether or not Erika should bake her own birthday cake. This time I said, "yes" and she said, "no." She picked a cake that wouldn't cause me to curdle any ingredients. The cake this year was much easier than last years, so I went with it and called the kids in the kitchen. I wasn't doing this on my own.

Wait a minute.... I didn't call them in right away. I got all the ingredients ready so the process would go smoothly. This included unwrapping some 14,000 little caramels. Well.... maybe not that many. Closer to 14 oz worth, but that is still like 50 or more. Either way, if you've ever tried to unwrap a bunch of those little things in one go you probably know just how frustrating it can be. After about five of them I began to seek a better way. This is what I came up with:

Click on the picture to read the descriptions.

With that done, I am now ready for help. We started with only the freshest ingredients.

Make cake mix as described on box.

BUT ONLY HALF OF THE MIX GOES IN THE PAN RIGHT NOW! Oh, did I mention, only half of the cake mix goes in the 13x9 pan right now.

While the first half of the cake bakes at 350 for 22 minutes you can make the caramel center. Heat the 14,000,000 caramel cubes you unwrapped on medium heat with the evaporated milk. Keep this moving. In other words, stir constantly. Believe it or not the caramel was just getting to a liquid state when the cake was done in the oven.

Pour the caramel over the freshly baked half-cake. Sprinkle this with the chocolate chips. And then pour the remainder of the cake batter over the top. Pop this back in the oven for another 25-28 minutes. Remove and let cool for 30 minutes. Yes, this is a cake you must remain patient for.

And now, ENJOY! Don't forget the ice cream, you must have the ice cream. A little caramel and chocolate sauce never hurt either.

When we asked Jake what he thought of the cake, he gave it a "thumbs up" and then said, "Times one thousand." I think that means he liked it.

Chocolate Turtle Cake

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil’s food cake mix       

water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 bag (14 oz) caramels
½ cup evaporated milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
ice cream or whipped cream, if desired

caramel and chocolate toppings, if desired

chopped pecans, if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan.
2. Make cake batter as directed on box. Pour half of the batter into pan. Bake 22 minutes. Refrigerate remaining batter.
3. 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.