Chocolate-Caramel Turtle Cake

Last week, I set out to make a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting. As usual, I starting imagining all the wonderful things I could do with a plain sheet cake. I imagined a chocolate sheet cake topped with pecans and caramel. Of course, I couldn’t stick to my original plan of a plain, delicious chocolate sheet cake. I’m not really good at letting things be simple when chocolate is involved. It’s almost like I have a Bedazzler for food! Like a Bedazzler, it’s possible to go too far, but I think this time, it turned out perfectly!

First , start with a chocolate sheet cake. This is the recipe I used.

In a large bowl, whisk together

• 2 C flour
• 2 C sugar

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine:

• 1 C water
• 1 C butter
• 1/4 C (heaping) cocoa powder

Bring the chocolate mixture to a boil and then add it to the flour and sugar and combine.

In a small bowl, combine:

• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1t baking soda
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/8t salt

Add this to the large bowl and mix everything together.

Pour this into a greased 1/2 sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

While this is baking, start your frosting.

• Bring 1 C heavy cream to a simmer
• Pour the cream over a bowl holding 1 bag (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips.

• Let this sit for about 10 minutes and then whisk it until it is all combined.

• Put it in the fridge for about two hours and then whip it with a hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy.

Once the cake is cool, spread the frosting over the cake.

Chop 1 1/2-2 C pecans and sprinkle them over the cake

Then top it all off with 1/2 C caramel sauce drizzled over the top.

Indulge!! Maybe one day, I’ll make a plain chocolate sheet cake. Thankfully, this wasn’t that day.