Tag Archives: caramel

Turtle Upside-down Cake

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Ruthanne

Layers of chocolate cake, caramel, pecans and chocolate chips make this cake unique and DELICIOUS!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of german chocolate cake mix
eggs, oil and water needed to make mix according to box
30 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese
1c. chopped pecans
1c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat sides and bottom of 9-Inch Springform Pan
with cooking spray and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.
Make cake mix as directed.
Scoop 1/2 of cake mix into bottom of pan and bake for 2o min.
While cake is baking, heat cream cheese in a saucepan over medium heat until smooth.
Add caramels and stir constantly until completely melted and smooth.
After 20 minutes, remove cake from oven. Pour nuts and chocolate chips over partially baked cake layer. Pour caramel over (this may sink slightly in the middle.)
Carefully scoop remaining cake mixture over the top, covering all of the caramel and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes (until center is firm and a cake tester comes out clean).
Remove from oven and run a knife around edges of pan.
Allow to set until cool.
Remove edges of pan and then turn over by setting serving plate on top of cake and flipping. Remove pan bottom and parchment paper.
Top with powdered sugar and caramel sauce if desired.
ENJOY!

My thoughts: I created this cake recipe thinking I could enter it into the RWOP contest (dessert week is coming!) It simply took too long to completely cook and set though (the contest has a one hour limit). I had to post it here for you all though because it was SO tasty! Enjoy!

7 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, caramel, chocolate, chocolate chips, Cream Cheese, dessert, pecans, spring form pan, turtle. Bookmark the permalink.

Turtle Cheesecake

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Ruthanne

This rich vanilla cheesecake is topped with a thick layer of soft caramel, smooth chocolate and pecans–YUM!

INGREDIENTS:

Cheesecake:

9 oz. chocolate wafer cookies (I use animal crackers)
1/4 c. margarine (melted)
2 (8oz.) packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2c. sugar
3 eggs
2 c. white chocolate chips (melted)
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. margarine (melted)
3 tsp. vanilla

Caramel Topping:

32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
1/2c. margarine
1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate Topping:

1/4c. heavy whipping cream
1/2c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

About 15 pecan halves.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Crush cookies into fine crumbs and add melted margarine. Combine well and press into the bottom of a 9-Inch Springform Pan
Beat softened cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
Add eggs one at a time, beating in between each one.
Add remaining cheesecake ingredients, beating until smooth.
Pour into crust and allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes,
Turn off oven, open oven door a little and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and run knife around edge of pan. Remove edge of pan.
Allow to come to room temperature (make toppings during this time)
CARAMEL: Put caramels, condensed milk and margarine into a saucepan and melt over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth (6-8 minutes)
CHOCOLATE: Put whipping cream into saucepan and heat just until bubbling at edges. Turn heat off, add chocolate chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, stir until smooth.
Pour caramel over top of cheesecake, smoothing to edges
Refrigerate about 10 minutes.
Pour chocolate over caramel and smooth into a center circle.
Place pecan halves around edges and drizzle with any extra caramel you have (if desired)
REFRIGERATE cheesecake overnight before serving for best consistency. Remove bottom part of pan when cake is chilled.

My thoughts:

I made this for my friends Spencer and Rachel this weekend. They are having a party to celebrate their baby’s 1st birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASILINN!!!!!

I haven’t made a cheesecake in awhile and I’ve missed it! This cheesecake recipe is my staple recipe– the toppings and crust may vary, but the cheesecake recipe stays the same– I haven’t found another that I like better… The caramel on this is THICK (you may want to half the recipe for it if you aren’t a huge caramel fan like I am). This might seem like it’s a difficult recipe because of all the steps, but it really isn’t hard– start early in the evening though because its a process! Hope you get a chance to try this! ENJOY! -r

59 Comments

Posted in Cheesecakes and tagged caramel, cheesecake, chocolate, dessert, fudge, pecan, turtle, vanilla, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Coconut Cream Cups

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Ruthanne

These chewy coconut cookie cups filled with rich chocolate and fluffy cream cheese are topped off with soft caramel, chocolate and toasted coconut. More than delicious, these are truly a unique dessert that will have all your friends and family wondering how in the world you made them!

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. yellow cake mix (any variety)
2 c. crushed coconut cookies (I use WalMart brand)
2 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. shredded coconut
1/4 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
16 Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. margarine
6 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c. sugar
4 oz. Cool Whip (refrigerator temperature)
12 oz. Wilton Dark Candy Cocoa Melts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, crushed coconut cookies, eggs and oil. Blend well.
Scoop batter evenly into 12 un-greased muffin tins, pressing it down with spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Spread coconut over a small cookie sheet and toast at the same time your cups are baking for 10 to 15 minutes (check often to prevent burning!)
While cookie cups bake, make your fillings:

Chocolate ganache: Place whipping cream in a small saucepan and heat it over the stove until it just starts to bubble at edges (20-30 seconds). Turn off heat, add chocolate chips, over and allow to sit on warm burner for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir until smooth.
Caramel Sauce: Place caramels, condensed milk and margarine in a saucepan and heat until caramels are fully melted and mixture is smooth (about 5 minutes) stir constantly.
Cream filling: Combine cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip.

Remove coconut from oven when it is a toasty brown. Place in bowl to cool.
Remove cookie cups from oven. They look like muffins at this point–using a tart shaper or the end of a wooden spoon, press the middles of the muffin in to form a cup shape. (NOTE: because ovens vary in temperature, your cups may need to bake longer. When you press the middle in it should look a little oily from the coconut oil in the cookies- but it should hold its shape– if it’s doughy and wont stay pressed down, place it back in the oven for a few minutes.)
Tip the muffin pan over a clean counter to release the cups and carefully turn them all upright to cool.
Melt chocolate candy coating in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Dip the top edge of each cup into the chocolate and then sprinkle with toasted coconut.
Spoon chocolate ganache evenly into each cup.
Place cream filling in a large ziplock. Cut one corner and pipe the cream evenly into each cup.
Spoon caramel sauce evenly over each cup.
Drizzle any left-over candy coating over each cup and top with remaining coconut.
Keep refrigerated until serving.

Makes 12 cups.

My thoughts: I “invented” this recipe for Kraft using Philadelphia Cream Cheese. It has some of my favorite flavor combinations– coconut, chocolate and caramel– amazing! It is also a great texture combination: chewy, creamy crunchy….yum. This is a fairly time-consuming recipe. If you love baking it is FUN FUN FUN!!!! (I’m actually a little addicted to making these!) I can’t give it an “easy recipe” tag though– its just too involved. If you get a chance to try these let me know what you think! Enjoy!!!! r-

6 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged candy, caramel, cheesecake, chocolate, chocolate ganache, coconut, cookie cups, cookies, Cream Cheese, dessert, toasted coconut. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Chip Bars!!!

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Ruthanne

These chewy cookie bars are packed with 4 types of chips and a thick layer of soft caramel- YUM!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of yellow cake mix

1/3c. oil

2 eggs

1c. each of white chips, semi-sweet chips, milk chocolate chips and butterscotch chips

1/2 c. margarine

32 unwrapped caramels

1 (14oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13pan. Combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Blend well and stir in all of the chips (mixture will be very thick). Press half of the mixture into bottom of pan (it will press into a very thin layer). Bake for 10 minutes.

While this is baking, in a medium saucepan, combine butter, caramels and condensed milk. Cook over low/medium heat until melted and smooth (stir constantly!) Spread caramel over partially baked cake mixture. Top with remaining cake/chip mixture (it will not completely cover, but you can press the mixture flat with your fingers and lay it in sections over the caramel. Bake and additional 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 20 minutes. Run knife around edges. Cool completely before cutting. Makes about 20 bars.

My thoughts: I’ve been making these bars for years and its fun to try them with different types of chips and flavors of cake mix. These were inspired by a recipe given to me by a friend of a friend. Her name is Lily and for years we called these Lily Bars in her honor :0) They have evolved into this recipe (my personal favorite combination of ingredients) –but next time I am adding some coconut! If you like experimenting with flavors, this is a perfect recipe for you! Another note: the caramel sauce used in this is SO good and wonderfully soft that I’ve incorporated it into many other desserts – so when you see this caramel appear in another post you’ll know– it all started here! Have fun with this one– I hope you enjoy it! -r