Chocolate Turtle Cake

No wonder this is a bake sale winner! Devil's food cake sandwiches caramel, pecans and, yes, more chocolate in the middle. Yum.

Yield: 20 servings

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) box Betty Crocker SuperMoist devil's food cake mix*
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (14 ounce) bag caramels
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (6 ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
Ice cream or whipped cream, if desired
Caramel and chocolate topping, if desired
Chopped pecans, if desired

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or spray bottom of 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
Pour half of the batter into pan. Bake for 22 minutes (25 minutes for dark or nonstick pan). Refrigerate remaining batter.
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 for 25 minutes (29 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake.
Cool for at least 30 minutes.
Serve with ice cream, drizzle with topping and sprinkle with pecans.
Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Notes

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): In step 3, bake for 30 minutes (34 minutes for dark or nonstick pan).

* 18.25 ounce boxes of cake mix have been replaced by 16.5 ounce and 15.25 ounce boxes. To compensate for the volume loss in a 16 ounce box, whisk 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour into the dry cake mix before proceeding with the recipe. To compensate for the volume loss in a 15.25 ounce box, add 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.

This recipe is just part of the grand-prize winning entry of the Trinity Lutheran Church Women of Birchwood, Wisconsin, in Betty Crocker's 1999 national Bake Sales Competition for nonprofit organizations that hold bake sales as a means of raising money.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 340 (Calories from Fat 150); Total Fat 16g (Saturated Fat 5g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 35mg; Sodium 270mg; Total Carbohydrate 43g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 28g); Protein 4g

Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 8%; Iron 8%

Exchanges: 1 Starch; 2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 3 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 3

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Attribution