Caramel Chocolate Turtle Cake

Since I am a chocoholic, I used a trio of chocolate flavors: devil's food chocolate cake, milk chocolate chips, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Then, I layered and topped the cake with this luscious, buttery, and velvety smooth caramel sauce.
 Nut allergies are a  concern for many people when they eat a dessert, but not with this cake. The turtle cake is nut-free. However, nut lovers will not miss the pecans while eating this triple chocolate, caramel smothered cake.

After I made this cake, I carried it to work with me so my coworkers could taste test it. My coworkers fell in love with the caramel topping and were very surprised to find out that the caramel was home made. Some of the compliments the cake was given were: fantastic, amazing, awesome, addictive, and rich.
Craving a taste of some homemade happiness on a plate? Try making
my version of a Caramel Chocolate Turtle cake.
P.S.  I had to use my serrated bread knife to neatly slice through the caramel on top of the cake. 

Cake Ingredients

1 box devil's food chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1  cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 batch of caramel sauce

Caramel Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. butter

Golden brown, luscious caramel sauce ready to use.

Caramel Directions

• Place all ingredients, except the vanilla extract, into a large pan.
• Cook over medium low heat. (#3 on my gas range) Do not be tempted to turn the heat up. My first batch scorched because I got impatient and turned the heat up. 
• Stir constantly until mixture begins simmer.
• Stir occasionally with a whisk.
  
• Cook to 225 degrees Fahrenheit
• Watch closely and stir until mixture is thick and golden brown.  

• Remove from the heat.
• Add 1 tsp. of vanilla
• Stir until well blended.
• Keep warm. I put mine on top of my stove where the oven can keep it warm.

Cake Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Butter the bottom and sides of a 10.5 inch spring form pan. 
• Dust with cocoa powder.

• Make cake batter as directed on box.
• Pour half of the batter into pan.
• Bake 15 - 22 minutes. 
• Remove from oven.
• Pour a little more than half the caramel mixture over the warm cake in the pan.
• Sprinkle with the milk chocolate chips.
• Spread with remaining cake batter.
• Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. At 28 minutes my cake still wasn't quite done in the middle. I added another 3 minutes to the cooking time.
• Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. I had trouble getting a butter knife around the edge of the cake. My darn eyes and hands didn't work together and I accidentally cut into the cake edge. 
• Cool at least 30 minutes.
• Remove spring form pan from the cake.
• Place on a plate.
• Drizzle with caramel sauce and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
• Store loosely covered. Update: Okay I tried loosely covering my cake and everything stuck to the caramel I topped the cake with. I ended up using a large, plastic salad bowl as a cake cover and taped it to the cake platter to transport the cake to work. 

         
After cleaning my spring form pan, I realized that lining the pan with parchment paper would have been a better way to get this cake out of the pan.
Also, parchment paper would prevent the batter from creeping into the tiny gap between the bottom and sides of the pan.