Cheesecake…I wonder who ever thought of this. Let’s put cheese in a cake! Whoever it was, I’m so glad they did! Yum! It is a delicate cake and it takes a lot of time. So plan to make the cake a day before you actually want to serve it. One of my husband’s favorite cakes is cheesecake. For his birthday, I wanted to make it fancy so I thought, I’ll make turtle cheesecake! When I was a kid, my mom use to buy a turtle cheesecake from Sam’s occasionally. Each slice was separated by a little piece of parchment-type paper. It was heavenly! The most frustrating thing was to open the box only to find no more cheesecake but the pieces of paper left behind by my brothers! Ugh! Anyway, I wanted to recreate this cake. I found a recipe for a turtle cheesecake from Sally’s Baking Addiction (one of my favorite places to go for recipes). It seemed a little to rich for me so I used a combination of her plain cheesecake recipe and her turtle cheesecake recipe. As one of my son’s ate it, he said, “I think I found the cake that I want for my birthday!” Here it is:

Ingredients:

Crust :

22 regular (not double-stuffed) Oreos

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

½ cup mini chocolate chips

¼-1/2 cup caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought) *A bit is used for the crust and a bit is used for topping

Cheesecake Filling

32 ounces full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsps fresh lemon juice

3 large eggs

Topping

Caramel sauce (same used in crust – don’t need a ton)

6 ounces (half bag) mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (177 Celsius). Wrap aluminum foil tightly around the bottom and the sides of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan (we want to ensure water won’t leak in..you’ll see).
2. Make the crust : Pulse the Oreos into a fine crumb…it should be about 2 cups (packed) crumbs. Mix the melted butter with the Oreo crumbs in a separate bowl and then put the mixture in the springform pan. Pat the crumbs down into the bottom and partly up the sides. Blind bake (pre-bake) the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place inside a large roasting pan. Sprinkle ½ cup mini chocolate chips on top of the warm crust and set aside.
3. Make the filling : Using the paddle attachment on your mixer beat the cream cheese and sugar together until it is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice and then beat until its fully combined. At the eggs one at a time and beat until just blended and then stop mixing. Overmixing here will incorporate too much air into the batter. After it is baked, the air bubbles will burst causing the cake to sink and crack.
4. Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the prepared crust. Then drizzle (make sure and warm the caramel sauce slightly so that you can actually drizzle) about 3-4 Tablespoons…kind of up to you..caramel sauce is very sweet and rich. Don’t mix it, just pour the remaining batter on top.
5. Prepare the water bath (I know that sounds weird). Boil a pot of water. Place the roasting pan (with the foil wrapped springform cheesecake pan inside it) in the oven. Then pour about an 1 -1.5 inches of the boiling water into the roasting pan. This will keep the environment inside the oven nice and moist, preventing the cheesecake from cracking.
6. Bake the cheesecake for 55-70 minutes or until the center I almost set. If you notice the top starting to brown too quickly, place aluminum foil over top. I placed the foil on top after about 30 minutes of baking. When it’s done, the center of the cheesecake will wobble just slightly if you bump the pan.
7. Once you see that slight wobble, turn the oven off and open the oven door slightly. Let the cheesecake sit in the oven as it cools for 1 hour. This slow change in temperature also prevents the cheesecake from cracking. After 1 hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Once completely cooled, place it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
8. Use a knife to gently loosen the chilled cheesecake from the sides and then remove the springform pan.
9. For the topping : drizzle with caramel sauce (however much you would like..within reason of course) and then sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. If you want to add nuts such as chopped pecans here, you can…we have a few nut allergies! The topping is up to you really…you can also melt chocolate and drizzle on top! It will be a rich cake so start with a little and then add more if you like!

I forgot to take a picture of the cake…oops! Hence the picture of a turtle! I’ll snap a picture next time!