Turtle Cheesecake

Turtle Cheesecake

For a special birthday celebration, we needed a special cheesecake.  The fact that his mother is famous for her homemade cheesecake made this all the more challenging. 

I made the homemade caramel sauce the night before, and planned on spending a fair amount of time making and assembling this treat.  Absolutely nothing complicated, it just takes time and lots of clock watching before proceeding to the next step.

The little ones loved all of Mama V's kitchen power tools - and they were all out for this!  If you have a food processor, stand mixer and hand mixer, it will make the job all the easier.

Each layer of this treat is fabulous.  Starting with a simple Oreo cookie crust, lathered with a thick gooey layer of homemade caramel and pecan pieces, and a luscious creamy vanilla cheesecake just gets this one started.  We topped it off with a thick rich layer of deep chocolate ganache, drizzled with more homemade caramel sauce, and sprinkled with pecan pieces. 

It looked beautiful without birthday candles, but with twenty-one bright flames blazing from the top it was even more glorious!

Turtle Cheesecake