Sorry to say this cheesecake factory, but prepare to go out of business with this turtle swirl cheesecake. I swear this turtle swirl cheesecake is the bomb. The end-all to be all of cheesecakes. Like pure mana flowing from heaven above. And us, mere pions who are not worthy.
Okay, enough flexing for one day.
But honestly, I love cheesecakes. They’re one of those desserts that most of us assume are hard to make. Yet in reality, they are pretty hard to mess up. Plus like many other great desserts, you can easily whip up your cheesecake a day ahead of time. Or hell, bake it, and put it in the freezer, it should stay good for a month. I mean who doesn’t love saving themselves from excess stress the day of their party!
Now, as I stated above, today’s cheesecake is called turtle swirl cheesecake. We’re calling it a turtle swirl cheesecake for two reasons. First it has chocolate swirled into the cake. And secondly, we serve it with caramel sauce and pecan pieces on top. It’s literally like a turtle sundae, just in cheesecake form.
Are you getting hungry yet? Yea I thought so.
Tips, Tricks, & Suggestions
- The original turtle sundae used both caramel and butterscotch sauce and you can definitely use both. However, I’ve found the caramel sauce alone works out perfectly. I’ll leave that decision up to you.
- You can definitely make your own caramel sauce if you want, but I prefer just purchasing the premade stuff from the store.
- While it’s not entirely necessary, I highly recommend that you use a springform pan to make this cheesecake. The money is worth the investment!
Turtle Swirl Cheesecake Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Servings: 8 to 10 Slices of cake
Ingredients
For the filling:
4 8-ounce Packages of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 ¼ Cups of white sugar
5 Large eggs
1 ½ Teaspoons of vanilla extract
For the chocolate sauce:
4 Ounces of semi-sweet chocolate (either in chip form, or broken up into chunks)
3 Tablespoons of heavy cream
For the crust:
10 Ounces of Graham crackers
6 Tablespoons of butter (¾ of a stick), melted
Toppings:
Caramel sauce
Pecans, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Make the crust: If you are using a springform pan, then you will first need to wrap the bottom and sides with heavy-duty aluminum foil. The reason for this will come apparent in step 5. Next, crush the graham crackers in a food processor and mix it in a bowl with the melted butter. Then push the crust into the bottom of a springform pan, and make sure that it is tight and even. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty it will be covered up by the cake anyways.
- Make the cheesecake filling: Use either an electric stand mixer or hand mixer to start beating up the cream cheese. Slowly add in the sugar, and then the 5 eggs (one egg at a time, making sure that each egg is beaten up fully until you add the next egg). Finally, add the vanilla extract and mix it in. Once you’ve done this, pour half of the filling into the pan.
- Melt & add the chocolate: Place the chocolate and the heavy cream into a microwavable bowl, and melt it in a microwave. This should take a minute or two. Then dollop half of the chocolate, sporadically, on top of the cheesecake filling with a spoon. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the filling. Finally, add the other half of the filling on top, and repeat the same process with the other half of the chocolate sauce.
- Bake the cheesecake: Get out a large roasting pan and place the cheesecake in the middle of it. Next, add enough hot water so that it comes up to an inch on the sides of the springform pan. This is what the aluminum foil is for, we don’t want to boil the cake, just steam it. Place this in your heated oven and bake for about an hour, or until the sides set up. Finally, take it out and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Cool off the cheesecake in your fridge for at least 2 hours up to 3 days.
- Serve the turtle swirl cheesecake by the slice, and topped with a generous portion of the caramel sauce and crush pecans. Enjoy!
Turtle Swirl Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 4 8- ounce Packages of cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¼ Cups of white sugar
- 5 Large eggs
- 1 ½ Teaspoons of vanilla extract
For the chocolate sauce:
- 4 Ounces of semi sweet chocolate ether in chip form, or broken up in in chunk form
- 3 Tablespoons of heavy cream
For the crust:
- 10 Ounces of Graham crackers
- 6 Tablespoons of butter ¾ of a stick, melted
Toppings:
- Caramel sauce
- Pecans crushed
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Make the crust: If you are using a springform pan, then you will first need to wrap the bottom and sides with heavy-duty aluminum foil. The reason for this will come apparent in step 5. Next, crush the graham crackers in a food processor and mix it in a bowl with the melted butter. Then push the crust into the bottom of a springform pan, and make sure that it is tight and even. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty it will be covered up by the cake anyways.
- Make the cheesecake filling: Use either an electric stand mixer or hand mixer to start beating up the cream cheese. Slowly add in the sugar, and then the 5 eggs (one egg at a time, making sure that each egg is beaten up fully until you add the next egg). Finally, add the vanilla extract and mix it in. Once you’ve done this, pour half of the filling into the pan.
- Melt & add the chocolate: Place the chocolate and the heavy cream into a microwavable bowl, and melt it in a microwave. This should take a minute or two. Then dollop half of the chocolate, sporadically, on top of the cheesecake filling with a spoon. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the filling. Finally, add the other half of filling on top, and repeat the same process with the other half of the chocolate sauce.
- Bake the cheesecake: Get out a large roasting pan and place the cheesecake in the middle of it. Next, add enough hot water so that it comes up to an inch on the sides of the springform pan. This is what the aluminum foil is for, we don’t want to boil the cake, just steam it. Place this in your heated oven and bake for about an hour, or until the sides set up. Finally, take it out and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Cool off the cheesecake in your fridge for at least 2 hours up to 3 days.
- Serve the turtle swirl cheesecake by the slice, and topped with a generous portion of the caramel sauce and crush pecans. Enjoy!
Inspiration from other blogs
From Epicurious
From The Taste of Home
