Sweets by Sarah: A Sibling Reunion

Over the years my brother, my sister, and myself have become somewhat scattered across North Carolina. Katie lives in Pittsboro with her husband (Shawn), Ben lives in Charlotte, and of course, Jason and I live in Raleigh. As you can imagine, this means spending time together is less frequent than I would like.

Last weekend Ben drove up to spend a couple days with Katie & Shawn, so Jason and I invited everyone over for a mini reunion Saturday night. It's always quite the event when the five of us get together. We inevitably eat too much food, stay up too late, and have TONS of fun!

My sister is an amazing cook, and volunteered to bring homemade macaroni and cheese (among other things) to pair with the grilled chicken and jalapeno burgers Jason and I were putting together. I will try to post her mac & cheese recipe in the future. It is to DIE for!

Of course, the meal wouldn't be complete without dessert. So, in honor of my sister, I decided to try out a turtle cake recipe that I had found months ago, as turtle candies are her absolute favorite. I must say that I wasn't completely thrilled with how it all turned out. Don't get me wrong, it was yummy, but the cake itself was very dense and very rich. If I decide to make it again in the future, I will likely tweak the recipe a bit. I've posted it below:

Ingredients:

1 pkg devils food cake mix

1 (3.9 oz) pkg chocolate instant pudding mix

3 lg eggs

1 1/4 c milk

1 c canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp chocolate extract

1 tsp instant coffee granules

1 (6 oz) pkg semisweet chocolate morsels

1 c chopped pecans

1 container cream cheese frosting

1/2 c canned dulce de leche

2 (7 oz) pkgs turtle candies

1 container chocolate fudge frosting

1 jar dulce de leche ice cream topping

1/4 c pecan halves, toasted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 (9 inch) round cake pans and set aside.

Beat cake mix and next 7 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute, beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Fold in chocolate morsels and chopped pecans. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely. Wrap and chill cake layers at least 1 hour.

Whisk together cream cheese frosting and canned dulce de leche in a small bowl until well blended. Set aside. Cut 6 turtle candies in half and set aside for garnish. Dice remaining turtle candies.

Using a serrated knife, slice cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Place 1 layer (cut side up) on cake plate. Spread with 1/2 cup cream cheese frosting mixture; sprinkle 1/3 diced turtle candies. Repeat this twice. Place final cake layer on top of cake (cut side down) and spread chocolate fudge frosting on top and sides of cake. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Just before serving, drizzle dulce de leche ice cream topping over top of cake. Garnish with remaining halved turtle candies and pecan halves. Store in refrigerator and enjoy!