As school begins to wind down, the student organizations prepare for their final meetings of the semester. Throughout the year, I have been making cakes here and there and mostly feeding it to the Graphic Arts Club, since their meetings are more of a social get together. However, I felt bad since I’m the official sponsor of the Gamma Epsilon Tau (Graphic Honors Society) and I hadn’t once made them a dessert for their meetings. Thus I decided to make something special for their last meeting of the year.
The Layered Caramel Candy Bar Cheesecake is a recipe from Betty Crocker email newsletters I subscribe to. The cake looked simply delicious and I knew that I had to try it. The concept of the cake comes from a Milky Way bar, where there is a nuggety center, carmel and then surrounded by chocolate.
The cake mimics the Milky Way bar, but substituting chocolate cake as the chocolate and cheesecake as the nuggety center. There is carmel between each layer and then the cake is topped with a chocolate frosting.
- 2 bars (2.05 oz each) milk chocolate-covered nougat and caramel candy
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
- 4 eggs
- 1 package (4-serving size) vanilla pudding and pie filling mix (not instant)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® dark chocolate cake mix
- 1 container (8 oz) sour cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 jar (12 oz) caramel topping
- 1 1/2 containers Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting
- 2 bars (2.05 oz each) milk chocolate-covered nougat and caramel candy, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- Heat oven to 325°F.
- Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray.
- Line bottoms of pans with cooking parchment paper rounds; lightly grease paper.
- Chop 2 candy bars into small pieces; store in refrigerator until needed.
- In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in cream cheese a little at a time until smooth; scrape down bowl.
- Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined.
- Add pudding mix and baking powder; beat well until smooth.
- Fold in refrigerated candy bar pieces.
- Divide batter evenly between pans, about 4 cups per pan.
- Smooth top with off-set spatula.
- Bake 55 to 60 minutes. Layers will puff up during baking and then deflate when removed from oven.
- Cool in pans on cooling racks 10 minutes.
- Freeze until solid, about 3 hours.
- Turn cheesecakes out onto cookie sheet; peel off paper.
- Store in freezer until ready to use.
- While Cheesecake Layers are freezing, heat oven to 350°F.
- Grease 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray.
- In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Divide batter evenly among pans.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on cooling racks 10 minutes.
- Remove cake layers from pans onto cooling racks. Cool completely.
- To assemble, place 1 cake layer on serving plate or cake stand.
- Spread 1/4 cup caramel topping over top of cake layer.
- Place 1 frozen cheesecake layer on top of cake layer; top with 1/4 cup caramel topping.
- Repeat layering with another cake layer, another cheesecake layer, and finally top with remaining cake layer.
- Do not coat top cake layer with caramel.
- Use 1 container of frosting to evenly coat entire cheesecake.
- Using off-set spatula, swirl remaining container of frosting onto cake.
- Top with pieces from 2 candy bars.
- Refrigerate until cheesecake is well chilled before cutting, about 2 hours.
- Store in refrigerator.
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