Transform your favorite candy into this Turtles Layer Cake! Layers of rich chocolate cake, caramel buttercream, caramel sauce, and chopped pecans.
We’ve been in our new place just over a week now, and it’s finally starting to feel a bit less chaotic and a bit more like home — some rooms, anyhow. I was super nervous about the kitchen aside from the appliances, as it’s basically a 1989 original. It’s in good shape considering its age, but it’s a far cry from the modern kitchens these days. So I baked up a batch of my favourite chocolate chip cookies to test the setup and the oven. I’ve made those cookies so many times that I know exactly how they should turn out.
I actually struggled with them for the past 3 years, as our previous place had a gas oven. I can now say with confidence that I will never use a gas oven again. EVER. I love a gas cooktop (and miss it), but the inconsistency of the gas oven is horrible for baking. This was proven the other day when I baked up the cookies in an electric oven and they turned out better than they have in years.
The kitchen was actually quite pleasant to bake in. I have a separate “pantry” section for all my baking needs, so it doesn’t feel as cramped as I thought it would. The kitchen sink leaves a lot to be desired (small/cramped), but all in all the kitchen is pretty functional.
We still have a bunch of boxes (most empty) in the basement, but the main floor is done and some of the upstairs. I haven’t touched my photography room yet though. I’m kinda procrastinating it because I don’t really know where to start. It’s a huge mess right now and I need to put up some shelving and a table, etc. I have to get that done next week because I’ve only got so many recipes in the backlog! Like this Turtles Layer Cake.
This Turtles Layer Cake is another one of Ryan’s suggestions. I can always count on him to come up with crazy and delicious ideas. Turtles happen to be my favourite chocolate candy, so it really only made sense to make a cake version, naturally, keeping in line with my never-ending desire to turn other desserts into cakes. Because everything is better as a cake!
In true Olivia fashion, I did more to this Turtles Layer Cake than I should have, and I’m not totally happy with how it turned out. I mean, it looks GOOD, but it looked BETTER before I added the frosting rosettes and mini-Turtles on top.
See, caramel doesn’t set as well as ganache. I had these perfect, and I mean PERFECT, alternating drips and a smooth top going. It was a stunner. But I had some leftover buttercream and wanted to incorporate the mini-Turtles into the cake, so I took it a bit further. Big mistake. The weight of it all started pushing the caramel down the sides and the rosettes literally started sliding down the cake. So much so that one actually slid off and I had to redo it (it’s in the back so you wouldn’t see it in the pics).
I was in a mad rush to take these pics so that the rest of the cake wouldn’t end up a complete disaster. As such, I hate the pics too, and literally re-edited them 3 whole times (countless hours). I keep telling myself that no one will notice the imperfections and no one knows what it looked like “before” so who cares. Except now I’ve told you, and you totally know.
So, if you make this cake, I would recommend skipping the rosettes and Turtles on top. Or at least just do one or the other. I think it was actually the Turtles that did me in. Those suckers are dense.
Cake decorating issues aside, this is one seriously delicious cake. If you’re a Turtles fan (and really, who isn’t?), you will love it! Dense chocolate cake with caramel buttercream and caramel sauce between the layers, and chopped up pecans for some crunch. Pure decadence.
Notes & tips for this Turtles Layer Cake:
- Adding rosettes and Turtles will cause the caramel to slide down more. I recommend skipping this step.
- To enhance the chocolate flavour of the cake, you can use strong hot coffee instead of hot water.
- For the ganache, I let mine set overnight (with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface). It will be too thick at this point, so I microwave it for 10 secs and stir it until it’s the right consistency.
- The drip technique works best on a chilled cake so that the drips set quickly.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my tips here.
Turtles Layer Cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
Caramel:
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1/4 cup water
- 150 ml heavy whipping cream room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 100g, room temperature
Milk Chocolate Ganache:
- 4.5 oz milk chocolate good quality, finely chopped
- 3 oz heavy whipping cream
Caramel Buttercream:
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups unsalted butter cubed, room temperature
- 1/2 cup caramel cooled
Assembly:
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- 6 Turtles Minis
INSTRUCTIONS
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease three 6" round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour hot water in slowly as not to cook the eggs if very hot).
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.
Bake until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. A total of 30-35mins.
Caramel:
- Place sugar and water into a medium pot, stir to combine, but to not stir from this point forward. Cook over high heat, washing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water as needed to prevent crystals.
- Cook until desired color of caramel is reached and immediately remove from heat. Very slowly, whisk in heavy cream. The mixture will bubble up (a lot) and boil. Add butter, return to heat, and bring back to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to a container and place in fridge to thicken.*
Milk Chocolate Ganache:
- Place chopped chocolate and cream into a microwave safe bowl. Stir to combine. Microwave for 20 seconds, stir. Microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth and silky. Set aside to cool completely before using.*
Caramel Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.**
- Place bowl over a hot water bath on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins).
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.
- Add cooled caramel and whip until smooth.***
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving dish. Top with about 2/3 cup buttercream, drizzle with caramel and ganache and sprinkle with chopped pecans. Repeat with remaining layers. Crumb coat the outside and chill cake for 15mins. Frost and smooth the outside, chill for 30mins.
- Using a teaspoon, drip ganache along the edges then fill in the top. Chill for 15mins.
- Repeat with caramel and chill for 30mins.
- If desired, top with rosettes and mini Turtles.****
NOTES
* The ganache and caramel can be made the day before and left in the fridge overnight. Place plastic wrap directly onto the surface of each to prevent a skin from forming.
** Ensure there is NO trace of egg yolks in your whites and that your mixer bowl and whisk is completely grease free or your meringue won't stiffen.
*** The buttercream may look like it's curdled at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
**** Adding rosettes and Turtles will cause the caramel to slide down more. I recommend skipping this step.
The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
Hi Olivia,
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us! Your cake looks AMAZING. I’m planning to make this for myself as a birthday cake with the exception of using 3 9-inch pans. Would you suggest multiplying the batter and caramel buttercream recipes by 1.75 or 2? I read one of your replies to another commenter that suggested multiplying by 1.5/increasing the serving size to 18 for 3 8-inch pans but just thought I would ask. I can’t wait to try this!
Hi Cinnamon! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html I would double the recipe to be safe.
I am wondering if you can increase the recipe to be 8 or 9 inch pans rather than 6 inch? I don’t think 6 inch will be large enough for my group!
Hi Dee! You can use the recipe as is in two 8″ or 1.5x it for three 8″.
Is the frosting recpie enough for the 3 8inch cake? Or should i double The batch ?
Hi Ghalia! I would 1.5x the frosting recipe to make sure you have enough.
What do you mean 1.5 X the frosting… Sorry cake noob.
Also you said this recipe is good for a 8 inch cake tin… How man cakes will it make…
Thank you 😃
Hi Deedee! the recipe as is works for two 8″ layers or you can 1.5x the whole recipe (adjust the Servings slider to 18 to see the new ratios) for three 8″ pans.
Hi olivia! Made this cake last week and it was perfect although the buttercream had a weird consistency it worked out just fine. I made the buttercream yesterday with the exact same ingredients I did before and it was too runny couldn’t use it at all. I want to know where did I go wrong? Hope you can help me. Amazing cake btw! 🙂
Hi Jessica! Was your meringue completely stiff before adding the butter? If so I suspect it was still a bit too warm or the butter too soft. Pop it in the fridge for 20mins and rewhip and it will come together!
I made this cake for my daughter’s 13th birthday. She is the baker in the family so I really wanted to make something nice for her since I don’t usually make desserts at all. I followed your instructions exactly and (though it took me much longer than 3 hours because baking is not really my forte) it turned out wonderfully. My daughter and her friends absolutely loved it. It was delicious and a showstopper (even without the decorative rosettes on top, though I was able to balance the Turtles on top without a problem, I just put them a bit away from the edge).
Thank you for the tip on measuring your ingredients to make for easy division (I would have never thought of that). And thank you for the simple swiss meringue buttercream instructions which made for a delicious icing. I also really appreciate your comments to others reminding them that baking powder expires. Mine was about to expire in 2 days so i made sure to buy fresh baking powder.
Because this cake was so delicious, my daughter tells me she has committed to making 48 cupcakes for the Halloween dance coming up next week….I know I will have enough icing because your recipe made a lot but I am not sure how to convert the baking time. Any ideas? Again, thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Hi there! I am so happy to hear that you (and your daughter) liked this recipe and that you found it useful and easy to follow 🙂 The recipe should work totally fine as cupcakes, just start checking them around 15mins or so (depending on size). Let me know how they turn out!!
I made this for my parents’ birthday party and it was the best cake I, or anyone at the party, has ever tasted. I received numerous complements and people were stunned that I made it from scratch. Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making this one again. 🙂
That is such a huge compliment, thank you Megan! So happy to hear that everyone liked it 🙂
I made this cake for my Grammy’s birthday today! I love the recipe and so did everyone else at the party! Thanks so much (:
So glad everyone liked it!
Good morning:
I would love to make recipe for turtle layer cake but I am from Spain I do not control the ingredients in cups, that is when you put 1 and a half cups of something for example flour, how many grams does it correspond? so the whole recipe. I control grams and I do not know how to convert it. I would appreciate it as I can calculate it. Thank you very much.
Hi Maria! At the bottom of the list of ingredients you can switch to Metric to get the grams 🙂
Yum! I want to make this cake for Easter. I was thinking instead of using homemade Carmel sauce I would buy Carmel squares and melt them with heavy whipping cream. Would this work better? Also can I soak the layers with a simple syrup or would that be a bit much?
Hi Lidiya! This comment is likely too late, but yes, you can make caramel with the squares instead. I wouldnt soak the layers as this chocolate cake is already pretty moist!
How is the caramel sauce supposed to look. Mine looks white
Hi Stephanie! It sounds like you didn’t cook the sugar for long enough. It should be a nice caramel color before you add in the cream and butter.
Thanks for posting this recipe. This was my first triple layer cake. I made it for my adult daughter’s birthday. We will taste it tonight. I appreciate your thorough details! It was fun to try some new baking techniques. Making caramel, ganache and the buttercream. I look forward to sharing the cake with the family tonight.
Sarah
It was delicious and enjoyed by all!
So glad to hear that!!
Hi Sarah! I hope you all loved this cake as much as I do. Glad you were able to try out some new techniques!
Do you think you could make this cake the day before?
Hi Amy! Yes, that should work fine. Just be sure to refrigerate it overnight and bring it to room temperature before serving.
This cake looks delicious! I’m hoping to make a version of this for my son’s first birthday. I’m hoping to make it two layers 16″ square. I have a cake topper to put on it, but was wondering 1) will this work as a two-layer 16″ square cake? 2) How much should I increase the recipe? 2x or 3x? 3) how long would you bake it? and 4) will a topper stick you think? Also, because it is for kids, I’m skipping the nuts… This will be my most ambitious cake yet, and I’m a little nervous! 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Leah, Happy Birthday to your son! I’m actually not sure what the actual conversions would be, I used three 6″ cake rounds. 16″ is quite a size increase. You can check this site out for help with conversions. Let me know how it turns out!
Hello. I want to ask you something. Here in Greece we do not have a heavy whipping cream. We have cream with maximum 35% fat. Do you think that cream will work for this recipe? Finally, I want to make the cake in a 10″ pan. If double the ingredients in the recipe will be ok? Thank you.
Hi Kyriaki! The cream you have should work just fine. I think the one I have is the same %. Do you want to make the cake in one 10″ pan or three of them?
Hey Olivia, What’s the depth of the 6″ pans? I have two 9″ they are 9*2 pans. will the cake batter the enough? and will it work cause i’m going to cut the cakes into 4 halves and frost them. Will it work?
Trying this tomorrow.
Hi TJ! Sorry for the delayed reply. All of my cake pans are 2″ deep. I think the layers will be a bit thinner in the 9″ pans. This recipe as is works for three 6″ and two 8″ pans (all 2″ high). If you plan to cut the layers to have 4, I worry they will be too thin. You could always try to 1.5x the recipe, just be sure to not fill the pans more than half full. The batter is thin but rises a LOT. Let me know how it turns out
Ever since I’ve started following your blog, I’ve been designated the new “birthday cake maker” in our family. It’s my birthday next so making this for me lol >.<
I'm so excited to eat this up! Thanks as always for sharing your amazing creativity and recipes xx biggest hugs from Ontario!
Hi Lauren! Thanks so much for your sweet comment! I am sure you will LOVE this cake, it’s so flavourful and delicious. Especially if you love Turtles 🙂 Let me know how you like it and Happy early Birthday!
I am going to baking 2 of these cakes for different birthday celebrations. The first I am baking tonight, wish me luck! The other will be baked the next week. I hope it will look as pretty as yours. I am taking your advice an not doing the rosettes on top as I want to impress the guests. Thank you for such a beautiful cake recipe.
Thank you Elizabeth! Good luck and let me know how you like it 🙂
Hi Olivia,
Just wanted to let you know the cake turned out lovely. There was a tense moment when my husband went to put the cake in the fridge to chill after putting on the ganache. Deep gouges in the top as he hit the rack. I was able to patch it and disguise the area. Emailed you a picture.
Thanks for the lovely recipe!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Yay! I’m so glad to hear it. I hope you guys like it 🙂 Checking my email now!
Good Morning Olivia,
I was thinking about your comment on my rosettes and yours and the trouble with them sliding on your cake. I think my stayed was because 1) I put the pecans in a wider circle and the frosting had something to grip onto, 2) I followed your suggestion about not putting the candy turtles so they didn’t weigh it down. I thought about putting some rosettes around the bottom and alternating with the candies. I think that would look pretty, but you saw my picture and know that in the end I didn’t do it, because I didn’t have them on hand. I think I will do this on the next cake and will send you a picture.
I am trying to think of a cake to make for my friends and me for our combined birthdays (our birthdays are several months apart, but we don’t all live in the same city now). And we’re all turning 30. So it’s kind of a big deal. And this looks perfect! I can almost taste it. So delicious.
Your pics look gorgeous. I see no imperfections. And your rosettes looks amazing.
I do have a question. I like to make some things in advance and was wondering about the caramel sauce. I know I’ll need to warm it up a bit and I don’t have a microwave, so I’ll be using a double boiler. Do you have any suggestions on how long or how warm it should be? Should I just warm it up until it’s easier to spread?
Thanks so much Hakima! You always have such sweet things to say 🙂 Double boiler will work totally fine and yes, you just want it spreadable! You could try leaving it at room temperature for a bit to see if that loosens it up enough. For the drips though, you’ll want it a tad more on the pourable side vs. spreadable. I hope that makes sense.
I made the caramel sauce last night. First batch I think I kept it on the stove too long and it burned. Didn’t know this until I cooled it and tried it and it was quite bitter. So I tried again. Second batch was MUCH better. I ended up putting it in a mason jar and leaving it at room temperature. When I woke up this morning, the caramel sauce had thickened a lot (if I move the jar, the caramel barely moves). Should it do that, even at room temperature? Still looks and tastes like caramel.
Wonder if this will change the cake at all? Should I remake it? What are your thoughts?
Hi Hakima! It should be thick but pourable if I remember correctly. More like a thick sauce. If it’s thicker than that, something might have been off 🙁 Are you able to pour it at all? If so, it should not change the cake, you can still add it to the buttercream and just make sure to incorporate it well. It might not work so well for the drips though — you can try heating it up a bit to see if it will thin out, but be sure to cool it to room temperature before using in the buttercream and on the cake!
Thanks for this recipe and the tips on making ganache and caramel the day before. Yesterday, I did a different recipe and it took me 6 hours even skipping the fudge frosting and opting to do a ganache drip. It turned out well but I’m pinning your recipe so I can do some things in advance next time. I also did rosettes and one dripped off but I had run out time to chill! I still love the look of your cake and think you could do rosettes with just pecans on top? Thanks, again.
Hi Erica! I think the pecans would be better for sure, but I think the rosettes would still slide off — that damn caramel! It’s worth it though, still delicious even though a bit messy looking 😉 You can also bake the cake layers in advance — I almost always do. I bake them one day, cool, double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until I’m ready to use them.
Hi, I just wanted to know how this beautiful masterpiece should be stored?
Hi! I would store it in the refrigerator and take it out 2-3 hours before serving. For longer term storage of the leftovers I usually portion into slices, wrap each in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag in the freezer.
This cake is amazing!!!
Thank you Paulette!
Beautiful cake! about how many cups of caramel buttercream does this recipe make? Thank you
Hi Christina! I’m not 100% sure, I’ve never measured. I’d say maybe 4 cups or so?
I want to make this for my partners B’day, looks so yummy! I read through but maybe I missed it in the directions…how much of the caramel sauce did you use in the buttercream / how much did you reserve for the drips?
Hi Tracy! I used 1/2 cup of the cooled caramel sauce in the buttercream. It should be listed as part of the buttercream ingredients 🙂 I hope you like this one!!
Yeah, this was one big disaster. Despite following the directions to the “T”, the cake fell flat in the middle and was the consistancy of a stale brownie. If following this recipe, the icing turns out runny, I spread it on my (box made) cake and it ran right off onto the plate. So I’ll bet that’s why your rosettes fell off. Maybe, in the future, fine tune your recipes before posting them.
If your cake fell, you either took it out before it was done or used expired baking soda/powder. If your frosting was runny, either your meringue didn’t whip up properly due to grease in the bowl/yolk in the whites or you frosted a warm cake.
Hi Olivia,
Can I use regular natural cocoa instead of dutch processed?
Thanks!
Hi Vivian! That should work fine. It will affect the flavour and color slightly, but should be ok 🙂
This cake looks amazing and I look forward to making it. Can I use pasteurized egg whites that amount to equal the 5 egg whites?
Thank you
Hi Anne! Do they come in a carton? I have had issues with whites from a carton whipping up properly before, but admittedly I only tried once. In theory, it *should* work as long as there is no trace of yolk in the whites.
Even though it wasn’t intentional and you recommend not to put rosettes on top, I think that the aesthetic it creates with the layers sliding on the side to be more true to a “turtles” look haha. 🙂
Aww thanks Alexis! I think you’re right 😀
Wow. Wow. Wow! I made this cake for a birthday party last Sunday & while it didn’t look anything like your gorgeous photo, it was a HUGE hit!!! Can’t wait to try another recipe – you, your recipes & your food photography are all amazing!
Thank you so much! You just totally made my day with this comment!! I’m so glad you liked it and I can’t wait to hear about what other recipes you try 😀
Hey!
Do have the recipes in grams ??? Thanks!!
Hi Bisma! I don’t have the measurements in grams, but you can find some conversion websites online. I’ve used this one before and find it works well but make sure to convert each specific ingredient individually.
http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html
Thanks loads!!
Going to try it today!
Awesome! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
I’m so going to make this cake!! But minus the nuts due to nut allergies. But hell ya!! Let’s bake!!
Yeah! Let me know how you like it 🙂
Hi there. I don’t have a 6 inch cake pan will an 8 or 9 inch work?
Hi Anna! Yes, you can make this recipe in two 8″or 9″ pans.
Hi! I’ve been meaning to ask, can I cut the buttercream recipe in half? I’ll use 75g egg whites instead? Or is it better to use the buttercream recipe in your Mocha cake and replace the espresso and melted chocolate with caramel or dulce de leche? Thank you! You’re such an inspiration!
Hi Sofie! You can cut the buttercream recipe in half, but then you won’t have enough to cover the cake :|. If you want less buttercream, then yes, the recipe ratios in the Mocha cake one will work as you described! 🙂
Hi, Olivia! Tried your cake and smbc today. Since I have dulce de leche, I used it instead of carame. lMy grandmother loved it! Thank you for your recipe! You’re so amazing! ❤
Hi Pia! Thank you, I’m so glad you liked it!! 😀
Made it; loved it!!! My family is more restrained than I and ate as dinner dessert. I had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner 😉 Your ingredients and instructions were perfect. I am looking forward to this weekend’s chocolate chip cake!!,
Thanks so much. Yum!
Hi Leslie!! I’m so glad you liked this cake!! I’m seriously wishing I still had some stashed away in the freezer 😩. Hope you like the chocolate chip one too!!
Beautiful cake! If you make the caramel and ganache the day before, you make the cake, do you have to warm them up to use them? If so, how long?
Hi Anna! Yes, you need to warm them up. I usually do 10 second bursts in the microwave (stirring in between) until they reach a thin enough consistency. You do not want them to get warm though or they’ll melt the frosting.
Oh my gosh! This cake is so gorgeous!! I could never create a cake this beautiful. Such amazing talent.
Thanks so much Karen!! <3
Thank you for the inspiration and the tip about the caramel vs. chocolate ganache. Here’s my take:
http://whatthedogate.blogspot.com/2016/09/chocolate-caramel-turtle-cake.html
Looks amazing, Donna! Great job :). Glad you found the tips helpful!
Hi Olivia,
I baked this cake and it taste heavenly!! Thanks for your recipe!
Question : any idea how to prevent a doom cake? My cake turn out doom and not even. Yours look perfect!
Thanks!!
Hi Fion! I’m so glad you liked this one! I actually have a whole post with tips on how to bake up flat cakes right here:
http://livforcake.com/2014/09/flat-top-cakes.html
🙂
Thank you for your reply! Will try out soon! I love your blog!!!
this cake is everything. and i think your photos are stunning! seriously. i almost stabbed my fork at the screen to get a bite from that slice. chocolate and caramel perfection!
Thanks so much Cathy! 🙂
Wow this looks amazing! You had me at “turtle.” I love all your recipes. Now to find the time to make some of them and gift them so my waistline doesn’t thicken up. You do have a book out, don’t you?
Thanks so much Vicki! No book yet, but maybe one day :). And I know what you mean about gifting! That happens a lot over here, haha.
I wish the cake wasn’t a 6in…which is sooo small. Doubling everything will be so tedious….
Great cake tho!
It’s tall though!! Those slices are no joke, haha. You could use the same recipe for an 8″ two layer cake or double it for an 8″ 3 layer :).
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! really brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love this flavours… All of them… And the combination must be awesome.
Great Olivia.
The combination is SO good. I hope you try it! xo
I couldn’t read and scroll fast enough to see your cut slice. Oh yes please. Printing this one. Thank you for sharing and for being so honest with all your tips. Truly appreciated.
Thank you Elizabeth!! <3 I hope you try this one 🙂
This cake is boss. What a flavour!!
Thanks so much Katrina! 🙂
Stunning cake and decoration!
Thank you!!