comment icon 50 more comments Okay, if you are a resident Twin Citizen and you’ve wandered down bustling Grand Avenue in St. Paul and found yourself drawn in by those bright swoopy pinky-red neon letters that say “Cafe Latte,” then you surely have met and fallen deeply, madly, wholly in love with their turtle cake. It is a thing of glory. That is the story here. An intensely rich chocolatey cake, cascading with caramel, and jeweled with huge pecans. Layers on layers, possibly too many layers, and also never enough layers. This cake means business. This cake means “I love you.” This is the stuff date nights are made of. SO OBVIOUSLY IT HAD TO BE FIGURED OUT HOW TO BE MADE AT HOME. Because, even though it is worth a trip to St. Paul literally always, a trip into St. Paul cannot always be had. (Unless you maybe live right off of Grand Ave. in which case, would you like a bunch of new roommates? We also come with children and pets.) So here we are, a (maybe not so) tiny turtle cake for two. Or six. Or one. Let your heart decide.
Ingredients For This Turtle Cake
To make this fun little cake (or pair of cakes) happen, you’ll need to gather your baking staples and your Bake-Off fortitude. JK, you’ll just need your love of chocolate and excitement for cake, we don’t need any Hollywood Handshakes around here – although, you will deserve one, promise.
baking essentials (egg, flour, sugar, oil, baking soda, salt) sour cream or plain full-fat Greek yogurt cocoa powder some strong hot coffee (makes it extra rich and yummy)
For the frosting and toppings we used store-bought caramel to save time and used candied pecans because we’re a little extra (plain toasted ones are also great).
milk sugar butter chocolate chips caramel pecans
How To Make Turtle Cakes For Two
It is somehow always more fun to make a tiny version of something, right? Because, “Look at that cute little caaaaake!” And luckily, making it miniature isn’t really any more work than making a big one happen, so here we go! Hot tip, hot tip — it’s great to chop the pecans for the middle layers so the cake stacks nicely and the texture is very pleasing. But then we leave them whole on top for optimal beautiful fanciness.
Perfect For Date Night
This little turtle cake is really so special. It feels fun and celebratory and like the perfect thing to make a date night at home feel just a little bit extra. As an added bonus, we actually love this even more once it’s had a chance to sit in the fridge for a bit so you can totally make it ahead of time and have it already waiting for you. Maybe you can figure out how to have your dog bring it out to you at the end of the meal or, like…secure it to your robot vacuum or something? We’re thinking outside the box here, but we really want your date night-in to be special, you know? It is just the perfect dessert for a certain upcoming February holiday if that’s your thing or, you know, just some regular old Wednesday. Really it’s perfect anytime always forever and ever amen.
More Chocolatey Goodness
Salted Caramel Brownies (not required to make them into cute lil’ heart shapes, but why not?) Mind-Blowing Vegan Chocolate Pie (you’re not going to believe what makes this sooooo creamy) The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (a POY classic that you need in your life)
4.6 from 11 reviews
1 egg yolk 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup sour cream or plain full-fat Greek yogurt 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup flour 2 tablespoons cocoa 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 2–3 tablespoons strong hot coffee (this will loosen the batter up and adds great flavor)
Chocolate Frosting:
2 tablespoons milk 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1 tablespoon coffee
Toppings:
Caramel Toasted or candied pecan pieces
I find that cooking spray is really the best thing to use to get the cakes out of the ramekins easily. I’ve struggled with other methods but the cooking spray has never failed me!
