Chocolate Torte (or Turtle Torte or Lemon Torte)
You'll love this layered dessert that can be adapted to whatever flavor you're in the mood for: lemon, vanilla, turtle, caramel, or chocolate peanut butter!
Servings: 1 9x13 pan
Author: KitchenKop
Crust layer:
- 3/4 cup melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 cup pecans chopped small (even better, use crispy nuts)
- 1 1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour–Einkorn flour is my favorite nowadays
Cream cheese layer
- 8 ounces organic cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup organic powdered sugar
- 3/4 tub Truwhip topping (the ingredients are so much better than Cool Whip!), or make homemade whipped cream.
Whipped cream layer
- 3/4 tub Truwhip topping (some gets mixed in with the cream cheese layer and some is for the top), or again: make homemade whipped cream if you wish, but note that I haven't tried that in this recipe to know if it'll hold up and not get runny.
Garnishes:
- Mini chocolate chips, chocolate shavings, or a little cocoa powder to sprinkle around. You could also sprinkle around a few more pecan pieces or a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Do whatever you'd like!
Crust layer:
Mix all crust ingredients together and spread into a 9×13 glass or stainless steel baking dish. I like to use glass so the layers can be seen from the outside, it looks fun! Bake at 375* for 15 minutes then let cool. Meanwhile, start working on the other layers…
Put it all together:
Once everything is cool, start layering: crust, cream cheese layer, pudding layer, whipped cream on top, then any garnishes you'd like.
See the variation options below!
- Lemon torte: Use lemon pudding and some lemon zest for the garnish on top.
- Vanilla torte: Use vanilla pudding, then shave some chocolate on the top.
- Turtle torte: On the cream cheese layer drizzle some caramel (this post has a simple caramel recipe or here's another caramel recipe), use chocolate pudding, then add more chopped pecans for the garnish.
- Caramel torte: Same as the Turtle Torte only use vanilla pudding and skip the pecans on top. Drizzle more caramel on top as a garnish.
- Chocolate/Peanut butter torte: Add a peanut butter layer on the cream cheese layer by mixing the following together: 1 cup PB, 1/4 cup melted butter, and 2/3 cup organic powdered sugar.