Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake is a cheesecake smothered in a salted caramel sauce and surrounded by two layers of chocolate cake, all coated with homemade chocolate buttercream. It doesn’t get much more decadent than this! For another layered cheesecake, be sure to check out my Snickers Cheesecake Cake!
Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake
There is just something so special about the combination of chocolate and caramel. And when it’s salted caramel with chocolate, it’s even better! Oh, and did I mentioned this is all combined with a cheesecake in the middle?!?
Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake Recipe
I wanted a salted caramel flavor to this Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake recipe so I ended up using a jar of salted caramel sauce in between the layers of this cake. No, the caramel is not homemade, but with three of the four parts to this recipe being homemade, I gave myself permission to take the easy route when it came to the caramel😊. The main parts of this recipe are the cheesecake, chocolate cake, and chocolate buttercream. And yes, those parts are all made from scratch. If you want another shortcut, you can always use a boxed cake mix in place of the homemade chocolate cake.
Cheesecake Ingredients (full recipe below)
- Cream cheese
- Granulated sugar
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
Chocolate Cake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs–Out of eggs? No problem! Try one of my Egg Substitutes for this recipe!
- Vegetable oil
- Buttermilk
- Kosher salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Granulated sugar
- Hot coffee (or hot water)
Buttercream Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Cocoa powder
- Heavy whipping cream
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Toppings
- Salted Caramel Sauce
- Mini chocolate chips
How to Make Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake
The first step in this recipe is to make the cheesecake. The cheesecake will have to chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before you can assemble the rest of the cake. So, to get started in the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a 9-inch springform pan by spraying it with nonstick spray and lining it with parchment paper.
- Use an electric mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to mix cream cheese until creamed.
- Beat in the sugar and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the sour cream and vanilla.
- Blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, add in eggs one by one until fully incorporated.
- Pour the filling into the prepared 9-inch pan.
- Place your springform pan with the cheesecake in it into a slightly larger pan and add about 1 inch of hot water to the outside of the pan (for the water bath).
- Bake until the top of cheesecake turns golden, about 60 – 70 minutes. Let cheesecake cool on a wire rack.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before assembling the cake.
How to Make Chocolate Cake
You will need two 8-inch round cake pans for the chocolate cake. The cheesecake will be sandwiched in between the chocolate cake layers. To make the chocolate cake, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare the two round cake pans. The last ingredient you add to the chocolate cake is the coffee. Don’t worry about it tasting like coffee…it won’t! But, if you are not a coffee drinker, and don’t have any around the house, just use hot water. Once the cake is done baking, let it cool in the pans for about half an hour. After the cakes have cooled, place them on a cooling rack until completely cooled (about an hour). Once the cheesecake has chilled and the chocolate cakes are baked and cooled, get out your stand mixer to make the chocolate buttercream. Once the buttercream is made, it’s time to assemble the cake!
How to Assemble the Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake
It’s finally time to put each step together to make this awesomely sweet Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake. Here we go!
- Place one 8-inch layer of chocolate cake on a cake stand.
- Carefully place the cheesecake on top of that. Trim the cheesecake to make it the same size as the chocolate cake.
- Drizzle some of the salted caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake.
- Set the other layer of 8-inch cake on top of the cheesecake.
- Cover cake with a crumb coat of chocolate buttercream.
- Press mini chocolate chips into the side of the cake making sure to cover the sides completely.
- Pipe out dollops of the buttercream on top of the cake around the edge.
- Drizzle more salted caramel sauce on top.
- Chill until you are ready to serve.
Looking for More Cheesecake Recipes?
Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Cake
Ingredients
CHEESECAKE
- 4 packages (32 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar, superfine
- 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 1 3/4 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 x-large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (112g) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (240g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 cup (90g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (237g) freshly brewed hot coffee (I use decaf), or hot water
CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (500g) confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup (94g) cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
TOPPINGS
- 1 jar salted caramel sauce
- 1 bag mini chocolate chips
Instructions
CHEESECAKE
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 9-inch springform pan by spraying with bakers spray and lining with parchment.
- Use an electric mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to mix cream cheese until creamed.
- Beat in the sugar and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the sour cream and vanilla.
- Blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, add in eggs one by one until fully incorporated.
- Pour the filling into the prepared 9-inch pan.
- Place your springform pan with the cheesecake in it into a slightly larger pan and add about 1 inch of hot water to the outside of the pan (for the water bath).
- Bake until the top of cheesecake turns golden, about 60 - 70 minutes. Let cheesecake cool on a wire rack.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before assembling the cake.
CHOCOLATE CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and mix until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into two 8-inch round prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350°F, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out mostly clean (not wet).
- Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk butter and sugar on medium-high speed until very pale and fluffy or about five minutes. Be sure to stop at least once and scrape the bowl.
- With the mixer off, add in cocoa powder, vanilla and salt.
- Turn mixer on low and blend for about 30 seconds.
- Add in heavy cream one tablespoon at a time.
- Once all cream has been added and the mixture is mostly combined, turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Now turn the mixer onto medium-high to high and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until mixture is lighter and fluffier. The frosting will be shiny and seem to have many large air bubbles throughout and this is exactly what we are going for. (You can smooth those out on the cake if so desired.)
ASSEMBLING THE CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CHEESECAKE CAKE
- Place one 8-inch layer of chocolate cake on a cake stand.
- Carefully place the cheesecake on top of that. Trim the cheesecake to make it the same size as the chocolate cake.
- Drizzle some of the salted caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake.
- Set the other layer of 8-inch cake on top of the cheesecake.
- Cover cake with a crumb coat of chocolate buttercream.
- Press mini chocolate chips into the side of the cake making sure to cover the sides completely.
- Pipe out dollops of the buttercream on top of the cake around the edge, and drizzle more salted caramel sauce on top. Chill until you are ready to serve.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
I had a White Chocolate Cheesecake recipe that was absolutely amazing, but I lost it. I remember it required you bake it for an hour and then let it sit in the oven for an hour. I have always been a big white chocolate fanatic, and this had white chocolate in spades. I haven’t been able to find the recipe again. Have you ever come across a White Chocolate Cheesecake recipe that might sound like this? Oh, and by the way it Did Not have in the recipe any ingredients like raspberries or anything like that. Just a cheesecake where the white chocolate is the Star. Did I mention that I am a white chocolate fanatic. When I was a kid, I would go to the neighborhood food store and get a big chunk of it and it a little of it every day for a week, I Love it.
Have you ever added coca powder to make a chocolate cheesecake using The Cheesecake Factory mix? If so how much coca powder and do I need extra wet ingredient? And can you use a spring pan to make cheesescake? I’m definitely trying this but would love to make it a version of their Godiva cheesecake.
So glad Lisa!!