alyn's birthday turtle cheesecake

My title makes it sound like Alyn had a birthday turtle who liked cheesecake. But you know what I mean. This recipe had a swirled/marbled batter and a crust made out of chocolate graham crackers.

My springform pan isn't missing its bottom: it's glass. My grandma gave me this springform pan years ago when I was just starting to get into baking. It's Pampered Chef and is awesome. The bottom is glass, and it also comes with a bundt pan insert so you don't have to have two pans.

Sweetened condensed milk gave the batter a little bit of a caramel hint.

Time for the secret ingredient. You add it when you add the sugar. Can you guess what it is?

Corn starch! The tiny bit of corn starch helps to keep the cheesecake from cracking. Then it's on to the last bit of liquid, some vanilla extract.

After melting some chocolate bits (Sunspire chocolate!), you add in a little bit of batter and swirl to make the chocolate layer.

Each layer goes back and forth in the pan until it gets full.

And it goes into the oven, on top of a tray to catch any residual butter drippings from the crust. I also include a cake pan full of water to assist with the effort to keep it from cracking.

After letting it bake without opening the oven door to check on it and then allowing some heat to escape the oven after it's done so that it doesn't shock in temperature (and crack), it can come out to rest.

Topping time. Chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and chocolate chips and pecans. That's the turtle part, I guess.

And once you get to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner and everyone finishes their meal, you can take it out to display on a red and white checked tablecloth. :)

I will spare Alyn and not post the photo of him in his balloon hat. But it was classic. That much I will tell you.

Decadent and rich, the key ingredients for deliciousness.