Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• Pumpkin Bread:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (plain, not the already made pumpkin pie kind)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
• Caramel Cheesecake Filling:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• ¼ cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• 2 tablespons Lyle’s Golden Syrup
• 2 tablespoons Caramel Sauce (store bought or homemade)
• 1 large egg
• Topping:
• Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows)
• Caramel Sauce (store bought or homemade) (my favorite homemade version can be found in this post)
• 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325F.

Lightly grease and flour three mini loaf pans (3 ½ -x- 5 inch) or two standard loaf pans.

Using a stand mixer (or a medium bowl and electric beaters) with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, syrup and caramel sauce for about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add egg and beat for another minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and add flour. Beat flour into mixture until fully incorporated. If using stand mixer, transfer cheesecake filling to a separate bowl. Set aside. If using the stand mixer, clean and dry the bowl to use again.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

Using a stand mixer (or a medium bowl and electric beaters) with the paddle attachment, place pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and sugars into the bowl and beat for about 1 minute.
Add flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined. This is a quick bread so you don’t want to over mix.

Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the three prepared loaf pans. Spread the batter out evenly.

Spoon cheesecake mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer, a little less than 2/3 of a cup.

Scoop the remaining batter on top of the cheesecake layer, again about 2 ice cream scoops worth.

If you don’t want to bother with the layering you can just spoon some pumpkin batter, then cheesecake, then pumpkin batter again and use a knife to make swirls in the bread.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes.
Remove bread from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Let breads cool completely before glazing.

Pour chocolate glaze over breads, about 1/3 cup each. Sprinkle pecans on top of the glaze, followed by extra caramel sauce if desired.