In the kitchen for Nate's birthday: Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Fantasy

I've made this for the past 3 or 4 years for Nate's birthday, and it also makes an appearance on Father's day at times:

There is so much sugar in it.
Just looking at the recipe practically puts me into a diabetic coma.
So I thought I'd share it with the world. It's from Kavanaugh's. I've never been there (it's in Brainerd, MN) but I feel like I could make this dessert blindfolded by this point, so maybe I can get a job there.

Crushed chocolate wafers. Because I'm so super-frugal (or just cheap!), I skipped buying the plain "Famous" chocolate wafers ($5), and bought generic Target oreos instead ($2). I opened each oreo and cut out the frosting. I used about 2/3 of the package to get 2 cups of crushed oreos. I put all the little white middles into a bowl and they're sitting on the counter, but they've been disappearing.

Then there's vanilla caramels and caramel ice cream topping.

Because apparently just one kind of caramel isn't enough.

There's pecans, and then lots of chocolate.

Yep. There it is!

Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Fantasy

2 C crushed chocolate wafers

1/3 C melted butter

30 vanilla caramels, unwrapped

1/2 C caramel ice cream topping

1/4 C heavy cream

2 C chopped pecans

3/4 C chocolate chips

1/4 C heavy cream

Combine wafers and melted butter; press into 9" springform pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool a bit.

Melt caramels and ice cream topping in a pot over medium heat, stirring every so often. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 heavy cream until well-combined. Stir in pecans. Pour over crust. Refrigerate for an hour.

Melt chips and the other 1/4 C of heavy cream in a small pot over medium heat, being careful not to scorch the chocolate. Pour over pecan mixture. Refrigerate another hour or until serving. Store any leftovers in fridge.

This recipe allegedly serves 12 but I'd say it could serve even more; it is so incredibly rich.