Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cake is a kid-favorite Halloween recipe! They are going to love making it but they are going to love eating it more!
This delicious and easy Cake Recipe is the perfect dessert for a Halloween party. Give my Chocolate Sheet Cake decorated with spooky sprinkles and my Chocolate Poke Cake with orange frosting a try too!
Sabrina’s Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cake Recipe
If you need a dessert recipe perfect for your next Halloween party, then look no further than this Oreo Dirt Cake-or Graveyard Dirt Cake as some people call it. It is inspired by a classic no-bake Dirt Pudding, which is pudding cups topped with “dirt” crumbs and “worms.” See the instructions for this in my Variations section below. Basically, you take the same concept but layer it over a delicious, easy chocolate cake.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee , you can substitute boiling water
Chocolate Pudding
- 6 ounces chocolate pudding mix
- 2 cups whole milk
Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 2/3 cups whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Toppings:
- 26 Oreo Cookies , crushed into crumbs
- 10 ounces gummy worms
Instructions
Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with baking spray.
- In a stand mixer on low speed, mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla then add it to the stand mixer on low then medium speed until just combined, and finally add in the hot coffee carefully and stir it in by hand until just combined (do not turn on the mixer, it may splash on you).
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes then remove and let cool completely.
Chocolate Pudding:
- Whisk together pudding mix and milk until smooth.
- Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Spread the pudding over completely cooled cake.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the pudding.
Chocolate Frosting:
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan and whisk in the cocoa powder then remove from the heat and let cool.
- Add the cooled chocolate mixture to your stand mixer and whip on medium speed adding the powdered sugar and milk, alternating them ⅓ at a time, then add the vanilla.
- If the frosting is too thick, add a bit more milk.
- Spread the frosting over the pudding layer. (It's okay if they mix together a bit.)
Toppings:
- Top with crushed Oreos and gummy worms, pressing in gently.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tip
I like to vary the size of my u0022dirtu0022 by putting some in the blender and making it really fine and then taking some and putting it a Ziplock and crushing it with a kitchen mallet or rolling pin. If you have kids helping you, they are going to love this part! This way when you decorate the cake you have some finer u0022dirtu0022 and chunkier u0022dirtu0022 for a more authentic look.
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
This cake is an all-time favorite dessert for my family when Halloween comes around. The kid-friendly dirt dessert was made for this spooky season! The crumbs on top look like dark dirt, which is where it gets its name. Sweet, chewy gummy worms are added to go along with the fun theme, which makes it a favorite treat for kiddos! It’s a fun idea for a chocolaty party-sized dessert that is perfect for the spooky season!
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, this chocolate dirt cake can absolutely be made ahead of time, and it’s actually better when it is. Prepare it 1–2 days in advance and keep it covered in the refrigerator. If you’d like the cookie and candy topping to be fresh, just set those aside and place them on right before serving.
Pairing Suggestions
Along with the gummy worms and cookie crumbs, you can serve other toppings to go with the chocolate cake and creamy pudding. Hot Fudge and Cool Whip would both taste amazing on the chilled cake.
How to Store
- Serve: Because of the pudding in the cake, you don’t want to leave it at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: You can wrap the recipe in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 1 week.
- Freeze: Kept sealed, the cake will be good in the freezer for 4-6 months. Let it thaw in the fridge before serving. It is best to freeze it without the Oreo and gummy worm toppings.
Variations
- Cream Cheese Frosting: Try making this cake recipe with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Start by whipping together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese and 8 tablespoons of butter. Next, mix in 3 cups powdered sugar, ½ cup cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
- Vanilla Pudding: To change things up a little, try making vanilla pudding. You could change up the cake to a beach theme by using the vanilla pudding and golden Oreos to look like sand instead of dirt. Top it with Swedish fish and gummy sharks.
- Chocolate Chips: For some extra chocolaty taste, try mixing chocolate chips into the cake batter. Semi-sweet, milk, dark, or white chocolate chips will all make a nice addition.
- Dirt Cake Cups: Bake the cake batter in a muffin tin, then transfer the cupcakes to small cups and top with pudding, frosting and decorations as usual. You could also bake the cupcakes in special decorative wrappers that have tall sides to hold all the topping layers.
Chocolate Dirt Pudding Cups
- This dirt dessert recipe is inspired by chocolate dirt pudding. If you want the fun toppings, but don’t have the time to make a whole cake with chocolate filling, try just making pudding dirt cups. It’s a no-bake dessert that you can have ready in no time.
- Combine the packages of instant pudding with milk and whisk according to the instructions.
- Give the pudding time to chill, then spoon the pudding mixture into dessert cups.
- Top the dirt pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms, and enjoy!
Related Recipes
More Fun Halloween Treats
The following pics were used in previous versions of this post:
I wanted to love this but the recipe is written confusing and the frosting was like soup and it just slid it and the pudding layer off of the cake! It’s more like a molten lava dirt cake at this point! Still good but messy as heck!
Bake in a single pan. Cool. Poke some holes for worms to “come out” of the cake. Put in worms. Cover cake with pudding and crumble oreos on top, adding more worms. This was a hit for the fam and making it again by request, even though it doesn’t fit my daughter’s birthday theme like it did my son’s. The recipe is written weird. No need for two pans/layers or making frosting– the Oreos and pudding are plenty if the cake is nice and moist!
I see the questions being asked but I don’t see an answer that addresses the fact that the recipe includes instructions for pudding AND frosting. So do I need to make both or just the pudding? I bought the ingredients for this before reading through the instructions. I wish I hadn’t, now I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.
You make a sheet cake
You make the frosting
You make the pudding
I recommend that you read the Tips for making Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cake for further clarification.
Let us know how your recipe turned out!
Do I frost the cake and then add the pudding, then the Oreos?
Let the cake cool
“Frost” your cake with the pudding
Add the Oreos and other decor!
So you frost the cake then top it with pudding?
The Chocolate Cake is topped off with a chocolate pudding mixture, then it’s all topped off with cookie crumbs and gummy worms to look like worms in dirt. Enjoy!
This recipe makes zero sense as it’s written.
This whole recipe is confusing. How many pans, 1 or 2? And what layer goes on top of cake first, frosting or pudding? ?
I thought there was something wrong with me! I had to read it twice ?
Omgosh! I’ve read it 3 times and thought I was losing my mind.
I’ll just wing it! ?
This whole recipe is confusing. How many pans, 1 or 2? And what layer goes on top of cake first, frosting or pudding? ?