I have always loved this no-bake dessert idea, whether it’s served family style in a 9×13-inch pan like I did here, or divided between individual cups (also fun, but definitely extra work!). More pudding than actual cake, the easy, mousse-like chocolate filling is layered with Oreo crumbs to create the impression of dirt. It’s the decorating that really sells the idea and makes this a fun dessert for Halloween. Although really, this recipe is one that can be enjoyed all year long, especially in the summer when it’s hot and you don’t want to heat up the oven! Love Halloween? Be sure to check out some of our other Halloween recipes like Poison Candied Apples, Halloween Chocolate Cherry Hand Pies, and Hocus Pocus Marshmallow Pops! The classic approach to the chocolate filling is to just make a couple of packages of instant chocolate pudding and fold them together with a tub of thawed Cool Whip. But I wanted to make a homemade version using real ingredients. If you haven’t made homemade chocolate pudding, you are in for a (literal) treat! It’s actually super easy, takes less than 10 minutes, and tastes 1,000X better than the box version.
Dirt Pudding Cake Ingredients
Chocolate: Two types of chocolate – chopped dark chocolate and cocoa powder – go into this pudding for a really well-developed and intense chocolate flavor that isn’t as easily achieved with just one type of chocolate. Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the pudding so it isn’t bitter from the cocoa powder. The whipped cream also gets sweetened just a bit with a little powered sugar. Cornstarch: This is the thickening element that will make the pudding, well, pudding. Salt: A little salt brings out the flavors of the other ingredients. Whole milk: You could sub with a lower fat option, but the pudding won’t be quite as rich and delicious as it is when made with whole milk. Butter: Stirring in butter at the end results in a silky, rich pudding unlike anything else you have tried. Vanilla extract: This common baking ingredient balances out the other flavors. Heavy cream: Also called whipping cream, this will be beaten until soft peaks form, then folded in to the chocolate pudding to lighten it to the texture of a mousse. Oreo cookies: Regular Oreos get crushed to fine crumbs to make up the “dirt” element of this kid-friendly dessert. Decorating elements: Milano cookies make excellent tombstones. I used a marker with edible ink that I picked up from a craft store to write the epitaphs on each tombstone. Some fun, festive sprinkles make a great “path” through the graveyard. And a few candy pumpkins add a pop of color and Halloween night vibe to the tableau.
How to make dirt cake
Make trees and fence posts with melted chocolate
I really wanted my graveyard to have a haunted feel that the tombstones along weren’t giving, so I decided to create some spooky trees to add a height element to my dessert. These were so much easier to create than I thought they would be! All you have to do is melted some dark or milk chocolate in the microwave using short 20 second bursts of heat and stirring between bursts until melted and smooth. Many microwaves even have a “melt” feature to help you with this. Next, transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag or ziploc bag and snip off the tip to create a small round hole for piping. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pipe the trunk of the tree first, making sure to include thinner, wiggly lines for “roots”. The roots won’t actually be seen once you stick the trees into your chocolate pudding dessert, but if you are going to lay these flat or use the trees for another purpose, the roots definitely add to the overall “tree” effect. Pipe longer, thick “main branches” from the top of the trunk, then continue to build and add onto those main branches, piping smaller “twigs” that go off in different directions. Fill in gaps with more chocolate, then let the trees harden as the chocolate cools completely before peeling off the parchment paper and using in your dessert. You can see from the trees below that my first attempt in the upper left-hand corner isn’t as convincing or clean-looking as my other attempts. Fence posts can be made by piping short parallel lines in a row, then tying them together with a couple of perpendicular lines of chocolate piped right across the top. I recommend making shorter fence segments since longer ones tend to be less sturdy and break easily.
More decorating ideas
To really make this look festive and fun, you need to come up with a spooky design for decorating it. I chose to go with a haunted graveyard, complete with tombstones and ghostly trees, this time. Candy corn, zombie hands, eyeballs, and other decorating elements are almost always available at craft stores and in seasonal aisles at grocery stores. Cake decorating brands always seem to have fun new things to use each year! Here are some other ideas to get you started. You can use any combination of decorating elements to come up with your own ghastly treat. Let your imagination run wild and see what you can come up with!
Haunted pumpkin patch: Use pumpkin mallow cremes and green frosting to pipe vines for a fun pumpkin patch. Make it haunted with the addition of ghost meringues or blobs of whipped cream with mini chocolate chips for eyes. Scattered bones: Pipe “bones” from white chocolate to make it look like a skeleton is being unearthed from the dirt. Worms, spiders & dirt: Use gummy worms and black spider rings to create a creepy-crawly effect. This one was always popular when I was a kid!
If it’s no longer Halloween and you want to make dirt cake, consider adding small toy trucks for a child’s birthday or using plastic shovels, chocolate seashells, and graham crackers in place of the Oreos to create a beachy “sand” effect instead.
More chocolate desserts you’ll love
Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes Chewy Brownie Cookies Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Chocolate Cream Pie The BEST Homemade Brownies Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
More Halloween Recipes
Halloween Cookies & Bars Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Slice & Bake Pumpkin Cookies from The Flour Handprint Halloween Lollipop Cookies from Lemon Blossoms
Halloween Cakes & Cupcakes:
Blood Splatter Cupcakes from Big Bear’s Wife Jack-o-lantern Cake Pops from Tastes of Homemade Graveyard Dirt Cake from House of Nash Eats Halloween Mummy Cake Pops from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Halloween Pies & Tarts:
Air Fryer Mummy Apple Mini Tarts from Fresh Coast Eats
Halloween Breakfast:
Cinnamon Roll Intestines from Devour Dinner
Chilled Halloween Treats:
Frankenberry Jell-O Shots from Sweet ReciPEAS
Halloween Snack Mix and Candy:
Halloween Chex Mix from West Via Midwest Bloody Zombie Brains (Candied Walnuts) from The Spiffy Cookie
No Bake Halloween Desserts:
White Chocolate Mummy Crispy Rice Treats from Savory Moments Halloween Spider Web Dip from I Am A Honeybee
