Halloween Dirt Cake is a fond memory from childhood. Cake topped with chocolate pudding is made to look like a spooky dirt graveyard with crushed Oreos and gummy decorations.
Do you remember worms in dirt cups? Those were usually chocolate pudding cups with gummy worms and Oreo crumbs and were a favorite among the elementary school crowd. This recipe takes things a step further by adding tender, moist chocolate cake, Halloween candy, and cookie decorations.
Prefer to make a layer cake? Try my recipe for Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s so good for the fall season. Pumpkin Bundt Cake is a great option if you’re looking for a really easy and simple baked treat.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Festive for Halloween: Halloween desserts are so fun to make, don’t miss out on your chance to make this one.
- Scratch Cake: We’re making chocolate cake from scratch, because it’s honestly just as simple as making one with a boxed mix, and the flavor is much, much better.
- Moist Cake: A layer of pudding in this chocolate poke cake makes the cake super moist and yummy. Chocolate pudding cake is always a hit.
Ingredients in Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cake
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
To make the Cake:
- Flour: Regular all-purpose flour is perfect for this cake.
- Cocoa Powder: Be sure that your cocoa powder is unsweetened. The more expensive your cocoa powder is, the better the chocolate flavor will be, but don’t let that keep you from making this. All cocoa powder is good.
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt: These three items are added in small quantities. They work to leaven the cake and add a bit of flavor.
- Instant Coffee Powder: A secret ingredient in chocolate cake! Instant coffee powder adds a bitter flavor that intensifies the flavor of the cocoa.
- Granulated Sugar: This is our sweetener.
- Eggs: Eggs work with the powders to add bulk and fluff to the cake, creating the perfect moist texture.
- Vanilla Extract: A requirement for any good cake.
- Vegetable Oil and Milk: Together these add moisture to the cake batter and create the right mouth feel in the finished product.
- Boiling Water: Added in to the batter at the very end, this will thin out the batter to the perfect consistency, and help to dissolve the cocoa powder.
To Make Chocolate Pudding:
- Pudding Mix: A 3.9oz box of instant chocolate pudding mix does the trick.
- Milk: Two cups of milk will turn that mix into a creamy, delicious cake topping. The higher the fat content of your milk, the creamier the pudding will be. The instructions generally call for 2% milk.
To Make Chocolate Frosting:
- Butter: This simple frosting is a chocolate buttercream. Use unsalted butter, softened at room temperature.
- Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened cocoa powder like you used in the cake batter makes this frosting a nice warm brown color and makes it irresistibly chocolatey.
- Powdered Sugar: Needed for almost all good frosting recipes, powdered or confectioners sugar adds bulk, sweetness, and lightness.
- Vanilla Extract: Even though this is a chocolate frosting, vanilla extract makes the chocolate taste stronger and more decadent.
Also, to Decorate The Cake:
To decorate your Halloween cake, you’ll need Oreo Cookies, Milano Cookies, ghost shaped Marshmallow Peeps, candy corn pumpkins, gummy worms, and a small tube of black icing. More details on how to decorate the cake are below.
How to Make Chocolate Pudding Halloween Dirt Cake
- Prepare: Preheat the oven 375°F/190°C (170°C for fan oven), and grease a 13×9 inch cake pan. Set aside.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coffee powder with a whisk.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar eggs, vanilla, oil, and milk.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then mix to combine, being careful not to overmix.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely.
- Poke: Use the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes over the top of the cake. I poked 30 holes into my cake in an even pattern.
- Add Pudding: Whisk together the pudding mix with milk, and allow to sit to thicken for 5 minutes. Pour/Spread the chocolate pudding over the prepared cake, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Spread Frosting: Whip together the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy. Spread over the chocolate pudding layer/cake.
- Decorate: Use crushed oreos, milano cookies, and candies to decorate your graveyard. See detailed instructions below.
Tip!
Be careful not to overmix the cake batter. Overmixing works the gluten up too much, and will make the cake tough.
How to Decorate a Halloween Dirt Cake
The decorations are what makes this chocolate pudding cake into a Halloween Cake. Will this be a delicious treat without ghosts and worms? Sure, but it won’t be nearly as fun.
- Oreos: Sprinkle crushed Oreo Cookies over the chocolate frosted pudding cake to create the appearance of a rocky dirt graveyard ground.
- Milano Cookies: Make tombstones by using black icing to write “RIP” over each Milano cookie, then pressing them down into the frosting so they are standing up.
- Peeps: Ghost Peeps are so cute on this cake! Use six of them, and spread them around the cake among the tombstones. You may need to move the dirt away from the frosting to get them to stick well.
- Worms and Pumpkins: Artistically spread candy corn pumpkins and gummy worms to complete the spooky graveyard cake scene!
What to Serve with Halloween Dirt Cake
For Halloween: If you like making Halloween themed treats, serve this cake with sides of Wicked Witch Finger Cookies and Halloween Peanut Butter Cupcakes with spider web decorations.
After Dinner: If you are trick or treating this year, you’re going to need a quick and easy dinner to feed your family before the event. Try making one of my hearty dinner casseroles, like Cowboy Casserole, Walking Taco Casserole, or a Creamy Tuna Casserole.
At a Party: Hosting a Halloween party? You need to serve up some snacks and appetizers! I suggest Honey Mustard Pretzels, Sausage Dip, and a Taco Ring. All are crowd favorites.
Looking for a way to use up all of that leftover candy? Make this movie theatre snack mix!
FAQs
Without the cookie tombstones, this cake will just be a dirt field! It’s super simple to turn Milano cookies into RIP labeled grave stones with just a little bit of black icing. Melted chocolate or an edible marker can be used as well. Do whatever seems easier to you!
We call it a poke cake whenever you make cake, then poke holes in it and add a wet or soft ingredient. The holes allow the topping (in this case, chocolate pudding) to seep down into the sponge and moisten it, also adding extra flavor and texture.
Poke cakes are sometimes made with Jello, or flavored thinned icing too.
Store this cake covered in the fridge for up to 1 week. For the best presentation, I suggest adding the candy and cookie decorations closer to serving time, no more than 24 hours ahead. They may melt slightly.
Kids and adults will smile so big when you bring out this delicious and festive Halloween Dirt Cake. Happy Halloween!
This comes down to preference and what tools you have available. Here I crushed the Oreos using a zip top bag and a rolling pin, so they are fine but not too fine. If you want the Oreos to be more of a sand-like consistency, you can use a food processor to pulse them into very fine crumbs. Either way will be delicious!
Nope! Be sure to use an Instant Pudding mix to add to this cake. Regular pudding requires cooking, so if you use it in this recipe it will never set up. Instant pudding sets by just refrigeration.
Use your imagination!
For Tombstones, any rectangular or oval shaped cookie will work. Try Biscoff, Chessman, or Vienna Fingers cookies instead of Milano. You may find shortbread cookies in the perfect shape too.
For other decorations, look for gummy spiders or bugs, candy eyeballs, Halloween shaped/themed lollipops, or speciality candies that are sold in stores in October.
Non-edible toppers such as cupcake pics or DIY Paper decorations could be fun too!
Kids and adults will smile so big when you bring out this delicious and festive Halloween Dirt Cake. Happy Halloween!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Graveyard Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cake
Equipment
- 13×9 inch cake pan
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Pudding
- 3.9 ounces instant chocolate pudding mix unprepared
- 2 cups milk
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk might need to add a little bit more
Decoration
- 20 Oreo cookies crushed into crumbs
- 9 Milano cookies
- Black icing for writing
- 10 Candy pumpkins
- 6 Ghost peeps
- 5 Gummy worms
Instructions
To make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C (170°C for fan oven), and grease a 13×9 inch cake pan. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, oil, and milk.
- Add the dry ingredient to the wet ingredients, then mix to just combine (do not overmix, you don’t want to work the gluten for a moist cake).
- Stir in boiling water, this will thin out the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to completely cool then poke holes over the top using a handle of a wooden spoon.
To make the pudding mix
- Whisk the pudding mix with the milk, and let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Pour/spread over the prepared cake, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
To make the frosting
- Whip together the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy.
- Spread over the chocolate pudding layer/cake.
To decorate the cake
- Sprinkle with crushed oreo crumbs.
- Make the tombstones. Using black icing write RIP over each Milano cookie, and press it down the frosting so it’s standing up.
- Press a few ghost peeps so they’re standing up over the frosting.
- Add the pumpkin candies and gummy worms.
Notes:
- Storing. Store this cake covered in the fridge for up to 1 week. For the best presentation, I suggest adding the candy and cookie decorations closer to serving time, no more than 24 hours ahead.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
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