This Halloween dirt cake is decorated with crushed Oreos, tombstone cookies and pumpkin candies to create a graveyard topping. Fun and festive for any Halloween party!
Along with this graveyard dirt cake, we love these other Halloween desserts including Halloween rice krispie treats, monster cookies and Halloween Oreo balls.
Why I Love This Halloween Oreo Dirt Cake
- Halloween favorite: If you love the classic pudding dessert dirt cake made with Oreo cookies, this Halloween dirt cake is the perfect centerpiece for any party table!
- Cute and festive: Crushed Oreos become graveyard dirt, Milano cookies are transformed into gravestones and candy pumpkins add a pop of color!
- Irresistibly good: This twist on dirt pudding is devilishly amazing! It is kid-friendly but adults love it just as much!
- Easy to make: This simple Halloween cake is easy to put together with Oreos, a vanilla pudding mix, Cool Whip, cream cheese, powdered sugar and fun decorations.
Recipe Variations
- Pudding flavor: For chocolate dessert lovers, use instant chocolate pudding mix or white chocolate pudding instead of vanilla!
- Oreos: Use your favorite flavor of chocolate sandwich cookies to make this graveyard dirt cake.
- Tombstones: Instead of Milano cookies, dip Nutter Butter cookies in melted white chocolate!
- More fun decorations: Add other fun decorations like Ghost Peeps, candy eyeballs, gummy bears, festive sprinkles or other Halloween candy if desired.
- Same concept, different cake: Easily transform my chocolate poke cake into a graveyard dirt cake by decorating it the same way.
How to Make Halloween Dirt Cake
First make your Oreo crust layer by crushing Oreos in food processor or blender. Reserve 1/2 cup for topping then combine remaining with melted butter and press into a 9×13 pan.
Make the graveyard pudding by whipping the softened cream cheese and butter until fluffy with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla then fold in the Cool Whip.
In a separate bowl, mix Instant pudding and milk. Once thickened, fold pudding into the cream cheese mixture.
Spread the pudding mixture evenly over the Oreo crust and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup Oreo crumbs over the top then cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill 4 hours.
Before serving, decorate your Halloween dirt cake by writing RIP on Milano cookies with a black icing writer. Place tombstones all over the cake and add candy pumpkins!
Recipe Tips
- Make ahead. While you can serve Halloween Oreo dirt cake recipe right away, I think it tastes best after chilling 4 hours up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Graveyard dirt pudding cups: Instead of one big Halloween dirt cake recipe, layer the graveyard pudding in clear plastic cups! You could layer it on big trifle dish.
- Do not make the pudding first. Use only instant pudding not the cook and serve kind and do not following the box directions.
- Add some color. A few drops of food coloring to the pudding mixture will enhance the festive fun of this cake plus can allow you to adapt it for Christmas, birthdays and more.
Storage
While this festive Halloween dirt cake tastes best right after making, you can store leftovers. Store in the refrigerator tightly covered with plastic wrap up to 3 days.
You may want to remove the candy pumpkins before storing and keep in mind that the cookies will soften the longer it is stored.
Try these other Halloween recipes Halloween candy popcorn, Halloween pizzas recipe, Halloween puking pumpkin and Halloween gingerbread house!
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Halloween Dirt Cake
Video
Ingredients
Oreo Crust
- 36 regular Oreos
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter , melted
Layer 1
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese , softened
- 5 Tablespoons salted butter , softened
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces Cool Whip , thawed
- 2 (3.9-ounce) boxes instant vanilla pudding
- 2 ½ cups whole milk
- 8-12 milano cookies
- 8-12 pumpkin candies
- black writer
Instructions
Oreo Crust
- In a food processor or blender, blend Oreos (whole cookies) into fine crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup for topping and then mix in the melted butter until combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish and place in the freezer or the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
Filling
- In a medium-sized bowl, whip the cream cheese and butter until fluffy with an electric mixer. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the Cool Whip.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the pudding and milk together until thick. Let sit a few minutes to thicken. Then fold the pudding into the cream cheese mixture.
- Spread the filling evenly over the Oreo crust until smooth.
- Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup Oreo crumbs over the top. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill 4 hours. Right before serving write 'RIP' on the milano cookies with a black writer. Then add pumpkins on top.
Notes
- You could also use chocolate pudding in this recipe.
- Make in individual serving cups.
- Add gummy worms to make it fun for the kids.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
My kids and i had so much fun making this together. We enjoyed eating it too lol.
Such a fun treat for Halloween! Thanks for the recipe!
Amazing! I actually made this for my son’s birthday cake and everyone loved it!