Based on one of my favorite childhood desserts, this dirt cake echoes all the familiar flavors of chocolate, pudding, and Oreo crumbles on top! Oh, and don’t forget those candy gummy worms! This cake has a little bit of it all, and will satisfy any child’s birthday cake wishes – and even those who are a child at heart!

And for those who are SUPER confused by the title – no, there isn’t any actual dirt in this cake. 😉

I honestly remember it like it was yesterday. Normally around Halloween, usually at a class party of sorts, we’d have a delicious chocolate pudding cup with oreo crumbles on top and gummy worms crawling all over. If you’ve never heard of this before, you’re probably suuuuuuuper confused, but if you’re familiar, you know EXACTLY the joy I’m talking about! It was so fun to dig through each chocolate bite, and get a little taste of soft, sweet, crumble, and a little soft gummy bite from those gummy worms! It’s such a fun dessert, and I knew one day I needed to make it into a dressed up layered cake version.

Let’s dive into a couple of the basic components of this beauty, shall we?

First, we have our cake layers – I used my classic chocolate cake layers from my cookbook and here on my website. It’s super thick, but very moist, and the cake rounds bake up beautifully! This cake uses three 6″ cake pans.

Instead of only using my chocolate cake, I knew I wanted to add my favorite Oreo crust! So this cake has an Oreo crust baked right into each cake layer. The crust is pretty simple to make – just pulse the Oreos with melted butter and press into your cake pans. I love using the back of my flat measuring cup to get a really even layer of crust.

Next, you make your cake batter and divide it evenly between the three pans. Yes, that’s right – no pre-baking! Just bake the cake batter right on the crust.

Next, we need that delicious pudding inside! You can always make it from scratch, buuuuut if you’re like me and need to save on time and are already familiar with that pudding box taste, you’re all set by using a pudding mix. I just stirred the mix in with 2 cups of milk, whisked it to thicken, and after 5 minutes, BOOM, you have your pudding. Easy peasy, right? This will be your filling for your cake.

It’s important to remember that if you’re adding a soft filling to a stacked tall layered cake, you need to only add in maybe 1/2 cup per filling center. Pipe a good dam around the outside rim of the cake layer before adding your filling, and you should be good to go. If you add in too much filling, or don’t pipe a thick enough frosting dam, your cake layers will want to slide around. If they do, no need to fret, you can just add a dowel down the center of the cake to keep it together while you finish frosting it.

For the frosting, I used my FAVORITE chocolate buttercream! It uses cocoa for the chocolate taste, so it actually tasted a LOT like brownie batter (which I just love!). It smoothes out so easily – I was originally going to cover the entire cake in Oreo crumbles, but decided to keep some of the smoothe buttercream visible on the outside. It’s soooooo good, and we love to spread it on graham crackers and pretzels for snacks with any leftover buttercream.

All that’s left are a few Oreo crumbles anywhere you’d like and gummy worms on top! We used sour gummy worms, but you can of course use any kind you’d like. This would also be a perfect Halloween cake with a little tombstone or spooky tree on top for a graveyard!

This piece of cake says it all, haha! Super messy because… DIRT CAKE! It’s all kinds of gooey, crumbly, chocolatey, and gummy! I hope you all have so much fun with this cake!

Happy baking!

xo,

Mandy

Get the Recipe: Dirt Cake

Thick layers of chocolate, pudding filling, oreo crust, oreo crumble, and gummy worms on top!
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Ingredients
 

Chocolate Cake with Oreo Crust

  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 24 Oreo cookies (regular, not double stuffed or skinny)
  • 2/3 cup sour cream , room temperature
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
  • 3 whole eggs, room temperature
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder , sifted
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1 box dark chocolate fudge cake mix (Duncan Hines or similar brands)

Chocolate Pudding Filling

  • 1 box chocolate pudding , (smaller box)
  • 2 cups whole milk

Cocoa Buttercream

  • 2 cups unsalted butter
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
  • 2/3 cup cocoa , sifted
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 5-7 cups powdered sugar , sifted

Garnishes

  • 2 cups crumbled oreos
  • 1/2 cup gummy worms

Instructions
 

Chocolate Cake with Oreo Crust

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Convection bake or 350 degrees traditional bake. Prep three 6" cake rounds OR two 8" cake rounds with a swipe of shortening and dust of flour, or 24 cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
  • In a food processor, add in the Oreo cookies and butter and pulse until a crumble forms. Divide crumble evenly between cake pans or cupcakes and press down firmly to make the crust. (Tip: I use the bottom of a measuring cup or glass to make an even crust). Set aside while making the cake batter. No pre-baking required for the crust.
  • In a medium bowl (not a stand mixer for this step), hand whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, egg white, and vanilla (also the caramel extract, if using) until uniform throughout.
  • Sift in the cocoa and cake mix, toss in the chocolate chips. Don't overmix – just whisk until the ingredients are barely combined. Divide evenly between cake pans or cupcake tins and bake for 27-30 minutes for cakes, and 12-15 minutes for the cupcakes. Let cool in the pan for 3 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack until room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least a couple hours or overnight until you're ready to stack the cake.

Pudding filling

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk for about 1 minute. Let sit for 2 minutes, then whisk again. Store it covered in the fridge until you're ready to add it as a filling.

Cocoa Buttercream

  • Remove butter from fridge and let sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. Add to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Whip up for 2 minutes until butter is light and fluffy.
  • Add in the salt, vanilla, cocoa, and heavy cream and whip up until thoroughly combined.
  • Slowly add in powdered sugar. Add in a touch more heavy cream if needed. Whip up on high speed for 2-3 minutes until lighter in color and texture.

Assembly

  • If making cupcakes, hollow out the inside of the cupcake and add in about 2 tablespoons pudding filling. Frost with a piping tip and top with Oreo crumble and a worm or another Oreo cookie for garnish.
  • If stacking a layered cake, using a cake turntable, add on a touch of buttercream to act as glue, then place down the first layer of cake onto a cardboard cake round. Add on a small layer of buttercream, then pipe a dam around the outside rim of the cake round. Add in about 1/2 cup of pudding filling. Place the next cake round on top and repeat with remaining cake layers. Crumb coat the cake, then place into the freezer for 5 minutes to set. Add on your final layer of buttercream and then press the Oreo crumble on the bottom rim of the cake. Add on more of the Oreo crumble on top of the cake, then top with candy worms. Enjoy!
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert