Today was screaming for me to make this cute pumpkin patch dirt cake.
In this house, when it comes to cake, we get pretty excited. But not for traditional type of cake.
For years I used to make my husband a cake for his birthday. Usually some kind of chocolate cake with icing on it. He would smile politely and thank me, and eat a piece, but he never seemed really excited about it. Then, eventually I discovered he wasn’t a big cake person. Unless it’s ice cream cake. Once I figured this out years later, I started making him ice cream cakes for his birthday.
He was much more enthusiastic.
My kids followed suit. Each year for their birthday they usually request either ice cream cake, or dirt cake, another favorite. Dirt cake is nothing new, it’s been around for quite a few years. Sometimes people call it Oreo dirt cake but I can’t call it that because I’m too cheap to buy the name brand of cookies. I’d have to call it “Knock off brand dirt cake” or something like that. It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
I’ve made the dirt cake many times with gummy worms, but there is nothing about gummy worms that say “it’s Fall.”
Pumpkins, on the other hand…
We are all about the Fall treats over here so this one is a great addition to the other desserts or baked goods we like to make over here at this time of year, like my pumpkin bread that I just made a last week.
For the little pumpkins I found some cute ju-jube type candies at Bulk Barn but you can often find the mellocreme pumpkins at this time of year as well.
PUMPKIN PATCH DIRT CAKE
First, crush your cookies in a food processor. I used one package of cookies, but if you like a generous amount of cookie crumbs in between layers you may want to use more cookies. Once crushed, put the bowl aside.
Mix 3 3/4 cup of milk into a bowl with your 2 boxes of chocolate pudding mix. (You could also make this with vanilla pudding, you know, if you don’t have a deep love for chocolate, but I mean, is that even possible?)
Put your 1/2 cup of softened butter and your package of cream cheese into a bowl. Use a mixer to mix together until blended well and starting to get fluffy.
Add the 3/4 cup of icing sugar and continue to mix with the mixer until well incorporated.
Take the cream cheese, icing sugar, and butter mixture and pour it into the pudding mix. Add 1 1/2 cups of whipped topping as well. Mix together.
Now you are going to start layering your cake. I did three layers of cookie crumbs and two of the pudding mixture, but my bowl was narrow at the bottom. If you are using something like a rectangular dish you may want to only do a top and bottom layer of cookie crumbs, or you could always add more cookies. I also filled the first two cookie layers sparingly, saving more for the top.
So put a layer in the bottom of your bowl to start.
Next you will add a layer of the pudding mixture and then continue from there.
When you are all done, add your pumpkins! Then take some green sprinkles and drizzle them in between the pumpkins, to kind of resemble vines going between them.
Then you can add a sign by using some corrugated cardboard and stick a toothpick on either side of it. Add a clean tractor to the top and you got yourself a pumpkin patch dirt cake!
Add this recipe to your Fall treats this year. Your kids will love it!
Related: Sweet Pumpkin Recipes – Because it’s ALL THINGS PUMPKIN season
Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box cream filled chocolate sandwich cookies
- 2 boxes instant chocolate pudding
- 3 3/4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1 package cream cheese
- 3/4 cup icing sugar
- 1 1/2 cup whipped topping
- Candy pumpkins
- green sprinkles
- toy tractor
- tooth picks and cardboard for sign
Instructions
- Grind up chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor till it resembles crumbs. Set aside.
- In a bowl, add milk to instant pudding mix. Let sit for a few minutes.
- In a separate bowl, use mixer to blend the butter and cream cheese together until well blended.
- Add icing sugar and continue to mix well.
- Add the butter, cream cheese, and icing sugar mixture into the pudding mixture. Add the whipped topping and stir until completely mixed.
- Place a thin layer of cookie crumbs on the bottom of your dish you want to serve the dirt cake in. Make sure to use the crumbs sparingly so you have enough for the other layers.
- After the bottom layer of cookie crumbs, add a layer of pudding mix. Continue to do this for as many layers as you desire, ending with cookie crumbs on the top. (we like 3 layers of cookie crumbs and 2 layers of pudding.)
- Put candy pumpkins on top of the cake in any way you want. Drizzle the green sprinkles in between the pumpkins to resemble vines. Make a sign that says "pumpkins" by attaching toothpicks into corrugated cardboard. Stick it into the cake, add a tractor, and serve!
