Dirt Cake

When we decided to throw Katie a “Garden Party” baby shower, I instantly knew that I wanted to make mini dirt cakes – one of my favorite childhood desserts!  There are a few dirt cake recipes floating around online.  Some use just pudding, others use cream cheese and cool whip, and some are simply made with whipped cream.  I decided to go with my mom’s recipe which is the richest variety that I could find.  It combines butter, cream cheese, vanilla pudding and cool whip to create a dessert that is incredibly decadent.

Dirt Cake

2 small packages vanilla pudding
3 cups of milk
1  8oz brick of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
12 oz tub Cool Whip
1 package Oreo cookies, crushed (or nilla wafers if you are not a chocolate lover and prefer “sand” cake)

Mix the vanilla pudding packets with 3 cups of milk and whisk until thick.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with the softened butter.  Then, add the powdered sugar and mix with an electric mixer until well blended.  Add the butter mixture into the pudding and blend until combined.  Finally, stir in the cool whip, being careful not to over mix.

Layer the pudding mixture with your crushed Oreos in serving bowl you are using.  Just be sure you have enough Oreos at the end to make the top of your cake look like dirt!

For Katie’s shower, I used mini ball glass jars for presentation.  But you can be as creative as you would like!  As a child, I used to eat it out of mini buckets with fake flowers or small terracotta planters.  And don’t forget to add gummy worms if you are serving this to kids!