Graveyard Dirt Cake

White chocolate pudding and Oreo Graveyard dirt cake is EASY, festive and perfect for Halloween! It can be on the table in 10 minutes!!

Graveyard dirt cake makes the perfect center-piece for your Halloween shin dig. Finish your Halloween party with a Halloween Trivia QuizHalloween Coloring PagesHalloween Printables, and 20 Halloween Crafts for a guaranteed good time!

Graveyard dirt cake topped with mallow pumpkins in a glass baking dish

a halloween favorite

Earlier today I shared with you another family favorite recipe called Kansas City Dirt Cake.

Well, recently I saw in a magazine a different version of this cake that was jazzed up a bit for Halloween. I loved it so much and wanted to share it with you today. I’m calling it Graveyard Dirt Cake.

Not only is it an easy and yummy cake but it’s one of those desserts that looks like you spent hours on it and really didn’t. It just looks that good!! Fun and festive, right?!

This Halloween dirt cake is definitely a family favorite!

hand full of mallow pumpkins

How to make graveyard cake

OREO. Crush ⅔ package of Oreos and place in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Set aside.

FILLING. Mix cream cheese and margarine (or butter) until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar and fold in whipped topping. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix pudding, milk and vanilla. Fold this mixture in with the cream cheese mixture.

ASSEMBLE + DECORATE. Pour over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with the reserved Oreos. Add cookies and pumpkins to the top. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Mother's double fudge cookies

Tips + Variations

For a super fine Oreo crumb you should put the Oreos in a blender or in a food processor.

This “cake” is more like a delicious pudding and does not have a traditional cake texture.

Use the pudding mix only. Do NOT make the pudding first. Also, be sure that the pudding mix is the INSTANT kind. 

To serve, slice/scoop this into individual servings or you can use the tombstone cookies to scoop the cake out like a dessert dip. Do whatever feels right!

While it is not required, letting the cake set up in the fridge for an hour or so would make it easier to slice and serve.

Any rectangular shaped cookie will work for the tombstones such as: 

  • Keebler Deluxe Grahams
  • Chocolate Wafer cookies broken in half
  • Gamesa Emperador Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
  • Milano Cookies
  • Use chocolate graham crackers for the tombstones
  • Use chocolate covered nutter butters

Dessert Variations:

  •  Making a white chocolate skeleton out of molds to lay on top of the cake
  • Use traditional chocolate pudding
  • Make a gate out of piped chocolate
  • Top with creepy gummy worms
whipped white chocolate pudding in a white bowl

Storing Info

STORE this cake covered in the fridge for up to a week.

To FREEZE this cake you will want to remove any toppings and cover the cake tightly in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

This would be the perfect Halloween dessert that is festive and yummy!!

Graveyard dirt cake in a glass baking dish

For some more yummy Halloween recipes:

Graveyard Dirt Cake Recipe

5 from 10 votes
White chocolate pudding and Oreo Graveyard dirt cake is EASY, festive and perfect for Halloween! It can be on the table in 10 minutes!!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 530 kcal
Author Lil’ Luna

Ingredients

  • 1 package Oreos
  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 16 oz cool whip
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 6.6 oz instant white chocolate or vanilla pudding
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 package Mother's Double Fudge Cookies
  • candy corn pumpkins

Instructions
 

  • Crush ⅔ package of Oreos and place in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Set aside.
  • Mix cream cheese and margarine (or butter) until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar and fold in whipped topping. Set aside.
  • In a separate bowl mix pudding, milk and vanilla. Fold this mixture in with the cream cheese mixture.
  • Pour over crumb mixture.
  • Sprinkle with the reserved Oreos.
  • Add cookies and pumpkins to the top. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

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Pin it now to remember it later! Share it with your Facebook friends (you know they’ll love it). Or tweet it to the world. Maybe even email it to your favorite cousin!

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About Kristyn

My name is Kristyn and I’m the mom of SIX stinkin’ cute kids and the wife to my smokin’ hot hubby, Lo. My mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty “Lil’ Lunas” in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative - from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!

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Comments:

  1. These are so much fun to play with! When one of my nephews was in drum corp, they would have a party before the championship, and it fell right around Halloween every year, so I would make Halloween goodies, a version of this being one of them. I would ice the names of their rival teams onto the tombstones, etc. One year, I found a candy skeleton at the Dollar Tree, so I grabbed that and dug out a “grave” in the cake in front of one of the “stones,” piled some cake crumbs at the foot of the hole like a dirt pile and had the skeleton crawling out LOL.

  2. Hey! I made this cake last weekend for our sleepover and blogged about it. You can follow the link below to see.

  3. This looks fantastic! Not sure I’ll be able to find mallow pumpikns but I’m sure I’ll be able to find another candy alternative. Thanks for the great idea.

  4. 5 stars
    Hi! I know this post is very old, but I tried to make this cake recently and it didn’t go very well. The taste was great but the cake didn’t curdle. What can I do? What do you think the problem is? Thank you!

    1. It’s hard to know exactly what you did. It isn’t supposed to curdle. The consistency is more like pudding with the oreos on top & bottom. Did you change anything in the recipe?

  5. hi! a big bin of cool whip appears on the ingredients list but not the recipe…did i miss something? thanks!

      1. it might be helpful to edit it to say pudding mix, i had made the pudding as well and was surprised at the amount of milk i was going to have to add before i came and read the comments to see if anyone else had the same question i did. otherwise the user is adding 6 cups of milk. thanks –

  6. 5 stars
    A very favorite dessert that we have been making for years. Creamy and over the top delicious! Great for Halloween.

  7. 5 stars
    I make your Kansas city dirt cake ALL the time! This is such a fun version and Im just in time to make it this month for Halloween.