Delectable Dirt Cake

Dirt Cake

So simple to make, yet devilishly delicious. This no bake 'cake' is a crowd pleaser that will be sure to satisfy the sweet tooth of everyone in your family.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Equipment

• Measuring Equipment (Cup, Scale)
• 3 Medium Bowls
• Whisk/Spoon
• 1 Large Bowl (Glass would be best)

Ingredients

  

• 114 Grams Salted Butter, Softened ½ Cup (4 oz.)
• 500 Grams Cream Cheese, Softened 18 oz.
• 60 Grams Powdered Sugar, Sifted ½ Cup
• 3½ Cups Milk
• 200 Grams Instant Vanilla Pudding 7 oz.
• 1½ Cups Whipped Cream 12 oz.
• 600 Grams Oreo Crumbs 20 oz. (54 Oreos)

Instructions

 

• Measure out your butter and cream cheese. Put them in a single medium bowl and let them warm to room temperature (about 20 minutes).
• While the butter and cream cheese are warming, crush all the Oreos into small pieces. Put them in a medium bowl and set them aside until later.
• Next, mix the milk and instant vanilla pudding in a separate medium sized bowl. After the milk and pudding have been mixed, add the whipped cream and stir. A whisky will work well, but if you don't have one use a spoon.
• Once the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature, mix in powdered sugar. Make sure everything is well combined. If your butter is too cold, you will end up with lumps of butter in the finished product.
• Combine the cream cheese mixture with the pudding mixture and mix. It should be think and solid.
• Then in a large bowl layer the cream cheese/pudding mixture and cookie crumbs. Begin by adding a 1.25cm layer of the cream cheese/pudding mixture. On top of this layer add a layer of Oreos. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. The last layer on top should be cookie crumbs, thus looking like dirt… hence dirt cake!
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least six hours to let the cake set.

Notes

*The above will make a large dirt cake that will serve about 25 people. If you desire, half all the ingredients to make a smaller portion.

The Incredible & Edible Dirt Cake

Dirt Cake isn’t the prettiest cake on the block, but it puts out in a big way. Being so easy to throw together is major points, but add in the fact that is a no bake recipe and you’ve got a home-run, especially in the summer months.

There’s nothing stopping you from dressing up this poor man’s tiramisu. I’ve seen people put in flower pots, add gummy worms to the top, or build it in glass cups to show off it’s layers.

The Dos and Don’ts of Dirt Cake

Easy recipes can be easy to screw up. So, here are a few helpful tips and pieces of advice to help you along.

• Don’t use margarine

A lot of recipes call for margarine because it blends easier butter. I won’t deny that fact. It will blend very well, but margarine is horrible. It’s really unhealthy for you and full of trans fats. Stick with real, from a cow butter.

• Don’t use aerosol whipped cream

Whipped cream out of an aerosol can doesn’t have the proper constancy for dirt cake. I was taught to use Cool Whip, which does have the right feel. That said, I would advise against Cool Whip for the same reasons I listed for margarine. See the next section for some better alternatives.

• Don’t feel married to Oreo Cookies

I have a love/hate relationship with Oreos. These days it’s mostly hate. While the recipe specifically calls for Oreo cookie crumbs, you needn’t use them. Feel free to use Hydrox or the superior Newman-O’s. You could also swap out these chocolate cookies for something else entirely, like vanilla wafers.

• Don’t be afraid to use your food processor or electric mixer

An electric isn’t required to make this recipe, but it does make life easier if you have one. You can’t build the whole cake like that, but you can combine all the wet ingredients together with your electric mixer. You’ll be guaranteed to get a smother, well mixed cream portion.

Making the Best Possible Version

If you want to go the extra mile, or you’re in a place where some of the ingredients are hard to track-down, here’s how to take your dirt cake to the next level. Yes, this will add some time and work, make this easy recipe less easy.

• Make your own Whipped Cream

This one is a no-brainer. Homemade whipped cream just taste a million times better than anything you can buy in the store. Cool Whip is not even an option for me. The 5 minutes it takes to throw together your own whipped cream is well worth the investment.

• Make your own Oreo Crumbs

As I said, I have complicated relationship with Oreos. They’re not as good as they once were, so I’ve taken on the task of making my own. This add a lot of busy work to making this cake and honestly, if I had access to Hyrox or affordable Newman O’s, I would opt for those. Unfortunately, I don’t.

• Make your own Vanilla Pudding

If I were living in the EU or US, I would just use instant vanilla pudding. In Asia, it’s hard to find and if you do happen to get lucky and source some, they’re incredibly expensive. Dirt Cake doesn’t work without the pudding, so you have few options.

If you are making your own pudding and/or Oreo crumbs, you will need to alter the recipe slightly.

• If you are making your own pudding; omit the milk from this recipe. Make the pudding as specified in the linked recipe and add the entire amount into the cream mixture.

• If you are make your own Oreo crumbs, you will need to double the amount of sugar you put into the wet mix. This helps account for the lose of the the sugary cream filling in the cookies. Without that extra sugar the cake is going to taste bland.

Do you like dirt?