Easy Easter Dirt Cake

You’re going to love this Easter garden dessert so much that you may even make it the centerpiece of your Easter table. It’s got all the sweet layers that children and adults love, but the real draw for this dessert is the cute presentation!

Assemble the layers and top with chocolate cookie crumbs so it resembles a dirt garden, and then use Easter candies and a chocolate bunny to decorate with. This dessert recipe is perfect for Easter brunch or a family Easter dinner party.

Why You’ll Love It

Technically this is more of a pudding dessert than a cake, but the flavors and display are still delicious and festive!

• It’s make-ahead for easy hosting and entertaining.
• It’s easy to prepare and there’s no-baking or cooking.
• You can make one large garden or several mini flower pots.
• You can let the kids help you with the garden decorations.

Serving Suggestions

There are a number of ways you can serve this. I used an adorable planter box with a fence motif, and lined it with disposable food-safe containers. However, you can use any of these options to display your dirt cake in.

• Make this in a glass trifle dish so you can see the layers.
• Make it in small flower pots for individual mini desserts.
• Serve it in a 2-quart bowl for a deep dish dessert.
• Prepare it in a 2-quart baking dish for a more shallow pudding cake.

How to Make It

Make this recipe a day ahead so flavors have time to blend. See detailed instructions in recipe card below.

1. Crush. Use a mini food processor or blender to turn half the cookies into dirt crumbs. The other half will be broken into pieces.
2. Mix. Combine pudding and cold milk, and refrigerate for 5 minutes so it can set.
3. Combine. Stir the softened cream cheese and whipped topping together and mix well.
4. Decorate. Top the dirt cake garden with a chocolate bunny, gummy candy carrots, and chocolate eggs or jelly beans. Add sprigs of fresh mint to look like vines.

Assemble

Layer the ingredients in this order: broken cookies, cream cheese mixture, pudding, peanut butter chips, crushed cookie dirt.

Keep covered and stored in the refrigerator.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

• Make sure to use a Family Size package of cookies. You’ll need them!
• Make sure the cream cheese is very soft so it will combine easily with the whipped topping.
• Use any baking chips you like: peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or toffee bits.
• Add an additional layer of broken Oreos instead of the peanut butter chips.
• If you want, you can vary the order of the layers. For instance, add the chips in between the cream cheese and the chocolate layers.
• Use peanut butter Oreos instead of traditional flavor.
• Add in a layer of chopped nuts if you like.

More Easter Desserts

If you want to serve this Easter dirt cake for the children or a kids party, you can also include these chocolate birds nests on the table.

For a more adult-like dessert, make pineapple layer cake or pecan pie trifle as the centerpiece to the table. Also, this chocolate trifle feeds a crowd.