My kids thrive on eggs a thousand different ways, they snack on dried anchovies (yeah, crazy, I know!), and don’t flinch when we say baked peaches are dessert in the summer.
BUT…
We take birthdays very seriously. There ain’t no way we are behaving ourselves when it comes to dessert! This past weekend my husband got another year closer to 40 and declared that he wanted dirt cake. Not just any dirt cake, mind you, he wanted chocolate peanut butter dirt cake. When I was growing up, I loved dirt cake. I requested it for at least a few birthdays, complete with the foil-lined flower pot and fake flowers on top. Boy was I excited to make this for him!
kids making dirt cake
I set out searching Pinterest for a peanut butter chocolate version, but found NONE. Can you believe that? In the world of pinterest, what I wanted apparently didn’t exist. So I invented. I based this on an Original Dirt Cake recipe and made several changes, including real whipped cream instead of Cool Whip, and a 50/50 split between vanilla and chocolate pudding.
The morning of daddy’s birthday, I told the kids we were going to eat dirt and worms for dessert. They didn’t buy it… at first. Then they said they were ok trying some dirt and worms because, let’s face it, in a household where true sugar-filled sweets are rare these kiddos cannot wait to get their hands on some homemade goodies. Of course once they started helping me make the “dirt” and saw the “worms,” they laughed. And begged to try a gummy worm.
But the BEST part of making daddy’s dirt cake was watching him eat it. When the man pauses multiple times and says “dang, this is amazing!” you know it’s good. So I wanted to share.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER DIRT CAKE
To make your cooking experience easy, I’ve included a few links to items I use and love. Please note that I receive a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you.
INGREDIENTS
– 1 full package of oreos
– 1/3 cup butter, softened (I use Kerrygold grass fed butter, available at Costco if you consume it like we do!)
– 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
– 3/4 cup powdered sugar
– 1 package 3.4 oz. instant vanilla pudding
– 1 package 3.4 oz. instant chocolate pudding
– 3 cups of milk (I use whole)
– 8 oz. whipping cream
– 15 Reeses peanut butter cups minis unwrapped and quartered
– 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
– Gummy Worms (these are awesome if you’re looking for something dye-free)
1. Crush oreos in a food processor until they resemble dirt.
2. Beat together butter, cream cheese & powdered sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk vanilla pudding mix & 1.5 cups milk.
4. In a small bowl, whip the cream until it forms peaks. Fold into the vanilla pudding mixture.
5. Fold together cream cheese & pudding mixtures together until smooth.
6. In your whipped cream bowl (for the sake of dirty dishes), whisk the chocolate pudding and 1.5 cups milk. Set for 5 minutes. Swirl your peanut butter into the chocolate pudding.
7. Layer! I am slightly obsessed with my triffle dish because you can see all the amazing layers (snag one here) but you could go fancy and line a flower pot with foil. Always start with about a third of your “dirt.” I then used 1/2 of the vanilla pudding mixture, a few gummy worms, another 1/3 of the dirt, all of the chocolate pudding, sprinkle Reeses cups, the remaining vanilla pudding mixture, and top with what dirt is left and a few worms. Phew!
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Substitute a GF oreo and you should be set!
ENJOY!
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