Easter Bunny Dirt Cake {Make Ahead}

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Easter Bunny Dirt Cake is a fun twist on an old-fashioned recipe! Make this into a delicious Easter treat with some chocolate eggs, bunnies or chicks and a little colored coconut. With a creamy, custard whipped filling sandwiched between two luscious crumby layers of “dirt” cookie crumbs. Roll up your sleeves and invite your kids (big and little) to help you decorate this simple, make ahead, no-bake dessert.

Easter Dirt Cake

Easter is late this year, yet I still feel like it’s sneaking up on me! Just a little over a week away and I have a delicious, easy, make ahead dessert that will please everyone; especially the kids at your table and by kids I mean, anyone over the age of 1 and that includes my teenage boys and 50+ year old husband! 😉 (gotta love an old fashioned emoji)

I love easy, and make ahead dessert; like this Giant Easter Cookie Cake. Easter Bunny Dirt Cake is all those things! Whip it up ahead of time and tuck it in the fridge, pulling it out at the last minute like you slaved on it all day long! The longer it sits, the more delicious it is, so let it hang out. 

Easter Dirt Cake Simple Ingredients 

• 1 “family size” package or equivalent chocolate sandwich cookies (about 19 oz Oreos or natural like Newman-O’s)
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 1 16 oz container whipped topping (like Cool Whip), I like TruWhip — no hydrogenated oils
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 (3.4 oz) packages white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding, I like using all natural pudding
• 3 cups whole milk, I use organic
• 1-2 oz of white chocolate, grated (optional)

Decoration Ideas for the Cake

• Mini chocolate bunnies and/or chicks
• Green edible grass or shredded coconut tinted green
• Chocolate eggs, these Cadbury mini eggs hold up well
• Jelly beans or my personal favorite chocolate rocks
• Chocolate eggs or carrots, leave covered in foil or remove
• Whatever you want to put on, be creative, you can even put on plastic eggs with goodies inside!

HOW TO MAKE EASTER BUNNY DIRT CAKE 

Place cookies (whole) in a food processor, crush your cookies – cream filling and all until fine crumbs. No food processor? Simply place your cookies (might need to do in batches) into a gallon size freezer baggie and smash with rolling pin, then roll until fine crumbs. Reserve about 1/3 of the cookies, about 1 1/2 cups, enough to cover the top of the cake. 

Press 2/3 of crumbs into the bottom of a 13×9 inch glass pan, glass really is prettiest for presentation with this recipe, that way you can show off the layers. 

Mix together your softened butter, cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high. Slowly add in powdered sugar on low until combined, about a minute. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed, fold in whipped topping. Using a microplane, grate between 1-2 oz of white chocolate bar into the pudding mixture and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, pour the dry pudding mix into milk whisking for 1-2 minutes until smooth and thick. Gently stir pudding mixture (on low or by hand) into cream cheese mixture until evenly incorporated. Spread pudding mixture on top of crushed cookies, using an offset spatula to spread evenly over the top. Top evenly with remaining crushed cookies. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. 

When ready to serve, decorate as desired, creating your own little scene, or let your littles (or bigs) go a little crazy and decorate the entire cake or just their piece! 

Our good friend, being silly as I was snapping pictures of the cake!

HOW TO TINT COCONUT

If tinting your coconut, place desired amount of coconut in a baggie, add in a few drops of natural green food coloring, seal and shake until desire color is achieved. Spread on top of cake in piles or cover the entire cake. My family doesn’t care for coconut, so I just did little piles of “grass.”

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Yield: 12-16 servings

Easter Bunny Dirt Cake {Make Ahead}

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Easter Bunny Dirt Cake is a twist on an old-fashioned recipe, make this into a delicious Easter treat with edible toppings. A creamy, custard whipped filling is sandwiched between two luscious layers of "dirt" or cookie crumbs. Invite the kids (big and small) to help you decorate the simple, no-bake dessert.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Chill Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

• 1 "family size" package chocolate sandwich cookies (about 19 oz Oreos, Jo-Jo's O's, Newman-O's)
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 1 (16 oz) container whipped topping, I like TruWhip -- no hydrogenated oils
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 (3.4 oz) packages white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding, I like natural pudding mixes
• 3 cups whole milk, I use organic
• 1-2 oz of white chocolate, grated (optional)
• Mini Chocolate Bunnies
• Mini Chocolate Chicks
• Cadbury Mini Chocolate Eggs
• Chocolate Rocks
• Milk Chocolate Eggs
• Foil Wrapped Chocolate Carrots
• Jelly Beans
• Sweetened Shredded Coconut
• Edible Grass

Instructions

1. In a food processor*, crush your cookies - cream filling and all, until fine crumbs. Reserve about 1/3 of the cookies, about 1 1/2 cups. Enough to cover the top of the cake in a thin layer. Press 2/3 of crumbs into the bottom of a 13x9 inch glass pan, glass is really prettiest in this instance, that way you can show off the layers. 
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together your softened butter, cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high. Slowly add in powdered sugar on low until combined, about a minute. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed, fold in whipped topping. Using a microplane, grate between 1-2 oz of white chocolate bar into the pudding mixture and set aside. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry pudding mix into the milk for 1-2 minutes until smooth and thick. Gently stir pudding mixture (on low or by hand) into cream cheese mixture until evenly incorporated. Spread pudding mixture on top of crushed cookies, using an offset spatula to spread evenly over the top. Top evenly with remaining crushed cookies. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. 
4. When ready to serve, decorate as desired, creating your own little scene, or let your littles (or bigs) go a little crazy and decorate the cake or their piece alone! 

HOW TO TINT COCONUT

If tinting your coconut, place desired amount of coconut in a baggie, add in a few drops of natural green food coloring, seal and shake until desire color is achieved. Spread on top of cake in piles or cover the entire cake. My family doesn't care for coconut, so I just did little piles of "grass."

Notes

• *If you don't own a food processor, simply place the cookies in a freezer baggie (gallon sized) and using a rolling pin, whack until crushed, then roll until fine crumbs.
• There are several Instant Pudding options out there, standard Jell-O brand, I used Jell-O's Simply Good, but they have discontinued it. When choosing a natural instant pudding, the amounts should be the same, use the small packages as long as the serving size is roughly 4 servings per box. There are some out there that are sugar free, again, as long as pudding gets thick, it should be fine.
• A friend made this and asked why the butter was in it and could she reduce or even omit it, I haven't tried, but the recipe is pretty forgiving, so I would say go for it!

Recommended Products

• 
  Anchor Hocking 2 Quart Glass Batter Bowl With Lid (81106L11)
• 
  OXO Good Grips Freezer-to-Oven Safe 3 Qt Glass Baking Dish with Lid, 9 x 13
• 
  Icing Spatula, 7.5" - 10.8" - 12.8" Offset Cake Spatula Set with Wooden Handle by 1Easylife, Professional Stainless Steel Cake Decorating Spatulas (4"-6"-8" Blade)
• 
  Lindt Bunny and friends Milk Chocolate 7.1 oz.-200g
• 
  Edible Easter Basket Candy Grass Green Apple, Pack of 2
• 
  Chocolate Rocks Mixed River Stones 2LB Bag
• 
  Chefmaster Food Coloring Drops, 8 Vibrant Cake Decorating Colors, Easter Food Coloring for Cookies, Bath Bomb Colorant, Egg Dying Set, Non Food Gel Dye Drops, Edible Food Colors for Easter & Holidays
• 
  Lindt Chocolate Carrots Pack of 4 (8 Carrots Total) Easter Basket Chocolate
• 
  Microplane 46116 Spice Grater - Rasp with Soft Handle - Made in USA - Red

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1 piece
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 404 Total Fat: 21g Saturated Fat: 10g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 9g Cholesterol: 28mg Sodium: 382mg Carbohydrates: 50g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 35g Protein: 5g

The nutritional information is estimated and may not be entirely accurate.

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