And it is officially fall. Food blogs are filled with anything and everything pumpkin and ghoulish. And this Halloween Graveyard Cake couldn’t be easier to make!
Why You’ll Love This Halloween Graveyard Cake
The perfect chocolate cake with a creamy pudding filling, topped with crunchy Oreos- what’s not to love!
- Easy to decorate – You can add some fun things to the top of the cake to make it so much fun. Meringue ghosts, black cat sprinkles or even black buttercream would be fun. Fun for the kids to help decorate too!
- Full of chocolate flavor – With a moist chocolate cake and Oreos on top, this gooey chocolate cake is perfect for any chocolate lover and all Halloween parties!
- Fun, festive & not scary – If you’re looking for a Halloween cake recipe to entertain your Halloween party guests without being ghoulish or gory, this is the cake for you!
Ingredients
You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make this easy dessert.
- Chocolate cake mix – You can use your favorite brand of box cake mix. Make sure you also have all of the ingredients needed to make the cake.
- Vanilla instant pudding – Vanilla pudding is the easiest to color with either red food coloring, green or orange.
- Skim milk – This is used for the pudding. I use skim milk because it makes the pudding easier to pour into the holes of the cake.
- Oreos – nothing says happy Halloween like when crushed Oreos sprinkled on top of the cake looks like dirt!
- Orange food coloring – I like to color the pudding orange. The combination of the chocolate cake and the orange pudding really brings out the Halloween spirit!
- Decorations: Milano Cookies for tombstones, Wilton Edible Markers, Candy Corn Pumpkin candies, Ghost Peeps, Gummy Worms or any other Halloween candy you have laying around.
Variations
There are plenty of ways you can make this Halloween graveyard cake your own!
- Halloween cupcakes – Instead of making a sheet cake, try different cake pans. Cupcakes, a Halloween layer cake or even a Halloween bundt cake would be fun. Just make sure to adjust the bake time accordingly.
- Pudding – Pudding can also be customized. I wanted this bright orange color so I needed something white (or cream). Chocolate is a standard option, you can even do peach.
- Cake mix – You can use any flavor of cake mix you’d like. Funfetti is always great and white cake with Halloween sprinkles is even more fun! Red velvet cake would add fun color. Pumpkin cake with chocolate chips would be good too.
- Spooky decorations – Or if you plan to make a dirt cake or a graveyard cake, pick mint or pistachio for green “grass” in your graveyard dirt. You can make ghost marshmallows to make this cemetery cake extra spooky. Candy bones would be fun too.
- Toppings– The top of the cake is Oreo cookie crumbs.
- Frosting – This Halloween dirt cake doesn’t have a frosting per se, but you can certainly add one if you’d like to!
How to Make Halloween Graveyard Cake
You are going to love how easy it is to make this spooky dessert!
- Make cake batter. Prepare cake according to package directions in a large bowl. Spread into a 9×13 glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for least amount of suggested time.
- Poke holes. Remove from the oven and poke generously with the end of a wooden spoon or a straw. Make many holes. The more holes, the more space for the delicious pudding to hide.
- Make pudding mixture. Allow the cake to cool slightly to room temperature. Meanwhile whisk together pudding mix with skim milk and food coloring. Mix until blended, but BEFORE it starts to thicken and set. I should still be a little runny.
- Pour over cake. Pour pudding mix over cake, patting down into the holes. Tap the whole dish several times to allow the pudding to settle into the cake.
- Crush cookies. Put Oreo cookies into a large freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin. Or place cookies into a food processor and pulse until cookies are crumbled.
- Chill in fridge. Cover and allow to set in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Sprinkle over cake. Spread Oreo crumbles over pudding layer and pat down, top with festive sprinkles. Don’t top until you are ready to serve so cookies stay crunchy.
- Decorate. Write RIP or other names on the Milano cookies as gravestones. Place them into the cake and surround with Peeps ghost, candy corn and or gummy worms.
Storage and Freezing
This graveyard cake can be made up to a day in advance. Like any baked good, it is best sooner to be baked. Wait to add cookies until you are ready to serve. While it will still taste good, they lose their crunchy appeal pretty fast.
How to Store This Graveyard Cake
However, poke cakes (or pudding cakes) are unique because the pudding helps keep it moist and fresh. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. If it lasts that long…
Can I Freeze This Graveyard Cake?
Unfortunately, I do not recommend freezing this cake. It will thaw quite soggy with the pudding filling.
More Easy Halloween Desserts
I love making festive desserts for the holidays! If you do too, here are some of our favorite Halloween desserts.
Halloween Graveyard Cake Recipe
This Graveyard Cake is a pudding poke cake made with cake mix, chocolate pudding and Halloween Oreo cookies. An easy Halloween dessert!
Servings:
Equipment
Ingredients
- Chocolate Cake mix
- Ingredients as required on the box
- 5.1 ounce box vanilla instant pudding
- 2 cups skim milk , for pudding
- 15 Oreos , ground into crumbs
- Orange Gel Food coloring
- 12 Milano cookies
- Frosting or Edible Markers
- Gummy worms, Candy Corn Pumpkins, Peeps Ghosts , optional
Instructions
- Prepare cake according to package directions. Spread into a 9×13 glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for least amount of suggested time.
- Remove from the oven and poke generously with the end of a wooden spoon or a straw. Make many holes. The more holes, the more space for the delicious pudding to hide.
- Although the cake to cool slightly. Meanwhile whisk together pudding mix with skim milk and food coloring. Mix until blended, but BEFORE it starts to thicken and set. I should still be a little runny.
- Pour pudding mix over cake, patting down into the holes. Tap the whole dish several times to allow the pudding to settle into the cake.
- Put Oreo cookies into a large freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin. Or place cookies into a food processor and pulse until cookies are crumbled.
- Cover and allow to set in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Spread Oreo crumbles over pudding layer and pat down. Don't top until you are ready to serve so cookies stay crunchy.
- Write RIP or other names on the Milano cookies as gravestones. Place them into the cake and surround with Peeps ghost, candy corn and or gumy worms.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings.
Notes
This is traditionally made with the cookie crumbs going on first, but we’ve found that if you are adding the Milano cookie gravestones and PEEP ghosts, it is actually easier to put theses on first and add the cookie crumbs around them. Place the pumpkins and gummy worms on top of the cookie crumbs.
Nutrition
Calories: 177 kcal, Carbohydrates: 30 g, Protein: 2 g, Fat: 5 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Sodium: 200 mg, Potassium: 108 mg, Sugar: 20 g, Vitamin A: 60 IU, Calcium: 44 mg, Iron: 2.5 mg
Did you make this recipe?I’d love to see your recipes – snap a picture and mention @savoryexperiments or tag #savoryexperiments!
We made this cake for Halloween last year and it was a total hit! So easy to make and delicious to eat! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
So tasty and so easy to put together! I love using boxed cake mixes for desserts!
What can be used instead of edible glitter?
Hi Patti, really any type of holiday sprinkles or sparkling sugar. Check the seasonal aisle at your grocery store, craft store or Target! You can also just omit it and still have a fabulous cake.
Did you use the food coloring for the cake mix or the pudding?
Pudding mix- I just updated it to be more clear. If you used a white box cake mix instead of chocolate, you could add food coloring to the cake mix as well. Just make sure it is WHITE and not yellow, or else you won’t get orange 🙂
Poke cake is just SO good! I love this recipe and how festive it is! 😉