April Fools’ Garden Dirt Cake

Jump to recipe

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post featuring a recipe, and I just couldn’t help but post this one on a day like today – April Fools’ Day! If you’re one for playing practical jokes, this one is on the very mild end of the spectrum, but it’s perfect for families with little ones who might enjoy a tasty dessert after the joke’s up.

Start by making sure you have all the ingredients you need for this deviously delicious treat.

You’ll need:

• carton of strawberries
• orange candy melts
• package of chocolate sandwich cookies
• whipped topping
• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• butter
• flour
• milk
• instant pudding mix (vanilla or cookies & cream)

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

You’ll first make the crust. Soften 1 stick of butter and mix in 1 cup of flour in a bowl. Press and spread the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes and afterwards let cool completely.

Meanwhile in a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 c. butter, 8 oz. softened cream cheese and 1/2 c. powdered sugar. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together the pudding mix (two 4 oz. boxes) with 3.5 cups of cold milk. We used cookies and cream flavor instead of plain vanilla. Use an electric mixer unless you want your arm to go numb in the process! Chill in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Then fold your pudding mixture into the thawed whipped topping and add it to your cream cheese mixture.

In a big plastic zip bag you will empty your chocolate sandwich cookies and grab a rolling pin.

It’s a good way to get some aggression out — or put a dent in your floor! But either way you need to smash those cookies into crumbs!

Then you will begin layering your dessert over the cooled crust. One layer of the cream pudding mixture followed by a layer of crushed cookies, and so on & so forth until you reach the top of the pan. The very last layer on the top should be a layer of the crushed cookies, so it looks just like….you guessed it…dirt!

The last step is making your strawberries “turn into” carrots. Wash & dry a tub of fresh strawberries.

Then take some orange candy melts – found in the baking aisle of most department stores – and melt them down in the microwave, using 30 second intervals. Once they are melted smooth, get ready to start dipping!

Take one strawberry at a time and dip the bottom half into the melted orange chocolate. Be careful to leave your green stem out of it! You want the illusion that you have a small orange carrot.

Once all strawberries are dipped, you can let them set & dry on a cooling rack. When they are finished drying, the final step is adding them to your dirt cake!

Poke each one down into the top layer of the cake until just the top stems of the strawberries are peeking out. You’ve successfully made your very own “carrot garden” dirt cake!

Enjoy plucking a carrot out, eating it and scooping up a big helping of the dirt along with it! Yum, Yum!

If your kids are little enough, they just might fall for this cute little April Fools’ Day trick. If not, well, then at least you have a delicious treat left over to enjoy with them!