Freshly Homecooked is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
Moist chocolate cake covered in a chocolate buttercream frosting and covered with crushed Oreo cookies and gummy worms. This cake is the perfect way to get into the Halloween spirit. Layers of chocolate cake are layered and covered in a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting. Oreo cookies are crushed up to course crumbs to resemble dirt. This chocolate cake is a fun dessert to make for Halloween that kids will love to decorate.
To make the chocolate cake, all of the dry ingredients are whisked together. All of the wet ingredients are whisked together in another bowl. Coffee and milk are both used in this cake, the cake will not have any coffee taste to it. But the coffee makes a great addition to chocolate cake because it brings out the chocolate flavor. Vegetable oil is used instead of butter in the cake because the oil makes the cake more moist. Beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a mixer until the cake batter is smooth. Divide the batter between two 9-inch round cake pans that have been greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake until the cake is cooked through.
Let the cakes cool completely before frosting and decorating. I like to make the cake layers the day before and freeze the cake layers. Freezing them makes the cake easier to frost and less crumbs. To make the chocolate buttercream frosting, softened butter, cocoa powder and powered sugar are beat together with a mixer until smooth. Add in vanilla extract and milk until the desired consistency, adding in more milk as needed to thin.
To layer the cake, slice the cake layers into even layers using a serrated knife. Freezing the cakes before hand helps with this part. Evenly spread some of the chocolate frosting between each layer and sprinkle each layer with crushed Oreo cookie crumbs. An optional step is that you can crumb coat the cake and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Frost the entire cake with the remaining buttercream frosting. And decorate with the crushed Oreo cookies. Garnish the cake with gummy worms however you want. Keep this cake refrigerated until you are ready to serve.
Chocolate Dirt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 1/4 cups hot coffee
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 package oreo cookies, crushed
- Gummy worms
Ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3-6 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line and grease 2 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, coffee, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Using either a hand or stand mixer, beat wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Beat until smooth.
- Evenly divide cake batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool completely.
- In a large bowl, using either a hand or stand mixer, beat softened butter with powdered sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. Add in milk and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth, adding in more milk as needed to thin.
- Layer cooled chocolate cake and frost each layer. Frost entire cake and sprinkle with crushed oreo cookies. Decorate cake with gummy worms.