Easter Dirt Cake

This Easter Dirt Cake is the sweetest and best no bake dessert for Easter. With layers of Oreo crumbs, fluffy & light vanilla pudding + chocolate pudding layers, topped with more Oreo crumbs for the ‘dirt’, green dyed coconut for the ‘grass’, and finished off with colorful Easter Peeps and pastel chocolate eggs. 

Cute Easter desserts are my favorite recipes to make for the Holiday. Be sure and try my Swirled Easter Cake, Bunny Bark, and these Easy Easter Cookie Bars. 

Creative Easter Dessert Idea

Easter just happens to be the Holiday that has the best candy! I always look forward to Easter because of all the pretty pastel candies and fun dessert ideas using them. This Easter Dirt Cake is a light& fluffy layered dessert that just happens to be no-bake and super simple to make. 

I will warn you that the recipe calls for several different mixing bowls… but I think the fact that it’s no bake makes up for all the dirty dishes 😉

This dirt cake recipe starts with an Oreo crumb crust, a fluffy vanilla pudding layer, topped with a chocolate pudding layer, and then it’s finished off with more Oreo crumbs + green dyed coconut flakes. Decorate with Easter peeps and pastel colored chocolate eggs for the ultimate Easter treat. 

This recipe is a play on classic Oreo Dirt Cake which usually consists of cake + pudding + gummy worms. 

Ingredients Needed

• Family-Size Oreos – You need a total of 39 Oreo cookies.
• Butter – You can use salted butter or unsalted butter. If using unsalted butter, you will want to add about 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt to the Oreo crumb crust mixture. The recipe calls for butter in two different steps when making this dirt cake. 
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar – This is the sweetener for the cream cheese + butter mixture. 
• Cool Whip – Make sure this is completely thawed before using. 
• Half & Half Milk – I prefer using this milk when mixing instant pudding because it has a higher fat content, which makes the pudding thicker, and it also means the dessert will set better. 
• Vanilla Instant Pudding
• Chocolate Instant Pudding
• Shredded Coconut
• Green Gel Food Coloring – Any green food dye will work. I prefer the gel food coloring because it’s mixes in better and more vibrant than the liquid stuff. 
• Peeps
• Pastel Colored Chocolate Eggs – I use the Hershey’s chocolate eggs for this cake. 

How To Make This No Bake Easter Dessert

The directions for this no bake Easter dessert might look long and complicated, but I promise, it’s so easy. You will use several different bowls and different mixtures but it is no bake and comes together in just about 15 minutes. Be sure and read to the bottom of the page where there is a detailed recipe card, a printable option, and a pin it button so you can save this recipe for later. 

• Make The Oreo Crust

  • Add 26 Oreo cookies (filling and all) into a food processor or chopper, and pulse or grind until they are in fine crumbs.
  • Add the Oreo crumbs and melted butter into a small mixing bowl. Stir to combine until all the cookie crumbs are wet and coated in the butter. 
  • Pour the Oreo crumb mixture into a 9×13 baking pan and firmly press it into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Put the pan inside the fridge while you prepare the pudding layers. 

• Make The Pudding Dirt Layers

  • In a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, or you can use a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until softened and smooth.
  • Add in the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Gently stir in the thawed Cool Whip until combined.
  • In a separate mixing bowl, add the vanilla instant pudding mix and 1½ cups of half and half. Stir with a wire whisk until combined and thick, this takes about 1-2 minutes.
  • In a separate mixing bowl, add the chocolate instant pudding mix and 1½ cups of half and half. Stir with a wire whisk until combined and thick, this takes about 1-2 minutes.
  • Take the cream cheese + Cool Whip mixture from earlier and add half of it to the vanilla pudding bowl, and the other half to the chocolate pudding bowl. Use a silicone spatula to mix each bowl until combined well.
  • Take the pan out of the fridge and evenly spread the vanilla pudding mixture over the Oreo crust. Next, evenly spread the chocolate pudding mixture over the vanilla pudding layer.
  • Finely crush 13 Oreo cookies and sprinkle them over the chocolate pudding layer. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, or a lid, and let it refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. 

• Decorate The Easter Dirt Cake

  • When you’re ready to serve, it’s time to decorate!
  • Mix together the coconut flakes and 3-4 drops of green food coloring in a Ziploc bag. Shake it vigorously until all the coconut is colored green. Sprinkle the ‘grass’ over the Oreo dirt crumbs.
  • Gently press 15 Peeps bunnies into the grass and dirt. Add the pastel colored chocolate eggs over top. 
  • Cut into 15 pieces, making sure that each piece contains a Peep, and serve. Enjoy!

Easter Dirt Cake Recipe FAQ’s

• Can I Make Substitutions?

  • Yes! There are lots of things you can do to change up this recipe or switch it up in case of allergies or a dislike for some of the ingredients. 
    • Decorations : Use jelly beans, any candy egg (chocolate or not), Easter sprinkles, or even pastel colored Easter m&m’s. Anything will look good as the decorative topping. 
    • Peeps : Use any variety or color of Peeps that you want!
    • Oreo Cookies : Any Oreo cookie will work in this recipe. Make sure that you are crushing the entire Oreo cookie (filling and all) when making the Oreo crumbs. Other great options are chocolate Oreos, dark chocolate Oreos, or even the coconut chocolate Oreo cookies if you can find them. 
    • Instant Pudding : Use two boxes of chocolate pudding for an all-chocolate dessert. Or try using white chocolate pudding/cheesecake pudding for the vanilla layer. You can even do a coconut chocolate theme and use chocolate pudding + coconut cream pudding. Lots of options here! Make sure that you are using instant pudding mix and not the cook n’ serve pudding. 
    • Coconut ‘Grass’ : If you’re not a fan of coconut, try substituting with edible grass (you can usually find this around Easter by the other candy), green sprinkles, or just leave the grass layer off entirely. 

• How To Store Leftovers

  • Wrap leftovers tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I just keep the dirt cake inside the 9×13 pan, that I made it in, and wrap it in plastic wrap.
  • This no bake dessert is best eaten immediately after the fridge time. As it sits in the fridge, the chocolate pudding layer tends to bleed into the vanilla layer. Leftovers are still amazing but for the best look be sure and serve this dirt cake right after the initial fridge time called for in the recipe. 

Recipe Tips

Here are a few of my helpful tips so that you can have success recreating this Easter Dirt Cake Recipe in your own kitchen ♥

• Cream Cheese Tips : For the best thick texture & taste, I recommend using full-fat cream cheese that is the brick-style cream cheese. It should be a rectangle shape wrapped in foil (aka -‘brick-style’) and not the cream cheese that comes in the tubs, or the spreadable cream cheese. 
• Fridge Time : Just like with any no bake dessert, this dirt cake needs plenty of fridge time in order to set properly before serving it. You need at least 8 hours of fridge time, or overnight, before slicing it and serving. Plan ahead!
• Oreo Crumbs : It’s best that the Oreo crumbs are ground into really fine crumbs. The best way to get fine crumbs is to use a food processor or blender. If you don’t have either one of those, then place the Oreo cookies inside a gallon-size Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin, or other heavy item, and crush them. This will take several minutes to get them finely ground. Crush the entire Oreo cookie – filling an all. No need to separate the cookies or anything. 

More Festive and Colorful Easter Recipes You’ll Love

• Peeps Rice Krispie Treats – Gooey marshmallow treats topped with sprinkles, jelly beans, and Peeps marshmallow bunnies. 
• Sheet Pan Carrot Cake Bars – These carrot cake bars use cans of carrot baby food. Trust me! They’re the best. Seriously. 
• Easter Carrot Cheeseball – This savory cheeseball is shaped like a carrot!
• Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies – Chewy brown sugar blondies full of chopped mini cadbury egg candies. 
• Mini Cadbury Egg Cookies – These soft and chewy cookies use cream cheese in the cookie dough. 
• Easter Surprise Confetti Cookie Bars – These fun bars are loaded with candy bars, Easter sprinkles, and pastel candies. 
• Easter Cookie Cake – A colorful cookie cake made in a pie tin and decorated with pastel m&m’s.