Dirt cake recipe for kids. If you need a perfect layered cookie cake for a celebration, here’s one of our favorite vegan birthday cake recipes.
We know we promised this recipe like a month ago – sorry for the delay!
I made this dirt cake for Caleb’s 3rd birthday. He loved it so much that we wanted to make sure you had the recipe, too.
He loves dump trucks, but he also loves Curious George. So naturally, we made the whole party a “Curious George and the Dump Truck” theme.
We even had a dump truck piñata filled with bubbles, stickers, and Skout Bars (one of our favorite PBJ snacks).
And the dirt cake was served with shovel-shaped spoons. A little boy’s dream!
How to make it
Let me just say that this cake – whether you’re a 3 year old boy or a 36 year old woman- is YUM.
Plus, it’s super easy. This cake is a delicious filling alternated with layers of crushed Oreos. The main filling ingredients are chocolate, peanut butter, and silken tofu.
Tofu – you heard that right! Not only does tofu offer some great nutrients for littles, it’s also super creamy and neutral-flavored to help everything come together.
First, you’re going to melt together coconut oil and chocolate chips until well-blended. You can do this in the microwave, in 30 second increments, or in a small saucepan on the stove over low-medium heat.
Let your coconut oil and chocolate mixture cool a little bit, and then add it to a blender or food processor with the remaining pie ingredients. It should be very smooth.
This includes peanut butter, vanilla, almond milk, and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, alternate layers of your chocolate filling with crushed up Oreos (or similar cookies). Mine ended up with three layers of filling with two layers of cookies in between.
Top with construction trucks or for a gardening theme with vegan gummy worms. Instead of a bowl, you could also serve this cake in a terra-cotta pot.
Place your dirt cake in the fridge for a few hours to solidify a little.
Serve with a scoop, or maybe an excavator!
Find the full printable recipe below.
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus, we’ll send you our free 5-day mini-course on Pediatric Nutrition!
Dirt Cake
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Microwave
Ingredients
- 12 oz chocolate chips
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 12 oz silken tofu
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups crushed Oreo cookies
Instructions
- In the microwave, melt together the chocolate chips and coconut oil until chocolate is smooth. Do this in 30 second increments. Let your mixture cool slightly.
- Add all of your cake filling ingredients to a blender or food processor and puree until very smooth. This includes your silk tofu, melted chocolate, peanut butter, almond milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.
- In a large bowl or serving pot, alternate layers of cake filling with crushed cookies until all of your ingredients are used up.
- Add decor of choice to the top of your cake and place in the fridge for a few hours to solidify a little.
- Serve!
We think you’ll love this dirt cake recipe for kids for your next celebration! It’s a perfect layered cookie cake to add to your list of go-to vegan birthday cake recipes.
Weigh in: Have you made a recipe like this before? What’s your favorite birthday recipe for kids?
If you liked this recipe, we think you should give these a try too:
Trista says
Wow. I as a mother love Oreo! This looks really easy to make and my almost two year old boy loves trucks too! Have been searching for a cake recipe to make. Thanks a lot! Good timing! The only thing I’m concerned about is the Oreo. Ok for a two year old to consume? Or I’m being too cautious… thanks !
alexwhitney says
Hi Trista– we don’t see any reason the oreos can’t be used as part of a birthday celebration. There are “healthier” oreo-type cookies out there, like the one’s from Back to Nature, but we really don’t stress about occasional foods!
Katie Storrs says
What brand of plant-based chocolate chips do you use?
alexwhitney says
Usually Enjoy Life
Jessica says
Thank you for the recipe! Do you think this could be assembled the night before serving, or would it make the cookies get soggy?
alexwhitney says
We’d recommend adding the cookies the day off– but the pudding can be made ahead of time!
Jill says
Made this cake for my 3 year old twins’ birthday. It was just the 4 of us so I have a ton of the pudding leftover. I was wondering if it could be frozen for later? Or maybe eaten frozen sort of like ice cream? Any ideas? Great recipe! My boys love diggers, too, so this was perfect 😍
alexwhitney says
Not sure about the leftovers frozen– I assume it will work but haven’t tried that so hard to say.
Marni says
I’m going to make this for my sons 4th birthday! Think I can use soy milk instead of almond milk and almond butter instead of peanut butter🤪?
alexwhitney says
Yes!
Melissa says
Hi, I am planning to do this cake for my 3 year old birthday party. Here in Germany they sell soft and hard silken tofu, which one should i get? and second for about how many portions is the cake calculated? to see if i need to double the recipe or not?
By the way i have your book, it is full from awesome and useful information, thanks for that!
alexwhitney says
Thank you, Melissa! We’d recommend the silken tofu. This will serve about 8 normal size portions.
Erikka says
I’ve made this multiple times and it’s always such a hit—kids and adults alike!
I want to make it for a party at my daughter’s school, but it has to be nut free. How would the flavor of sun butter do as a substitute for the PB?
Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
Plant-Based Juniors says
Hi Erikka– we honestly don’t know. It might alter the flavor as sunbutter tends to have a stronger flavor profile than peanut butter. you can trial it and see how it would work!