30
answers
A.S.
asks from
Hobbs, NM
on
February 09, 2009
How to make a dirt cake?
Hello Moms! My son's 1st birthday is in june ( I like to plan very early) and we are looking into buying him a john deer tractor to ride on. So to stick with the theme I wanted to make a dirt cake. I have looked up different recipes and alot of them have different things that need to stay cold. His party will be at the park and I was wanting to make it out of cake mix. Does anyone have any ideas for this? Also any other ideas for decorations??? I appreciate all your help in advance
1 mom found this helpful
Summary
Since there are many recipes out there for dirt cakes, here's one I think it's most interesting. Chocolate cake-1 layer, butter cake-1 layer, brown sugar(sand), nuts(rocks), Oreo's crushed small, but not too fine, gummy worms. Crumble half of one layer of choc, then half layer of yellow, some brown sugar especially around the edges so it can be seen, then crushed Oreos. Place some worms in the center and especially around the edges where they can be seen through the glass. Repeat layers. Remember no layers of dirt are even so don't try to be too exact. Have extra worms on hand for the kid who didn't get one in his serving. Serve with a new colored plastic garden trowel from the kids department. Dig in!
Featured Answers
R.A.
answers from
Odessa
on
February 10, 2009
Dark brown sugar makes great sand/dirt. You can do any cake you want, put the tractor on top with the dirt around it... have fun!
J.M.
answers from
Odessa
on
February 10, 2009
My MIL made a John Deer cake using a chocolate sheet cake with John Deer Green(color gel)buttercream frosting. She dragged the sides with a frosting comb from the bottom to the top and it resembled grass. She used ground oreos (white cream and all) and sprinkled it all on top and put a little die cast John Deer Tractor in the center. It was really cute. As for decoration...Green tablecloth with yellow plates/napkins/forks, Green & yellow balloons, you could even use his present as decoration!
R.L.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
I made a dirt cake for a Halloween party a few years ago. I used a box chocolate cake mix, and added gummy worms to it before baking. I topped it with frosting and crushed Oreos and then a few gummy worms for the top. It came out great!
More Answers
R.L.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
I made a dirt cake for a Halloween party a few years ago. I used a box chocolate cake mix, and added gummy worms to it before baking. I topped it with frosting and crushed Oreos and then a few gummy worms for the top. It came out great!
W.M.
answers from
Austin
on
February 10, 2009
Pre-make the "bucket of dirt" chocolate birthday cake. Using a large bucket(plastic),layer cake with chocolate pudding and gummy bugs. Top it off with a layer of crumbled Oreos or other dark colored cookie that can be crumbled and sprinkle with some candy rocks and have some of the gummy worms peeking up from the dirt. Celebrate with candles. Serve the cake into smaller plastic buckets that the kids could use paint pens to decorate their names on as a mini fun project beforehand. Use small shovels(ones for sand boxes might work)as the utensils. The buckets could also be used as the party favor "bags" after they eat...
J.M.
answers from
Odessa
on
February 10, 2009
My MIL made a John Deer cake using a chocolate sheet cake with John Deer Green(color gel)buttercream frosting. She dragged the sides with a frosting comb from the bottom to the top and it resembled grass. She used ground oreos (white cream and all) and sprinkled it all on top and put a little die cast John Deer Tractor in the center. It was really cute. As for decoration...Green tablecloth with yellow plates/napkins/forks, Green & yellow balloons, you could even use his present as decoration!
R.A.
answers from
Odessa
on
February 10, 2009
Dark brown sugar makes great sand/dirt. You can do any cake you want, put the tractor on top with the dirt around it... have fun!
J.C.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
You can make a regular cake and frost it. Then simply crush the oreo's or put them in a blender and put it over the frosting. You can also buy vanilla frosting and dye it greeen and frost the sides green and put a little John Deere on the cake with the candles.
B.B.
answers from
Austin
on
February 10, 2009
I made dirt cake at Sunday School last week. It does take alot of ingredients that have to stay cold but, you could make it ahead of time and freeze the whole thing. I bet it would stay cold enough at the park and be thawed by the time you were ready to eat it.
L.J.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
What about corn stocks or scare crows to stick in the ground. You could make cupcakes with gummy worms on the top. Why not go to the dollar store and buy little pots and packs of seeds for the kids to plant their own veggies or flowers? Hope this helps!
K.P.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
If you have the party at your house and have a riding lawnmower one activity could be dad or grandpa taking the kids for a ride. My nephew went to a party that had this and the kids loved it.
E.K.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
Hi A.,
What a cute idea! Of course depending on what you want to spend on decorating, Michaels and Hobby Lobby have lots of great stuff for cakes. As far as a dirt cake - if you don't mind the chocolate, you could ice the cake and then sprinkle crumbled chocolate cookies or brownies on top for the dirt look...maybe pick up a little tractor to go on top and trees / plants for a garden. The only "boy" cake I ever had the honor of making (I have ALL girls!) was for one of my friend's son - I made a deer hunting cake...turned out very cute! Happy birthday to your son, the first birthday is always so much fun!
L.A.
answers from
Austin
on
February 09, 2009
Bake a normal cake or have a grocery store do one. Ask them for the icing in a container.. take it home and spread it over most of the cake, but have a tractor or tractors digging into the cake, You could crush chocolate cookies or Oreos into piles of dirt all around the top. Call different Party supply places, I am sure I have seen John Deer decorations somewhere.. Or look online..
A sand box is a must as a play area. Or a pile of dirt delivered, let the kids crawl through it or dig in it just have the parents prepared for a messy time or be willing to let them "bathe" in swimming pools at the end.. My daughter would have loved this...
K.K.
answers from
Killeen
on
February 09, 2009
I would buy a chocolate cake mix and a white frosting. I would bake the cake as directed and let it cool. Once it is completely cool I would take a rectangle baking pan and crumble the cake into it. Then I would take the frosting and melt it in the microwave and drizle it over the crumbles. Get some small tractors and place around and you have an cake that looks like the tractors have been digging in the dirt. Plus your one year old will have tons of fun eating what will already be a messy cake.
Good Luck...
J.T.
answers from
Victoria
on
February 10, 2009
I suggest taking the regular cake with icing and crumbling oreo cookies all over to look like dirt. I think you will be safe with the dirt cake outside. If your still consirned put them in indivdual pots ( small terricata pots) using plastic wrap or foil to line them and add some worms. You can put the pots into a deep pan and put ice around the pots. That should keep them cool. The pots are absorbant so they will retain some water. you could also refridgerate the pots and they will hold some of the cool for a bit. I would try one pot before freezing them as they might crack.
H.K.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
We did a Motocross party for our son last year and for the cake I made cupcakes to make it more bumpy. After putting on the frosting I aranged them into a jump for the motorcycle topper. I Crushed up oreo cookies for the "dirt" on top. It turned out pretty cute and looked like dirt.
Best of Luck
M.M.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
My grandson's theme for his 1st birthday party was construction. We made a cake that looked like a construction site. We even found some candy at a specialty store that looks like real rocks and boulders and placed toy vehicles on it. We had our party outside in the middle of August and didn't have any trouble with the cake or icing. If you would like to see a picture you can email me. ____@____.com
D.S.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
I would make a regular cake and icing then crumble cookies on the top to make the dirt. You could make a 2 layer cake and put crumbs all around to make a dirt "mountain." Hope that helps...have fun!
H.P.
answers from
Austin
on
February 10, 2009
You could make a regular cake, put a thin layer of icing on it, then break up a (baked) chocolate cake on top to make it look like dirt. If you add a little chocolate pudding to the chocolate crumbles, it will stay together better and still taste delicious! Then just throw on a few John Deere toys and little animals on top, and you'll be good to go. Hope this helps and good luck :)
C.
answers from
Houston
on
February 09, 2009
For my son's 3rd birthday, we had a construction theme. I didn't like the typical dirt cake ingredients, so we just made a 13X9 chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Then we scooped it up with a spoon and sloppily piled into the bed of a clean, new, toy Tonka dump truck. It looked sooooo cute & a lot more like dirt anyway. We just used a little plastic shovel to serve it up on plates with ice cream. You could use whatever brown cake you like best...it doesn't even have to be chocolate. A german chocolate would be good, a cinnamon cake...anything. Then just pile it into something "Tractor-ish." I found a couple of things on one website, but they are each about $25. Depends on what you want to spend. But a mini John Deere wagon or wheel barrow...aaawwwww....
http://www.truelegends.com/images/jd2.jpg
You could probably do a search on one of those & find them cheaper. Or check ebay. Anyway...good luck. First birthdays are so much fun!!!
C.
P.H.
answers from
Austin
on
February 10, 2009
Make a regular cake, frost it with chocolate frosting, then crumble graham crackers on it to look like brown dirt. if you like the darker "dirt" look use chocolate graham crackers.
We did this with gummy worms and made a great Halloween cake. I frosted ours with peanut butter, but this may not be a good idea for one year olds (allergies).
Have fun!
T.E.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
How about mud cake? i made little cake balls for christmas and they were a hit!! i'm sure you could do the same for a cake. it is super easy!!
make a regular cake and crumble it up real good(unless you want some 'rocks' in it) take some frosting and mix the whole container into the crumble mixture. mix real good and throw into some kind of mold. invert it, throw a little tractor truck on it and you have mud cake that doesn't have to be kept cold. i hope this works for you!!
A.D.
answers from
Austin
on
February 09, 2009
For my sons 1st birthday the theme was "I dig being 1". We bought plates and napkins etc from oriental trading. They aren't john deer but thats where I got the idea from.
S.K.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
T.V.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
My son loves monster trucks, so this year I made a bundt cake, iced it by warming the icing and pouring it over the cake then I covered it with crushed oreos and topped it with hotwheels type monster trucks. It was a hit.
K.M.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
Just make a regular chocolate cake, frost it with chocolate or fudge frosting and sprinkle it with ground up oreo cookies, or some other chocolate cookie. Use green frosting to pipe grass around the sides. Decorate with gummy worms, and you might even be able to find gummy bugs. I know they sell candy 'rocks' but I cant remember where I saw them...you might be able to find them online.
D.M.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
what a cute idea! I have heard of a friend of mine making a mud cake in which she baked the cake, then crumbled it & mixed it with the icing. Since you'll be outside in June, when the icing melts a bit, it will look even more like mud! =o) You could get really creative about what to put it in- she used a dump truck for her son b/c he was into construction equipment. Then use one of those little plastic shovels to serve.
There's a website a friend told me about which has lots of cute b-day decorations fairly inexpensive & very creative! You can buy a full party kit, or piece it out like we did for my son's party. We got things like plates, forks, cups, etc from Party City. They even have John Deere stuff there: www.birthdayexpress.com
Have fun! And remember... the first b-day party is really more for the family anyway. As much as our son loved being around everyone, it was a lot of excitement for him for one day.
B.K.
answers from
Austin
on
February 10, 2009
Our friend made her dad who likes to garden, a chocolate cake, decorated it with chocolate icing and used a little of the icing to make a "dirt mound", then put a small toy tracker on top of the cake making it look as if it was pushing the "dirt".
A.D.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
if you are making it your self use crushed up oreos as dirt but sams in conroe makes a great dirt cake you buy the little tractors and take them in to them and they can make like dirt mounds and it is all eatable except the tractors of course and it is a really good cake good luck
J.C.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
Dear A.,
Here is a recipe I found on the net that seems like one I've had before from someone else. Real cute if you serve in an big unpainted flower pot with artificial flower stuck in it with a spade.
OREO COOKIE CAKE (DIRT CAKE)
1 (16 oz.) pkg. Oreo cookies
2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
2 (8 oz.) pkg. whipped topping
1 c. confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 pkg. chocolate pudding
2 c. milk
Crush Oreos very fine. Spread 1/2 Oreos on bottom of pan or flower pot and pour butter over Oreos. Let chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar to 1 box of whipped topping until smooth. Prepare pudding as directed on package. Spread cream cheese mixture over cookies, then layer chocolate pudding and other container of whipped topping. Sprinkle remaining Oreos on top. If you use flower pot you can make more layers and stick an artificial flower in for a surprise.
C.M.
answers from
Waco
on
February 10, 2009
I would make a regular cake with chocolate icing and use ground-up oreo cookies (remove the vanilla in the middle of course) and you can also use the dark brown sugar as dirt and then place a mininature John Deere truck on the cake. That way you could still write Happy Birthday and/or his name in Green and Yellow on the cake and you don't have to refrigerate it. I used the brown sugar as sand on a beach cake once for my daughter and the kids loved it but didn't know if they could eat it or if it was "real sand"!
L.F.
answers from
Houston
on
February 10, 2009
I did something similar for my son when he was that age. I made brownies, cut them up small for small fingers, and put them in the back of one of the bigger toy John Deere trucks and used it as a centerpiece for the party. This looked like dirt in the back of the truck. Of course the toy was also to be a gift for my son. Good luck.
K.M.
answers from
Sherman
on
February 10, 2009
On the backs of certain boxes of cake mix, they have recipes for things like cake in ice cream cones and other fun ideas. My thought is, get a chocolate or devils food cake in a cone or even a waffle bowl, crumbled up with gummy worms in them, or even the pull apart twizzlers for worms. Sorry I don't have a recipe for you, hope my suggestion helps anyway. Good luck.