Dirt and Worms Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cake

My son would choose candy over pretty much anything. Especially sour candy. The more neon- colored the better, too. If he gets a frozen yogurt sundae, it will be smothered with gummy worms. I can’t relate. I’m a chocolate girl. However, it reminded me of the dessert my mom used to make for my sister, cousins and me when we were kids. A “dirt and worms” pudding, with crushed Oreos and gummy worms, complete with a flower pot and plastic flowers! I didn’t think Brandon would go for the pudding, so I set out to create an ice cream layer cake - type treat for him…and it was a hit!

This is really a cheater method of ice cream cake. But, SO? Who is checking?? We are using boxed cake mix and store bought ice cream and Oreos. It’s a crowd pleaser! Especially if your crowd is a bunch of elementary aged children. They surely don’t care that you did not make the cake from scratch. AND this was made while there were limited edition Dirt Cake Flavored Oreos!! Which were, ultimately, the inspo for this recipe. (Any Oreo will work perfectly, though!) As you can see, the package states "gummy worm inspired sprinkles on top" of the cookies. I was way too excited to bring these home. I also grabbed a Betty Crocker box mix of Oreo White Cake mix and a half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream.

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You will need:

1 package Oreos (any flavor, but if you can find the Dirt Cake flavor, you should try it!)

1 Oreo White Cake mix box (or flavor of your choice)

Half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream

Gummy worms or other gummy candy/ chocolate chips/ whipped cream/ anything!

To make the cake:

First, bake the cake mix, according to package directions, in a 9x13 glass baking dish. I chopped up a few extra Oreos and sprinkled them on top before baking. More is more. Allow to cool completely in the pan, on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, let the ice cream sit out on the counter for 20 minutes or so. It needs to be soft and spreadable, but not liquid.

Drop big spoonfuls of ice cream over the cooled cake, use an offset spatula to spread it in an even layer. Then, put the whole pan in the freezer to firm up. 45 minutes to one hour. Depends how firm you want it to be when you slice.

While the cake is in the freezer, place the Oreos in a zip top bag to smash into pieces with a rolling pin, or use a food processor to pulse into chunks. I didn’t want mine to be tiny crumbs, so I smashed by hand,  to end up with various sizes of cookie chunks.

Remove the pan from the freezer. Spread the Oreo crumbs across the top of the ice cream layer. Add the gummy worms or whatever topping you would like to use. Freeze for an additional 15 minutes, fending off impatient, feral children, and then slice and serve cold! Keep well wrapped leftovers in the freezer until it disappears.