Haunted Pumpkin Patch Poke Cake Recipe

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Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Not only is it full-swing Halloween season, but we are also getting super pumped up for our big move right now!!! So October is like a double whammy of constant excitement at our house.

Our plans for the rest of the month include…

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Visiting the pumpkin patch and going on a hayride. Obvs.

October has unofficially become cousin time in our family. My mom has this thing about getting pictures of the grandkids at the pumpkin patch every year, which is always super cute (of course).  We’ve had 3 grandkids born in just over 12 months this past year; add to them my crazy 6-year-old, and I’d say we’re in for a pretty good time at this year’s photoshoot!

The state fair is another must-do on our October bucket list. We always go every year, just like when I was a kid. And I still look forward to it as much now as I did then.

My parents used to take us out of school, and we’d spend the whole day eating fried cheese, spinning on those death-spinny-things that I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole now, and eating more fried stuff. It is THE BEST!

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Right now, of course, I’m piecing together Halloween costumes. I think I’m going to get dressed up this year too– which is pretty landmark. Historically, I don’t do costumes. And I still probably won’t get too crazy. But I did order a pretty pink tulle skirt so I can be Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy (the things we do for our kids ????) alongside Emma– who is clearly going as Twilight Sparkle, the Equestria version.

Obviously.

And somewhere around the 22nd marks one month until M-Day (moving day)! And that’s when I’ll start packing. Until then, I’m just working to get the blog as set up as I can before we have to turn the apartment upside down with organizing and packing and everything else that goes with move prep. I thought I was all set, but then our close date got bumped a couple of weeks thanks to the hurricane. So now I need to add a couple of weeks worth of Christmas-y blog posts to my stash.

Oh yes. We’re already in peppermint mode over here! #foodbloggerprobs

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

But hey, let’s get back to Halloween talk, shall we?

Specifically, this ridiculously cute and easy Haunted Pumpkin Patch Poke Cake!

So here’s how it goes:

Bake a chocolate cake. You can use a box mix or something from scratch, your call. I used my favorite doctored up cake mix recipe here. While it’s still warm, poke a bunch of holes in it and pour chocolate pudding on top. Let it soak in a chill for about an hour, or until it’s chilled through.

Then you’ll pour melted chocolate frosting (or homemade ganache) over top and press Oreo crumbs into that. Decorate the top with Cool Whip ghosts (didn’t I tell you to always keep googly eyes on hand??), Mellowcreme pumpkins, and green chocolate vines.

I made this cake before Peeps released their Halloween stuff this year, but you should definitely pick up a pack of Peeps tombstones too! Wouldn’t that be so perfect on this cake?! Last year I let a bunch of little kids help me decorate it at our Halloween party, and they had so much fun adding gummy worms. The sky is seriously the limit with this fun cake!

I hope you love it as much as we do. Happy October!

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Haunted Pumpkin Patch Poke Cake

Yield: 9x13 cake
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!

Ingredients

  • 1 chocolate cake, baked and cooled in a 9x13 baking dish
  • 3.4 ounce instant pudding mix, chocolate flavored
  • 2 cups skim milk
  • 16 ounces Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Milk Chocolate frosting
  • approximately 2 "rows" of Oreos (from a 14.3 ounce package), crushed
  • 8 ounces Cool Whip
  • edible eyeballs (I love Wilton's)
  • Mellowcreme Pumpkins
  • 1/4 cup green candy melting wafers (like Wilton's)

Instructions

Poke holes close together all over the chocolate cake using the handle of a wooden spoon.

Whisk together the pudding mix and the milk and immediately pour over the cake, aiming to fill the holes. Let chill for about an hour, or until chilled all the way through.

Care that the foil seal has been completely peels from the can, microwave the chocolate frosting in 30-second increments until frosting is pourable. Stir in between heating times.

Pour frosting over the cake. Spread the Oreo crumbs over the frosting.

Working with about half of the Cool Whip at a time, scoop the Cool Whip into a gallon-sized ziptop bag and snip a corner to "swirl" the ghosts on the cake. Add the edible eyes.

Add the pumpkins to the cake.

Place the green melting wafers in a gallon-sized ziptop bag and microwave in 30-second increments until melted and smooth ("smush" the wafers in the bag in between heating times). Snip a TINY corner of the bag and pipe vines over the pumpkins.

Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Spooky and cute Halloween cake made with Oreo crumbs, Cool Whip ghosts, and candy corn pumpkins!
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