Looking for a hilariously gross Halloween dessert? This Kitty Litter Cake looks disturbingly real but tastes surprisingly delicious. It’s the perfect prank treat to shock and delight your party guests!
My family loves Halloween. And I’m not going into a religious debate about this being a pagan holiday and all. For us, it’s about fun. We get to dress up, pull pranks on each other, have a party and the grown-ups get to be kids again.
We have been celebrating with our neighbors for almost 20 years. It started with 3 houses and grew to 20 or more families. It’s always a pot luck, so I have a accumulated a great selection of halloween potluck ideas.
A neighbor brought this kitty litter cake and it was the hit of the party!
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Recipe highlights
- Perfect Halloween Prank: This dessert looks exactly like a dirty kitty litter box—complete with “poop” (Tootsie Rolls). It’s gross, hilarious, and surprisingly delicious, making it the ultimate gag dessert for spooky season!
- Ridiculously Easy: No fancy skills required! This cake uses boxed mixes, pudding, and store-bought cookies. Everything’s easy to find, budget-friendly, and simple enough for kids to help assemble.
- Weirdly Delicious: Don’t let the look fool you—crumbled cake, crushed cookies, creamy vanilla pudding, and chewy candy come together for a shockingly tasty combo of textures and flavors.
- Party-Perfect: Whether you’re pranking your coworkers or cracking up the kids at a Halloween bash, this dessert can be made ahead, travels well, and is guaranteed to steal the show.
- Customizable Creep Factor: Want to go extra gross? Warm the Tootsie Rolls for realistic “squish,” add food coloring for that freshly used look, or sprinkle in green coconut “mold.” Dial it up or down depending on your audience’s gag tolerance!
Ingredients you need
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- Chocolate cake mix plus ingredients: You can use any brand any type of chocolate cake for this: Devil’s food, German chocolate or Regular chocolate. Extra ingredients needed include oil, eggs and water.
- White cake mix plus ingredients: Again, you can use any brand of white cake mix. Extra ingredients needed include oil, eggs and water.
- Vanilla instant pudding mix: You will need a small box of vanilla pudding mix, any brand. You will also need milk to mix the pudding.
- Vanilla sandwich cookies: The cookies will get crushed, so again, any brand. I used Oreos, but you can use a generic brand, too.
- Green food coloring: I found the cheap watery food coloring was easier to work with than the thick gel kind. But again, you can use either. It’s not rocket science.
- Small tootsie roll candies: This is our fake cat poop! I used around 9-10 of them, so you don’t need much.
Step-by-step directions
- Bake cakes. Prepare and bake both cake mixes in any size pan. I found the 9×12 size to be the easiest to bake and clean. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, use your hands to crumble and break the cake down.
- Process Oreos. Crumble cookies in a blender or food processor. Set aside all but about ¼ cup of cookie crumbs. For the ¼ cup of crumbs, add green food coloring and mix until bright green.
- Make pudding. Prepare and chill vanilla pudding.
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- Assemble. Add both cake crumbles into a clean and BRAND NEW litter box. Add half of the reserved crushed cookies and mix together. Mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don’t want it too soggy. Combine gently until you have clumps of cake.
- Add tootsie rolls. Place several small tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable, about 10 seconds on high. Shape to look like poop so stretch it out, curve it, add a pointy tip. Bury these into the cake mixture.
- Add cookie crumbs. Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top. Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top of everything. This is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in real kitty litter.
- Finish cake. Soften more tootsie rolls in the microwave, shape them and place atop the cake and on the sides of the litter box. Sprinkle the tootsie rolls lightly with some more of the green cookie crumbs. Place litter box over some newspaper and serve with a brand new pooper scooper.
Recipe tips and FAQs
You do need to use a brand new litter box (duh) and shovel (duh). I found them at the dollar store. I told you, cheap. You can even find the cake mixes, cookies, tootsie rolls and pudding mix there, too!
The first time we saw this cake, it really freaked everyone out. And, yes, it took one brave soul to take the first bite and convince the rest of us to try it!
I had some family visiting, who were not from the U.S., and they couldn’t stop laughing at this kitty litter cake. They thought it was hilarious (and quite tasty!). The kids, especially those with cats, also loved this fun and easy halloween dessert.
Just another way to have celebrate halloween, get a laugh and have a great dessert, too! Check out my post on decorating cupcakes for halloween. Don’t forget to get the kids involved in this. They love to bake!
I have lots of other great halloween desserts like this one. Try my Jack Skellington Cake, my halloween kit kat cake or my red vine monster cake.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Cover and store your cake (and any leftovers) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Wrap in foil, parchment paper or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 4 months.
Yes! You can assemble the cake up to a day ahead and store it in the refrigerator. Just wait to add the “Tootsie Roll poop” until shortly before serving so it stays looking realistic and soft.
Pudding helps bind the crumbled cake and gives it that slightly soggy, realistic texture. If you skip it, the cake will be drier and won’t hold together as well—but you can skip it in a pinch. Dampen the cake with a little water or jam.
Sure! Use your favorite gluten-free cake and cookie brands, and substitute a dairy-free pudding or custard alternative. Double-check your Tootsie Rolls and other ingredients for allergens.
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Kitty Litter Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box of chocolate cake mix plus ingredients
- 1 box of white cake mix plus ingredients
- 4 oz box of vanilla instant pudding mix
- ½ lb vanilla sandwich cookies
- 4 drops green food coloring
- 12 small tootsie roll candies
Instructions
- Prepare and bake both cake mixes in any size pan. I found the 9×12 size to be the easiest to bake and clean.
- Prepare and chill vanilla pudding.
- Crumble cookies in a blender or food processor.
- Set aside all but about ¼ cup of cookie crumbs.
- For the ¼ cup of crumbs, add green food coloring and mix until bright green.
- When cakes are cooled to room temperature, use your hands to crumble and break the cake down.
- Add the crumble cake into the clean and brand new litter box.
- Add half of the reserved crushed cookies and mix together.
- Mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don’t want it too soggy. Combine gently until you have clumps of cake.
- Place 3-5 small tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. For me, 10 seconds on high was all it needed.
- Shape to look like poop! I stretched and curved the rolls. Make sure the end pieces are no longer blunt, adding a pointy tip.
- Bury these into the cake mixture.
- Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top.
- Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top of everything. This is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in real kitty litter.
- Place 3-5 more tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft – again about 10 seconds.
- Shape the rolls again and place atop the cake and on the sides of the litter box. You can also melt the tootsie rolls a bit more and and this to the top of the cake.
- Sprinkle the tootsie rolls lightly with some more of the green cookie crumbs.
- Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture.
- Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs.
- Place litter box over some newspaper and serve with a brand new pooper scooper.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
