I made this cake for the BACPS (Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society) 2013 Annual Potluck at California Carnivores. Based on all the comments I got, it went over really well and people are looking to re-create it. The cake itself is a basic chocolate punch bowl cake that gets its charm from ground up Oreo "dirt" and green tea cookie "fly traps." This is perfect for a garden party, Halloween or a kids' birthday party.
Ingredients/Items Required
Tools/Vessels1 - 9x13" glass pan or other pan for baking the cake
1 - Glass or Plastic Bowl (Pyrex 4-qt mixing bowl or a plastic version looks similar to "Bog Garden" pots and is the proper size)
Easy-to-Find (Grocery Store) Ingredients
1 - "Family Size" box of Oreo cookies
2 - Large boxes of Jell-O instant pudding mix (chocolate or fudge flavor)
Milk as required by pudding mix (typically 3 cups per box for a total of 6 cups for this recipe)
1 - Box of German Chocolate cake mix (any brand)
Eggs/Oil/Water as required for cake mix (typically 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil are needed)
1 - Large container of Lite Cool Whip
1 - Bottle of microwaveable chocolate ice cream topping or fudge
1 - Bag of Heath Bar Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits (found near baking chips)
1 - Can of Green Wilton Ready-to-Decorate Icing (if you cannot find this, make sure you use a royal icing that sets hard when dry, gel writing icing and cake frosting will not work)
1 - Box of Wilton "Candy Eyeballs"
Specialty Items
1 - Handful of "Chocolate Rocks" (I purchased mine at a party store, also available at specialty candy shops)
1 - Bag of Tohato Harvest Green Tea Cookies This item is going to be the most difficult to find on the list, but should be readily available at most Japanese markets. If you can't find it, I would suggest baking your own thin sugar cookies with some green dye in the mix and using a scalloped round cookie cutter.
Directions
Prep Work
Pre-heat your oven and prepare the cake from the directions on the box. While the cake is baking, you can go ahead and make the pudding, cover it and store in the refrigerator. You can also grind up all your Oreos in the food processor until they are crushed fine. Once the cake is done, let it cool completely. It's alright if your cake is ugly, you'll never see it in the finished product.
Layering the Cake
First you'll want to put 1/2 a cup of pudding in the bottom of the bowl. Then you will place 1/2 of your cake in the bowl in several big chunks, trying not to crumble it too much. Press down so you have an even layer. From here you can add a few swirls of the chocolate ice cream topping, 1/4 of your Oreo crumbs and 1/3 of the Heath Bar bits in an even layer. Next you will be adding 1/3 of the remaining pudding followed by all of the Cool Whip. Then you'll add another layer of pudding, Oreo crumbs and Heath Bar bits with the chocolate drizzle on top this time. Add the remaining cake and press down evenly, then add the remaining pudding and smooth it over the cake with the back of a large spoon so you have a flat, even layer for the final "dirt" topping to stick to.
For the topping of "dirt," take all your remaining Oreo crumbs and mix in some of the Heath Bar bits. This gives the appearance of dirt with perlite in it. Spread the mixture evenly over the entire cake and make sure all the pudding is covered.
Fly Traps
Each fly trap takes the following: 2 cookies, 2 candy eyes and some green icing. Assembly is as follows:
1. Cut off a quarter of each cookie to make it flat on one side, this is the end that is inserted in the dirt. A serrated knife works best.
2. Apply about a teaspoon of frosting in an oblong thick line where you intend to stick the fly trap.
3. Press the the first cookie into the frosting and push it down into the cake a little bit.
4. Apply a little more frosting to the back part of the first cookie and then press the second cookie (top part of the trap) into the cake above the first one. This second bit of frosting holds the trap open on the finished cake. Keep the traps leaning forward and mostly closed so you have a reasonably flat surface on top.
5. Squeeze two dots of green icing on top of the top cookie as a base for the eyes, push the eyes into the frosting.
6. Using the leaf tip of the icing, pipe a few decorative leaves around the cookie
7. Repeat steps 1 - 6 until you have a satisfactory number of fly traps.
Finally, I garnished with a few candy rocks, using only the more natural colors. Store in the fridge for a couple of hours (or until the icing is set). This will also keep overnight in the fridge quite well.
Serving suggestion: a clean spade or kids' garden tool as the utensil. I also think this would make adorable cupcakes if served in small clay plots with one fly trap per cupcake.
