This one is a little out of my usual focus for a recipe, but what can I say – I’m a sucker for my FOUR year olds requests (demands) and he wanted a construction truck cake for his family dinner birthday cake. Not only did I get a request for a construction cake, but a request for real sugar. Kids say the darnest things, right? But, seriously – he’s onto me and my faux desserts! I thought I had a few more years of deceptive recipes ahead!

This cake was super easy to make, thanks to Betty Crocker. I used a box of the pre made brownie mix and swapped out vegetable oil for unsweetened applesauce, but otherwise followed the directions on the box. I used a 9×13 pyrex baking dish and added on a few extra minutes of baking time. I set the alarm for 22 minutes per the directions, but the applesauce made the center super wet and sticky. I ended up checking every minute by inserting a toothpick and finally called it a day around the 28 minute mark. Since I got a regular mix, I can’t actually taste it to tell if nixing the oil made it dry or not, but it doesn’t look dry.

After letting the brownies cool for a few hours, I added about 80% of a container of Betty Crocker milk chocolate frosting and spread it evenly and sloppily over the brownies.

This next part was the perfect time to get Ryder involved. He helped me make “dirt” by separating the Oreo filling from the Oreo cookies. Two for Ryder. Two for our cake. And like I mentioned above – I’m a sucker when it comes to Ryder’s requests and since it’s his birthday celebration and all, I did what any Mom would do. I taught him how to soak his Oreos in a cup of milk for exactly the right amount of time/sogginess.

We separated eight sandwiches for 16 cookies and put them in a thick, good quality zip lock bag. Don’t use the store brand or economy bags here – the thinner bags have a tendency to tear during crushing and make a mess. I used a potato masher to lightly break up the pieces and let Ryder take over once the larger pieces crumbled. Notice his black teeth in the photo from his hard work taste testing the Oreos.

The last step of placing the construction trucks on the cake was all Ryder. I used these Caterpillar CAT mini Machine Construction Trucks I bought on Amazon. Once he put them in place, I added the broken Oreo pieces to each scoop on the construction trucks.

Ryder is so happy with his cake and it was super easy to make. If you have a construction lover like Ryder, I highly recommend making this easy DIY construction brownie cake!

Ingredients

• One box Betty Crocker Brownie Mix
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoon water
• One 16oz container Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
• One pack Oreo Cookies
• Caterpillar CAT Mini Machine Construction Trucks

Directions

1. Bake brownies according to package. I swapped out the vegetable oil for unsweetened apple sauce and added a few extra minutes of baking time.
2. After brownies have cooled a couple hours, spread chocolate frosting mix with a spoon.
3. Separate Oreo filling from cookies. Discard cream and crush cookies in a ziplock bag.
4. Place construction trucks in position on top of frosting and add Oreo “dirt” crumbles.