Zombie cookies top this graveyard brownie cake for a creepy Halloween dessert

My husband is addicted to The Walking Dead. We were on a road trip this past Sunday and we had to properly time our trip so we were home right at 9 p.m. Not 9:01 or 9:02, 9 p.m. When I was trying to find a cake to make him for Halloween, I thought why not one filled with walkers?

Except in this case we’ll call them zombies, because I think the term walker doesn’t quite sum up these ghoulish little cookies. To make the cake even a bit more spooky, I added some homemade tombstones and lots of bloody guts, because what’s a zombie without that?

Graveyard brownie cake with zombie cookies recipe

Have fun decorating your cake with whatever creepy additions you have. I used plastic spider rings, eyeball candies and gummy pumpkins. I love these zombie cookie cutters for this cake.

Serves about 12

Prep time: 15 minutes | Bake time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 box brownie mix + ingredients on the box
• 1/2 jar chocolate frosting
• 9 Milano cookies, divided
• 1-1/2 cups chopped Oreo cookies
• Chopped mint
• Autumn leaf sprinkles
• Black icing gel

For the zombies

• 1/2 batch homemade pie crust (use this recipe)
• 1 egg beat with a splash of water
• Cherry pie filling

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the brownie batter according to package instructions and pour into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking dish. Bake for about 44 to 46 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
2. Let brownies cool completely. Once cooled, frost with chocolate frosting. Chop 4 of the Milano cookies and mix with the Oreo crumbles. Sprinkle over the frosting (to make it look like dirt). Chop the mint finely and sprinkle over the dirt (for grass). Sprinkle with leaf sprinkles.
3. To make the tombstones, carefully write RIP onto 5 of the Milano cookies with the black icing gel. Carefully stick the bottoms into the brownies.
4. Using a flour rolling pin, roll out the pie crust to 1/4-inch thickness. Using zombie cookie cutters, stamp out cookie shapes and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
5. Mix the egg and water together and carefully brush it over the pie crust cookies. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool.
6. Once cooled, add faces and “bloody” limbs to the zombies with the cherry pie filling. Add a few zombies sticking out of some of the graves and keep a few to “walk” around the cemetery.
7. Add some fake spiders or gummy pumpkins.

More zombie Halloween recipes

Zombie-inspired recipes for the premiere of The Walking Dead
Zombie cupcakes: Match made in hell
Cake ball brains with oozy cherry blood