Camp Caramel Cake
A dutch oven cake built on caramel syrup you cook at home and pour at camp.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 3.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 150
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 240 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Granulated sugar | 2 cups | for the caramel syrup, made at home |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 1/2 cup plus 1 cup | the second cup stops the caramel |
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
| Baking powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp, plus more for the glaze | |
| Granulated sugar | 1 1/4 cups | for the batter |
| Whole milk powder | 1/3 cup | stands in for the cup of fresh milk |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | equals two eggs |
| Butter-flavored shortening | 10 tbsp | holds at ambient temperature; butter will not |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| Confectioner's sugar | 1 1/2 cups | for the glaze |
Method
- At home, cook 2 cups sugar with 1/2 cup water over medium heat without stirring until it turns deep amber. Off the heat, stand back and pour in the remaining cup of water. Simmer until smooth, cool, and bottle it.
- At home, combine flour, baking powder, salt, the 1 1/4 cups sugar, milk powder, and egg powder in one bag. Bag the confectioner's sugar separately.
- At camp, build a fire and let it burn down to coals. Grease a 10-inch dutch oven and line the bottom with parchment or foil.
- Work the shortening into the dry mix with a spoon until it looks like damp sand. Add 240 ml cold water, 1/3 cup of the caramel syrup, and the vanilla. Stir until just combined, no longer.
- Scrape the batter into the oven. Set it on 8 coals underneath and 16 on the lid. Bake about 30 minutes, rotating oven and lid a quarter turn every 10 minutes, until a twig comes out clean.
- Stir 3 tbsp caramel syrup and a spoonful of water into the confectioner's sugar until it pours. Salt it until it stops tasting flat, then pour it over the warm cake.
The original is a butter cake with a browned-butter frosting, which is three refrigerated ingredients and a stand mixer. The trail version keeps the part that carries the flavor and drops the part that needs a fridge. Caramel syrup is the whole point here, and it is also the only fussy step, so it happens at home where you can watch the color and start over if it seizes. Once bottled it keeps for months and weighs less than the sugar that went into it.
Shortening replaces the butter and milk powder replaces the cup of milk. Both are structural, not just substitutions of convenience: fat and liquid are what make this crumb tender, and shortening creams cold while butter at camp is either soup or a rock. The glaze is straight confectioner’s sugar and syrup, so it needs no heat and sets as the cake cools. Salt it harder than feels right. A pound of sugar and no salt tastes like nothing at all.
Packing
Caramel syrup goes in a leakproof bottle with the cap taped. Dry mix in one bag, confectioner's sugar in another, shortening in its own tub. Bring parchment; the sugar in this batter will weld itself to bare cast iron.
Variations
- No dutch oven: spoon the batter into a greased foil pan, tent it with foil, and bake it on a grill grate over indirect coals.
- Skip the glaze and serve slices with the syrup poured straight over them.
- Half a batch fits a 8-inch oven and bakes in about 20 minutes.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/the-daring-bakers-november-2