Camp Cocoa Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes baked in a dutch oven over coals, with an icing you mix in the bag.
- calories
- 230
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 60 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
| All-purpose flour | 100 g | about 3/4 cup, premixed at home |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered sugar | 100 g | |
| Cocoa powder | 3 tsp | |
| Baking powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered whole eggs | equivalent of 2 eggs | plus the water the label calls for |
| Shelf-stable butter | 100 g | ghee or canned butter; both keep without a cooler |
| Powdered milk | 2 tbsp | mixed with water to thin the batter |
| Icing sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Butter for the icing | 1 1/2 tbsp | |
| Vanilla extract | a few drops | |
| Food coloring | a few drops | optional |
| Paper cupcake liners | 12 |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want a bed of them, not flames.
- Rehydrate the egg powder with the water on its label. Let it sit five minutes while you work.
- Beat the butter and powdered sugar together in a pot until it lightens. Add the eggs and beat again.
- Stir the flour, cocoa, and baking powder together, then fold it into the butter mixture. Stop when the streaks disappear.
- If it is stiff enough to hold a spoon upright, thin it with milk powder mixed into a little cold water, a spoonful at a time.
- Fill lined muffin cups two-thirds full and set them in the dutch oven. Lid on.
- Twelve coals on the lid, six underneath. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every eight minutes so nothing scorches.
- Check at twenty minutes with a twig. Clean twig means done. Give it five more if it comes out wet.
- Cool them completely off the heat. Mash the icing butter, sugar, vanilla, and coloring in a freezer bag, snip a corner, and squeeze it on.
This started as an oven recipe and it survives the move because the batter is small and forgiving. Coals do the work an oven thermostat would, so the coal count matters more than the clock: twelve on the lid and six underneath puts most of the heat above the batter, which is what makes cupcakes rise instead of burn on the bottom.
The two swaps are eggs and butter. Powdered whole eggs rehydrate close enough to the real thing for a batter this rich, and ghee or canned butter sits in a pack all weekend without a cooler. Fresh milk is gone too — powdered milk and cold water only show up if the batter refuses to pour. Mix the icing in a bag and you skip a bowl and a spatula.
Packing
Flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking powder go in one bag, sealed and labeled with the oven temperature. Egg powder in its own bag. Icing sugar and vanilla in a third. Liners nest inside the muffin tin.
Variations
- No muffin tin: drop spoonfuls straight into a parchment-lined dutch oven and cut squares instead.
- Skip the icing and stir chocolate chips into the batter. One less bag, same result.
- Instant coffee in the dry mix pushes the cocoa darker.
https://www.awesomecuisine.com/recipes/24217/chocolate-cupcake