Chocolate Cake in a Dutch Oven
A one-pot chocolate cake for basecamp, built on powdered milk and boiling water instead of eggs and a mixer.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 10, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 500 ml boiled
- 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
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoa powder | 1/2 cup | |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Sugar | 2 cups | |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | stands in for 2 eggs; add 6 tbsp of the water to rehydrate |
| Butter or shortening | 1/2 cup | shortening keeps in a hot car, butter does not |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | a small dropper bottle |
| Boiling water | 2 cups | |
| Powdered sugar | 1 1/2 cups | frosting |
| Powdered milk | 2 tbsp | frosting |
| Water | 3 tbsp | frosting |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want embers, not flames.
- Grease the dutch oven heavily, bottom and up the sides.
- Dump the dry premix into the oven and stir in the softened butter with a spoon until it looks like wet sand.
- Boil 2 cups of water. Add the vanilla and pour the water into the oven, stirring as you go. The batter will look far too thin. That is correct.
- Lid on. Set the oven on a bed of coals with more coals on the lid, roughly twice as many on top as underneath.
- Bake 35 to 45 minutes. Rotate the oven a quarter turn every ten minutes and rotate the lid the other way so it does not scorch on one side.
- Check with a stick or a knife. Clean and dry means done. Pull it off the coals and take the lid off so it stops cooking.
- Shake the powdered sugar and powdered milk together in a bag, add water a spoonful at a time until it pours, and spread it over the cake once the cake is warm rather than hot.
This is a hot-water chocolate cake, which is why it works in a dutch oven at all. Boiling water blooms the cocoa and thins the batter enough that it self-levels over uneven coals, so you do not need a mixer, a whisk, or a flat surface. The batter looks broken and soupy going in. Leave it alone.
Two things changed for camp. Fresh eggs became powdered egg, which rehydrates in the water you are already boiling and does not become a problem in a warm cooler. The milk in the frosting became milk powder mixed with water at camp. Heat management is the whole skill here: coals on top do the baking, coals underneath only burn the bottom, so keep the ratio lopsided and keep turning.
Packing
Flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, sugar, and egg powder go in one gallon bag at home. Frosting sugar and milk powder in a smaller bag you can mix in. Butter or shortening rides in a screw-top tub.
Variations
- Skip the frosting and pour a handful of chocolate chips over the hot cake instead.
- Swap the egg powder for 1/2 cup of applesauce from a pouch if you would rather not carry it.
- A tablespoon of instant coffee in the dry mix makes the cocoa read darker.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/the-best-chocolate-cake-ever