Cookies and Cream Camp Cake
Boxed white cake, crushed sandwich cookies, and a Dutch oven full of coals.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 123
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 10, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 300 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
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| White cake mix | 1 box (about 18 oz) | the kind that calls for egg whites |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered egg whites | 3 eggs' worth | reconstituted, no cooler needed |
| Water | 1 1/4 cups | |
| Vegetable oil | 1/3 cup | |
| Chocolate sandwich cookies | 1 sleeve | about 2 cups crushed, plus a few left whole |
| Confectioners' sugar | 1 1/2 cups | for the glaze |
| Shortening | 1/3 cup | shelf-stable, unlike butter |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| Parchment or a foil sling | 1 sheet |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want about 20 coals under a 12-inch Dutch oven and 10 on the lid, or the cake burns on the bottom before the middle sets.
- Line the oven with parchment or a foil sling. Oil the parchment.
- Reconstitute the powdered egg whites with a little water in a mug. Let them sit two minutes.
- In the oven or a bowl, stir the cake mix, 1 1/4 cups water, oil, and egg whites hard for two minutes. A whisk and a tired arm beat a mixer here.
- Fold in the crushed cookies. Do not overmix or they turn the batter grey and gluey.
- Pour into the lined oven, set the lid on, and arrange the coals. Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Rotate the oven a quarter turn every ten minutes and the lid the opposite way.
- It is done when a knife or a clean twig comes out dry. Pull the lid coals off and let it sit 15 minutes.
- For the glaze, mash the confectioners' sugar, shortening, and vanilla in a mug with a fork, adding water a teaspoon at a time until it spreads. Spread it on the cooled cake and press whole cookies into the top.
The original of this is a two-layer birthday cake with a raw-egg-white buttercream. Neither the layers nor the raw eggs belong in camp, so this is one Dutch oven, powdered egg whites, and a shortening glaze that does not care about temperature. Shortening holds its shape at 85 degrees in a way butter never will.
Coal management is the whole recipe. Cake mix is forgiving about mixing and unforgiving about heat, so keep most of the coals on the lid and rotate often. A ring of coals directly under the center is how you get a burnt disc with raw batter on top of it.
Packing
Cake mix, powdered egg whites, and confectioners' sugar go in labeled bags. Oil and shortening ride in screw-top containers. Cookies go in a rigid tub or you are carrying crumbs, which is fine for the batter but not for the topping.
Variations
- Skip the glaze and dust the top with more crushed cookies. It travels better and nobody complains.
- Instant coffee stirred into the glaze cuts the sweetness.
- No Dutch oven: bake it in a foil pan inside a covered kettle grill over indirect heat.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/cookies-n-cream-cake