Dutch Oven Chocolate Pudding Cake
Batter mixed in a zip bag, chocolate sauce poured on top, and forty minutes over coals sorts itself out.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 108
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 240 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
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Butter or oil | 3 tbsp | oil keeps without a cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup | |
| Sugar | 3/4 cup | for the batter |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cocoa powder | 5 tsp | for the batter |
| Powdered milk | 3 tbsp plus 1/2 cup water | stands in for 1/2 cup milk |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp | |
| Chopped pecans or walnuts | 1 cup | |
| Sugar | 1/2 cup | for the sauce |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup | for the sauce |
| Cocoa powder | 1/4 cup | for the sauce |
| Water | 1 cup |
Method
- Set the 12-inch dutch oven over coals and melt the butter or warm the oil in it. Tip the oven around so the sides are coated.
- Pour the batter premix into a quart freezer bag. Add the vanilla and 1/2 cup water, then pour in most of the fat, leaving the oven greased.
- Seal the bag and knead it until there are no dry pockets. Add the nuts and knead again.
- Squeeze the batter into the oven and spread it flat.
- In the second bag, shake the sauce premix with 1 cup of water until the sugar stops grinding. Pour it over the batter. Do not stir.
- Lid on, bake at 350 for 40 minutes: 8 coals under, 17 on the lid. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every 10 minutes.
- Pull it off the heat and take the lid off for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve each piece flipped over so the sauce lands on top.
This bakes into two layers from one pan. The sauce mix goes on top as a thin liquid, sinks through the batter as it sets, and ends up as a pudding under a cake. That only works if you leave it alone after pouring. Stir it in and you get one muddy layer that never sets.
The original calls for fresh milk, which is a fridge item. Powdered milk plus water does the same job and rides in the dry bag all trip. Oil instead of butter for the same reason, though butter is worth carrying if you have a cooler running anyway. Coal placement matters more than time here: most of the heat belongs on the lid, or the bottom scorches before the middle sets.
Packing
Two labeled bags. Bag one: flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, 5 tsp cocoa, powdered milk. Bag two: both sugars and 1/4 cup cocoa. Nuts, oil, and vanilla ride separately. The bags are also your mixing bowls, so buy the sturdy freezer kind.
Variations
- Skip the nuts and spoon a can of cherry pie filling over the top for the last 10 minutes.
- Powdered coconut milk in place of the milk powder makes it dairy-free.
- A 10-inch oven takes about two thirds of everything, same coals, same time.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/chocolate_upside_down_cake-2131.asp