Dutch Oven Lemon Pound Cake
A dense lemon cake baked in coals, iced with powdered sugar and hot water.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 12
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total time
- 75 min
- water
- 250 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 | 2 2/3 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Powdered whole egg | 3/4 cup | stands in for 6 eggs plus a yolk |
| Butter-flavored shortening | 1 1/2 cups | sticks, not a tub; no fridge needed |
| Crystallized lemon packets | 8 packets | True Lemon or similar, reconstituted to 1/2 cup |
| Dried lemon peel | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Vanilla extract | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Baking soda | 1/2 tsp | |
| Baking powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp, plus a pinch for the icing | |
| Powdered sugar | 2 cups | for the icing |
| Water | about 1 cup total | 1/2 cup for the egg powder, 1/2 cup for lemon and icing |
Method
- Line the Dutch oven or grease it hard with shortening, corners included. Set 20 coals underneath to preheat while you mix.
- Whisk the egg powder into 1/2 cup of cold water and let it sit five minutes until it stops being grit.
- Beat the shortening and sugar with a spoon until it lightens. This takes longer by hand than it does at home. Add the vanilla.
- Dissolve the lemon packets in 1/2 cup water. Stir the egg slurry into the shortening in thirds, then the lemon water and dried peel. It will look curdled. Keep going.
- Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together dry, then fold them in until no streaks remain. Do not beat it after this point.
- Scrape the batter into the oven and smooth the top. Bake with 8 coals under and 17 on the lid, aiming for roughly 325F, for 45 to 55 minutes. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every 15 minutes.
- It is done when a twig comes out clean. Pull the bottom coals and let it sit 15 minutes before you try to turn it out.
- Stir the powdered sugar, 4 tbsp melted shortening, 3 tbsp water, and a pinch of salt into a smooth pour. Add water a teaspoon at a time if it seizes. Glaze the cake once it is only warm, not hot.
Pound cake is a fat-and-egg structure, which is exactly what a camp kitchen usually cannot supply. Butter-flavored shortening and powdered whole egg cover both without a cooler, and they behave close enough to the real thing that the crumb still comes out tight and heavy. Bottled lemon juice is another option, but crystallized lemon packets weigh nothing and do not leak.
The coals do the real work. Too many on the bottom and you get a burnt ring with raw center, which is why the count is lopsided toward the lid. Rotating the oven and the lid in opposite quarters evens out the hot spots from wind. The icing is just sugar, fat, and water, so it sets up in cool air and travels fine on leftovers.
Packing
Combine flour, sugar, egg powder, leaveners, salt, and lemon peel in one gallon bag at home. Shortening rides in its own container. Powdered sugar and salt for the icing go in a second small bag. Lemon packets in a pocket of the food bin.
Variations
- Fill the center with dried cherries plumped in hot water for ten minutes.
- Skip the icing and pour a thin lemon syrup over the hot cake instead.
- A cast iron skillet works if you can hold the heat low and cover it with foil.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/frosted-pound-cake