Dutch Oven Peach Cake
A cinnamon-swirled skillet cake rebuilt from dried peaches and powdered dairy, baked over coals.
- calories
- 510
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 146
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 65 min
- water
- 420 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
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 1/2 cups | keep 1/2 cup separate for the swirl and crust |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 2 tsp | |
| Powdered sour cream or buttermilk powder | 1/2 cup | stands in for 1 cup of the real thing |
| Powdered whole egg | 4 tbsp | equals 2 eggs |
| Neutral oil | 1/2 cup | replaces the stick of butter |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| Dried peach slices | 2 cups | about 4 fresh peaches worth |
| Water | 420 ml total |
Method
- Put the dried peaches in a cup or two of cold water at least an hour ahead. They should go soft and floppy. Drain them and keep the soaking water for coffee or oatmeal.
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flames.
- Oil the inside of a 10 or 12 inch dutch oven, bottom and sides.
- Dump the premixed dry bag into the pot's lid or a bowl. Add the oil, vanilla, and about 240 ml of cold water. Stir until it just comes together and no dry flour is left. Do not beat it.
- Scrape the batter into the oven and level it. Press the peach slices in across the top.
- Mix the reserved sugar with the cinnamon and scatter it over everything.
- Set the oven on 8 to 10 coals and put 14 to 16 on the lid. That runs somewhere near 350F.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pot and the lid a quarter turn every ten minutes so it does not scorch on one side. It is done when the middle springs back and the sugar on top has gone crisp.
- Pull the lid off and let it sit twenty minutes before you cut it.
The original is a cast iron cake built on butter, eggs, sour cream, and fresh peaches, none of which survive a weekend without a cooler. Powdered egg and powdered sour cream carry the same job in a bag that weighs nothing, and oil takes over for the creamed butter. You lose the aeration from beating butter and sugar, so the baking powder and soda are doing all the lifting. That means mixing fast and getting it on the coals.
Dried peaches are the real substitution. Rehydrated, they hold their shape better than fresh ones, which tend to collapse into wet spots in a cake. Soak them long enough or they pull moisture out of the batter and leave you with a dry crumb. Coal count matters more than time: most of the heat belongs on the lid, or the bottom burns before the middle sets.
Packing
Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, sour cream powder, and egg powder in one gallon bag at home. Cinnamon and the remaining sugar go in a small separate bag. Oil in a leakproof bottle, peaches in their own bag.
Variations
- Dried apples or pears work the same way, though apples want an extra ten minutes of soaking.
- A splash of bourbon in the soaking water is not wasted.
- No dutch oven: bake it in a foil pan set on a grill grate over low coals with a foil tent over the top.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/skillet-peach-cake