Dutch Oven Pineapple Pound Cake
A loaf-style cake baked over coals, sweetened and moistened by a can of crushed pineapple.
- calories
- 590
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 118
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 8
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 65 min
- total time
- 85 min
- water
- 120 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
- Dairy free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Self-rising flour | 2 cups | already has the leavening and salt in it |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Powdered whole egg | 6 tbsp | stands in for 3 large eggs |
| Water | 1/2 cup | for the egg powder |
| Vegetable oil | 3/4 cup | |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | |
| Canned crushed pineapple in juice | one 8 oz can | reserve 2 tbsp of juice for the glaze |
| Chopped pecans | 3/4 cup | 1/2 cup for the batter, 1/4 cup for the glaze |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Oil for the glaze | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | for the glaze only |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flames. Twenty or so briquettes' worth of heat, split roughly one third under the oven and two thirds on the lid.
- Oil the inside of a 10-inch dutch oven. A round of parchment on the bottom makes it come out clean.
- Open the pineapple and pour 2 tbsp of the juice into a cup. Set it aside for the glaze. Keep the rest of the can, juice and all.
- Whisk the egg powder into 1/2 cup of water until there are no lumps. Add the oil and vanilla and whisk again.
- Stir the flour and sugar together in a second bowl, pour in the wet mix, and stir just until no dry flour is left. Fold in the pineapple with its remaining juice and 1/2 cup of the pecans.
- Scrape the batter into the oven, put the lid on, and set it on the coals. Rotate the oven a third turn every fifteen minutes and rotate the lid the other way, or one side will burn.
- Bake 55 to 65 minutes. A stick pushed into the middle should come out with crumbs, not batter. Pull the oven off the coals and let it sit 15 minutes.
- For the glaze, put a small pot on a few remaining coals with the 2 tbsp oil, brown sugar, salt, and the reserved pineapple juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves and it bubbles, about two minutes. Add the last 1/4 cup of pecans and pour it over the cake.
Self-rising flour is the reason this is a camp cake and not a project. There is no baking powder to measure, no butter to cream, and no soft-vs-cold temperature to manage. Oil replaces butter throughout, which also means nothing in the cooler has to survive the drive.
The canned pineapple does two jobs. Its juice is the only liquid the batter gets besides the reconstituted egg, and the fruit keeps the crumb wet enough to forgive an uneven fire. Heat placement is where this goes wrong: most of your coals belong on the lid. Coals underneath scorch the bottom long before the middle sets.
Packing
Combine the flour, sugar, and egg powder at home in one zip bag and label it. Oil goes in a leakproof bottle, vanilla in a small dropper. Brown sugar and pecans in their own bag so the glaze does not require unpacking the whole kitchen. The can is the heaviest single item, so this is a drive-in or short-carry recipe.
Variations
- No self-rising flour on hand: use all-purpose plus 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt.
- Skip the pecans entirely and the cake still works; the glaze just goes on smooth.
- Real eggs travel fine in a hard carton for a weekend trip. Use three and skip the water.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/kentucky-pound-cake