Dutch Oven Vanilla Cupcakes
Cast iron muffin cups over coals, with powdered egg and powdered buttermilk doing the fridge's job.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 90 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 | 1 cup (120 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 3/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp, plus 1/8 tsp for the frosting | |
| Sugar | 1/2 cup (99 g) | |
| Powdered whole egg | 2 tbsp | stands in for 1 egg; add 2 tbsp water with it |
| Powdered buttermilk | 1 tbsp | plus 1/4 cup water at camp |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp total | 1 tsp batter, 1 tsp frosting |
| Butter | 3/4 cup (170 g) | 1/4 cup for batter, 1/2 cup for frosting; keeps a day or two out of a cooler |
| Powdered sugar | 2 cups | for the frosting |
| Powdered milk | 1 tsp | mixed with 2 tsp water, thins the frosting |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals well before you start. You want a bed of them, not flames.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl or a gallon bag.
- Work the 1/4 cup butter and the sugar together with a fork or spoon until it lightens and looks grainy rather than greasy. This takes a few minutes of real effort.
- Stir the powdered egg with 2 tbsp water, then beat it into the butter with 1 tsp vanilla. Stir the powdered buttermilk into 1/4 cup water separately.
- Add the dry mix and the buttermilk to the butter in alternating additions, stirring only until it comes together. Overmixing makes them tough.
- Grease a cast iron muffin pan or six foil liners and fill each two-thirds full.
- Set the pan inside a large dutch oven on a few pebbles or a trivet so it is off the bottom. Lid on. Put about eight coals under and sixteen on the lid for roughly 350°F.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every eight minutes so nothing scorches. Done when a twig comes out clean.
- Lift them out and let them cool all the way. Warm cupcakes melt frosting off themselves.
- For the frosting, mash the remaining 1/2 cup butter smooth, then work in the powdered sugar a half cup at a time with 1 tsp vanilla and 1/8 tsp salt. Add the milk mixture a few drops at a time until it spreads.
This is a home kitchen recipe pushed onto coals. Two swaps make it work without a fridge: powdered whole egg reconstituted with water, and powdered buttermilk instead of the carton. Butter stays butter, because shortening tastes like nothing and butter holds a day or two in a shaded bin at car camp.
Coal count is the oven dial. Twice as many on the lid as underneath gives you top heat without a burnt bottom, and rotating the oven against the lid every eight minutes keeps hot spots from setting in one place. Creaming the butter and sugar by hand is the part people skip; without a mixer it takes patience, and without the air you beat in, these come out dense.
Packing
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, powdered egg, and powdered buttermilk in one labeled bag at home. Powdered sugar, powdered milk, and the frosting salt go in a second bag. Butter travels in a sealed tub, vanilla in a small dropper bottle.
Variations
- Skip the frosting and stir cinnamon sugar over the tops in the last five minutes.
- Fold in 1/3 cup dried cranberries or freeze-dried strawberries for the batter.
- No muffin pan: pour the whole batter into a small greased dutch oven and bake it as one cake for about 30 minutes.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/classic-vanilla-cupcakes