Ladybug Cupcake Bars
Yellow cake bars baked in a dutch oven, frosted with a shelf-stable buttercream and dotted with marzipan ladybugs.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 111
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 180 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 1/4 cups | |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Baking soda | 1/2 tsp | |
| Coarse salt | 1 tsp | |
| Buttermilk powder | 1/3 cup | replaces the fresh buttermilk |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | stands in for 2 eggs |
| Shortening or ghee | 3/4 cup | both keep without a cooler |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | in a dropper bottle |
| Cold water | 3/4 cup | |
| Powdered sugar | 2 cups | for the frosting |
| Shortening for frosting | 1/2 cup | |
| Green food coloring | 1/4 tsp | |
| Marzipan | 4 oz | |
| Red food coloring | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cornstarch | 2 tbsp | keeps the marzipan from sticking |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and set aside enough for the lid. A 12-inch dutch oven wants roughly 8 briquettes under and 16 on top.
- Line the oven with foil or grease it well.
- Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk powder, and egg powder together in a bag or bowl until the color is even.
- Cut in the shortening with a spoon, then add the water and vanilla. Stir until it just comes together. Overmixing makes it tough.
- Scrape the batter into the oven, level it, and bake 25 to 30 minutes with coals top and bottom. Rotate the oven and lid a quarter turn every ten minutes so it does not scorch on one side.
- Test with a stick. It should come out clean. Pull the lid and let the oven cool all the way down before frosting.
- Mash the powdered sugar into the shortening a spoonful at a time with a splash of water, then work in the green coloring. Spread it over the cooled cake in short strokes so it reads like grass.
- Dust your hands with cornstarch. Knead the red coloring into two thirds of the marzipan, roll pea-sized balls, and flatten them slightly. Use the plain marzipan darkened with a drop of leftover green or a smear of the red for heads and spots.
- Set one ladybug on each square and cut into 12.
This started as a from-scratch cupcake with fresh buttermilk, a stack of eggs, and a Swiss meringue buttercream built over a double boiler. None of that survives a weekend outdoors. Buttermilk powder and powdered egg do the same job dry, shortening replaces the butter because it does not care about temperature, and the meringue frosting becomes a plain powdered-sugar buttercream that will not break when the sun hits it.
Baking it flat in a dutch oven instead of in liners is the other change. Thirty-six cupcakes means six batches over coals; one pan of bars means one. The rotation matters more than the timer — a dutch oven cooks hottest where the coals sit, and a quarter turn every ten minutes is what keeps one edge from turning to carbon. Note the marzipan: almond paste, so this is not nut-free.
Packing
Combine every dry ingredient for the cake in one zip bag at home and label it with the water and fat it needs. Powdered sugar goes in a second bag. Marzipan, coloring bottles, and cornstarch ride together in a small tub so the almond smell stays contained.
Variations
- Skip the marzipan and press dried cranberries into the frosting instead. That also drops the nuts.
- No dutch oven: bake the batter in a foil pan inside a covered kettle grill over indirect coals.
- Bake it plain as a snack cake and carry the frosting ingredients only if the kids are worth the extra pot.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/cookbook-of-the-month-recipe-ladybug-cupcakes