Campfire Baking: Dutch Oven Double Chocolate Cake

A delicious Dutch Oven Chocolate Cake recipe for the backcountry or your backyard. As always, we hope you’ll choose your own adventure.

Dutch Oven Double Chocolate Cake

1. Combine flour, sugar, dried buttermilk, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup chocolate chips in a lidded container or a resealable plastic bag. Pour 1/3 cup oil and the vanilla into a second container with a snug lid. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 4-qt. camp Dutch oven.

2. Fill a charcoal chimney starter one-third with briquettes, set in a firepit, ignite, and let burn until briquettes are spotted gray, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, generously oil dutch oven, line with parchment paper circle, and oil paper. Pour flour mixture into a medium bowl.

4. When fire is ready, add oil mixture and 1 cup water to flour mixture and stir until blended. Scrape into dutch oven and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

5. Using tongs, space 8 coals in fire pit in a circle a little smaller than the dutch oven. Set dutch oven on coals, checking that it's level. Set lid on top, then arrange 14 coals on lid around the lip and 2 coals in center of lid. Set any extra coals aside.

6. Bake cake until a skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes; to check, lift lid by sliding tongs through lid's center handle and bracing them against side of lid closest to you, then tilting lid up. Remove lid and let cake cool at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ C Flour

• 1 C Sugar

• ¼ C Dried Buttermilk

• ¼ C Unsweetened Cocoa

• 1 TSP Baking Soda 

• ½ TSP Salt

• 1 C Chocolate Chips, divided

• 1/3 C Vegetable Oil

• 2 TSP Vanilla Extract 

• Sweetened Whipped Cream (whisk whipping cream in a bowl with a little sugar or use canned)