Baking a Cake in a Camp Oven
Now let us discuss the real good stuff and show you how easy it is baking a cake in a camp oven. So after a recent camping trip for Shayne’s birthday, we thought we would try baking a cake in our camp oven to make the celebration just that much better. As it was a huge success we thought we should share how easy this is with you.
If you have ever thought that it is difficult or not even possible to bake a cake while camping, then you will be pleasantly surprised. Baking a cake while camping is quite simple and all you need is a camp oven and the ingredients for the cake of your choice. As we always like to keep any of our recommended camping meals as simple as possible, we would recommend buying a premix cake mix from one of your local grocery stores. We do not really see the point in making any camp cooking too difficult so that you can spend more time sitting around the campfire with family and mates having a good time.
In all our other camp oven recipes you would have read, you know that we use a spun steel 12-inch Aussie camp oven. The method will vary slightly if using a cast iron camp oven as you need to do your usual preheating of the cast iron camp oven. We have always preferred a spun steel Aussie camp oven as they are quick to heat up and are lightweight in comparison to cast iron camp ovens. They are versatile as well in that they can be used as a large pot for normal cooking meaning you do not need to carry as much cooking gear. This will of course come down to personal preference.
What You Need
Baking a cake in a camp oven does not require much gear and you should have all these items in your camp setup anyway. Below are the different bits of gear we used when baking a cake in our Aussie camp oven.
- Spun steel 12-inch camp oven with roasting trivet.
- 22cm round cake tin or pan.
- Baking paper.
- Old oven gloves or other heat resistant gloves.
- Mixing bowl or large saucepan.
- Fork or a whisk.
Ingredients
To keep it simple we would recommend buying a premix cake mix from your local grocery store. The type of cake is up to you. Using a cake mix does make the preparation super quick and easy. In this recipe we chose a devils food cake mix, basically a chocolate cake.
- Cake mix of your choice.
- Usually 3 eggs but will depend on the cake mix.
- Vegetable oil or butter but again this will depend on the cake mix.
- Water or milk depending on the cake mix.
Cook Time
- Preparation time – 5-10 minutes
- Cook time – 45-60 minutes (depending on heat)
Method
Get That Fire Burning
Ensure you have had a fire going for a good 30 minutes or so before you start making and baking a cake in your camp oven. You want to make sure you have a few good coals ready when it is time to start baking your cake. If you are using heat beads instead then you will want to make sure you have these ready.
Combine All the Ingredients
Follow the directions on the cake mix you purchased but these are the steps we took when baking a cake in our camp oven. Mix up all the ingredients in a large bowl or saucepan, whatever you have handy in your setup. Simply throw in the cake mix, the three eggs, vegetable oil, and water and mix thoroughly with a fork or a whisk. We carry a small whisk in our camp setup as they are very handy to have for a few different meals. If you do not have a whisk, a fork will do fine, it just might take a bit longer. You will need to probably mix the ingredients for at least 5 minutes when doing this by hand ensuring they have all combined properly and there are no more dry bits in your bowl. You will know when you are done as you will have a thick consistent mix of cake batter. The recipes always say not to eat the batter as they contain raw eggs, so take note of this and choose to do what you want to do… I know what we always choose to do!
Baking Paper Makes Life Easier
We always carry two different round bake tins inside our Aussie camp oven, one small and one slightly larger. We usually use the smaller tin when making damper bread. Our larger baking tin is around 22cm in diameter and fits comfortably inside our 12-inch camp oven. You could probably go slightly bigger, but it is best to measure the inside of your Aussie camp oven before buying one. We always line our baking tins with baking paper whenever baking in our camp oven to ensure nothing sticks as well as making it easier to remove from the baking tin and easy for clean-up. Once the cake tin has been lined with baking paper, simply pour the cake batter into the cake tin trying to get all the batter out of your mixing bowl. This is where having a spatula makes life easier, but we just used a wooden spoon.
Let the Baking Begin
Now ensure that your roasting trivet is in the bottom of your camp oven leaving a small amount of space between the bottom of the camp oven and the cake. This makes sure that you do not have the cake sitting directly on top of the coals. As we carry a smaller baking tin, we sometimes invert the tin (turn it upside down) and sit this on the bottom of the camp oven providing even more space between the coals and the bottom of the cake. Place your cake tin inside the camp oven. Now when it comes to baking anything in a camp oven you must always remember that you want most of the heat coming from the top not the bottom. When cooking liquid meals like curries and stews then you usually have more coals on the bottom or close to even. Remembering that, grab your shovel and remove a small number of coals from the fire and place these on the ground. With the lid on your camp oven, place the camp oven on top of these coals. Now with your shovel grab a few more coals, close to double before, and place these on the camp oven lid.
Cook Time Depends on Heat of Coals
Cook time will depend on the heat of your coals. Our cake below took a total of one hour to bake. We would recommend setting a timer between 15-20 minutes to check your cake’s progress and ensuring it is not too hot and burning. If everything seems ok, then set another time for 15-20 minutes. During the second check use a sharp knife and insert this into the centre of the cake. If the knife comes out clean, then your cake is done. If the knife comes out with cake stuck to it then you need to continue to bake it for another 15-20 minutes. Keep checking the cake with your knife until it comes out nice and clean and your cake is done. It is hard to get an exact cook time when baking in a camp oven as the heat of the coals will vary depending on the amount and the type of wood you are burning. So just ensure you regularly check your cake and add more coals if necessary.
Once the cake is baked, remove it from the camp oven and let it sit and cool inside the cake tin for about 10 minutes. Once it has cooled slightly, remove the cake from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely. We of course do not carry a wire rack but simply place the cake on top of the wire grill on our double gas burner stove. This works well enough. Once the cake has completely cooled you can then add the frosting over the top of the cake with a knife or spatula.
Freshly Baked Cake So Easy
There you have it, you have baked a cake in a camp oven. Baking a cake in the camp oven is not difficult at all. The first time we did this, Peter had never baked a cake in his life, and it came out an absolute treat. This is a great treat to have while camping and is the icing on the cake (pun intended) for any birthday or other celebration when away from home. We would highly recommend you give this a go and if you do, please let us know in the comments below as well as any variations or other cool things you have tried.
Thanks for reading our post on baking a cake in a camp oven. For more Aussie camp oven recipes you can read them here. To keep up to date on future posts join the 4WD Adventurer community here. For more regular updates please follow us on Instagram.
Thanks for reading legends.
The thoughts of Peter
27/03/2022 @ 3:36 PM
THanks for the tips, will give this a go for my wife’s birthday coming up this easter.
28/03/2022 @ 8:25 AM
G’day Mitch,
No worries, thanks for reading.
It is super simple using a cake mix, not much that can go wrong. I’m sure your wife will appreciate the cake, my wife sure did on her birthday.
Cheers,
Peter