Fun Food Fridays: Chocolate Orange Camp Cake
February 4th, 2011 | 
Author: Get this recipe and 30 others in the eBook: “The Outdoor Princess Camping Cookbook” from Amazon.com
This was one of my favorite sounding recipes. Last winter, when oranges were in season, I got to try it! I thought it was a good time to share it since oranges are in season right now.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Large orange per person
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- Bag of charcoal
- Aluminum foil
Directions:
Slice the top 1/4 off an orange and set aside. Remove the fruit from the orange. (This can be eaten while you’re waiting!)
That was a bit tricky. You want to take MOST of the fruit out but leave some in. And you need to cut the fruit out without damaging the orange peel. The easiest tool was a grapefruit knife.
So the grapefruit knife made such a difference you might just want to invest in one! The other way works, but this is THE best.
But if you don’t have one handy then I found cutting the orange into sections and then scooping it out with a large spoon was a good second best.
Prepare the cake mix according to the package and spoon into orange shell. Each orange should be about 2/3 of the way full. Place the top of the orange back on the shell.
Don't overfill it!
Make sure you get all the cake mix INTO the orange. If it’s on the outside for cooking, it makes a mess.
The oranges take some time to prep so I recommend doing it all before you light the bag of charcoal. Follow the package instructions.
Wrap each orange LOOSELY in foil (trust me on this one!) and bury in the pre-heated charcoal for 10-15 minutes.
Okay, a word about the foil! If it’s too tight, then the cake doesn’t have enough room to expand. Too loose and the ash gets in (gross!) So you need it to be not so tight the cake mix can’t expand and not so loosely it gets dirt inside.
You’ll hear the cake mix sizzling. When that stops, the cakes are nearly baked.
If you smell burnt orange, or burning cake, then you’ve overcooked it! Although, the orange will burn a little bit.
Remember that the sugar in these will mean that they are VERY hot, juicy and sticky. Carefully brush any ash or dirt off the foil before opening.
Let it cool a bit and enjoy!
Yellow or gingerbread cake mixes are recommended substitutions. (I haven’t tried either though.)
Mix will fill about 6 oranges.
BTW: These are YUCKY cold or re-heated. Best to eat them warm and sticky!
Don’t forget to check out the cookbook that features this recipe: “The Outdoor Princess Camping Cookbook: 30+ Fast & Easy Recipes for Cooking Outside” available from Amazon.
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Thank you so much for this. I’ve been meaning to bake for quite some time now, and the mere idea of opening our oven frightens me, cause I don’t want to waste the would-be expensive ingredients. This might just be something I can easily pull off.
[…] Chocolate Orange Camp Cake from The Outdoor Princess – I have a gluten free chocolate cake mix in the cupboard that is calling this recipes name out! […]
This looks like a fun recipe; do you add the orange sections into the mix, or just eat those plain?
Let me know how it goes!
I didn’t put the orange bits into the mix; I think it would be too wet. I just ate them plain. I think that this would be a GREAT recipe when the oranges aren’t very good (dry or bitter) since the cake just takes on the flavor of the orange and has it’s own sweetness.