This easy camping dessert cooks up over the fire or grill and uses easy to pack ingredients that don’t require a cooler.
Campfire pineapple upside down cakes are the perfect dessert for a family or scout camping trip. Each person gets to assemble their own cake in individual foil packets that cook up in campfire coals or over a grill.
Plus, all the ingredients in this camping dessert are pre-made, which makes cooking them a breeze because everything just needs to be heated through and caramelized on top.
How to Cook Camping Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
Because this dessert only needs to heat through and caramelize, they are a quick way to make something sweet while camping.
If cooking over the campfire, pull some of the hot coals to the side of the fire. Place the foil packets with the butter side of the packet on the bottom. We want that part to melt and caramelize, so placing it on the heat source is important. Rotate the foil packet every couple of minutes to evenly heat through and caramelize. (There’s no need to flip the packets, just rotate by spinning.)
If cooking over the grill, place the butter side of the packet facing down, closest to the heat source. You don’t need to rotate these on a grill, because they cook more evenly due to the even heat source.
I highly recommend using heavy duty aluminum foil to prevent burning and a smoky campfire taste.
It usually takes about 15 minutes for these to heat through and caramelize, but cooking times will vary depending on how hot the coals of your campfire are.
Ingredient Notes
- Sponge Cake Dessert Shells or Donuts: You can use any sort of premade cake here. I personally like sponge cake dessert shells, but I’ve also used cake donuts and even left over cupcakes.
- Pineapple Rings: You can definitely use fresh pineapples, but packing canned pineapples make packing that much easier.
- Maraschino Cherries
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
a note from Jenny
This is my go-to camping dessert when I need an easy option that’s not marshmallow related.
This dutch oven pineapple upside down cake will feed an entire crowd and cooks up beautifully over campfire coals. You can find all my other campfire desserts here!
How to make Camping Pineapple Upside Down Cake
In this section you’ll find a step by step tutorial of how to make this recipe with photos. The full recipe with exact measurements, steps and a printable card can be found at the bottom of the post.
Scroll through the step by step images ->
1. Make the packets
Lay out 6 pieces of aluminum foil. Place butter on the foil and then sprinkle brown sugar on top.
2. Assemble the cakes
Put a pineapple ring on top of the brown sugar, and then place a cherry in the middle of the pineapple ring. Flip over a dessert cake shell and place on the top.
3. Seal the packets
Fold up the aluminum foil packet, then seal up in another piece of aluminum foil.
4. Cook the packets
Elevate a cooking grate over a campfire and place foil packets on the grate with the butter and brown sugar side down. You can also cook them on campfire coals or on a grill. Cook for about 15 minutes, making sure to flip the packets every few minutes.
5. Enjoy!
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Foil Packets
Ingredients
- 6 sponge cake dessert shells
- 1 can pineapple rings
- 6 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 6 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Lay out 6 pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Place 1 tbsp of butter on each piece of foil. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp. of brown sugar.
- Lay one pineapple ring on top of the brown sugar and place a maraschino cherry in the middle of the ring.
- Flip over one dessert cake shell and place on top.
- Fold up the aluminum foil packet. Wrap the packet in one more piece of aluminum foil.
- Cook the packets on a cooking grate elevated over the campfire, on top of campfire coals, or on a grill. Be sure to place the packets with the butter and sugar side down.
- Cook for about 15 minutes, rotating every few minutes to avoid burning. (There's no need to flip, though, because we want the butter and sugar to brown up!)