Campfire Cherry Berry Chocolate Dump Cake

A simple camping dessert filled with fresh berries and rich chocolate cake cooked over campfire coals. This cherry chocolate dump cake is amazing with a secret ingredient.

Dutch oven dump cakes are one of the easiest camping desserts out there and they feed everyone in your camping crew with very little prep.

This chocolate dump camp only requires 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep time. Just dump everything in your cast iron dutch oven, place it in hot coals, and relax until it’s time to eat (or indulge)!

I actually thought dump cakes were exclusive to camping for many years because my family only had them when we went camping.

It wasn’t until I was an adult and much older that I found out that dump cakes are a real thing and can also be made in the oven!

I will say, I still reserve “dump caking” exclusively for camping, but this recipe can also be made in the oven as well. (Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.)

How to Cook Chocolate Dump Cake While Camping

Dump cakes cook best in a dutch oven because the cast iron retains the heat and acts as an oven, something an aluminum pan covered with tin foil just can’t do.

If you don’t have a dutch oven in your camping kitchen box, I would highly suggest investing in one. It’s the one camping tool I can’t imagine living without!

Cook it in a Dutch Oven Over Charcoal Briquets

Cooking over charcoal briquets allows you to control the heat better than cooking over campfire embers.

I usually light charcoal and place it in the fire pit next to the fire to cook this dutch oven dessert on. So you can still have a campfire going while your dessert cooks more evenly over the coals.

You can also use the campfire coals from a fire that has died down to cook this chocolate dutch oven cake. Just be sure you have enough to also place on top of the dutch oven.

You will probably need to cook for longer than the recommended time in this recipe, and replace the coals with hot ones as they cool down over time.

Ingredients in Campfire Chocolate Cherry Cake

This berry cake is made with a frozen blend of cherries, blueberries and strawberries, but you can easily add or substitute blackberries and raspberries as well.

• Frozen Mixed Berries: I prefer to use frozen (or fresh) berries in my dump cakes. Let frozen berries thaw (or almost thaw) before adding them to the dutch oven. Or, dump fresh berries right in the pan. You can also use canned fruit or pie filling in place of fresh (see note about sugar below). Just know that canned fruit will lose texture and get quite mushy.
• Sugar: I use a small amount of sugar to sweeten up fresh or frozen berries. If you choose to use canned pie filling or even canned fruit, you can skip the sugar because they will be sweet enough straight from the can.
• Chocolate Cake Mix: A box of chocolate cake mix or Devil’s food cake mix work well for this recipe. Or, you can make your own homemade chocolate cake mix before the trip to use instead (recipe coming soon!)
• Coffee or Dr. Pepper: I love how coffee brings out the flavor in chocolate cake, but you can also use Dr. Pepper instead of the coffee.
• Butter: The little pads of butter help the cake to fully cook through in all the spots so there aren’t any dry pockets in the cake.

Looking for other camping dessert ideas? Try out these Chocolate Orange Cake (cooked in an orange peel) or these dutch oven camping desserts (coming soon).

How to make Cherry Chocolate Dump Cake

1. Prepare Dutch Oven

Line your dutch oven with parchment paper (or dutch oven parchment paper liners) or rub the inside with butter to prevent sticking.

(Parchment paper liners give the easiest clean up. Lift it out and wipe it down!)

2. Layer in Berries

Place thawed, fresh or canned cherries and berries in the bottom of the dutch oven. Sprinkle sugar on top (if using frozen or fresh berries).

3. Cover with Chocolate Cake Mix

Dump chocolate cake mixture on top, spreading across the berries evenly.

4. Top with Liquid and Butter

Campfire dump cake recipes usually call for butter OR liquid to cook the cake mixture. However, I’ve found that a combination of both gives the most moist and evenly cooked dump cake.

I’ve had the best results with pouring 6 oz. of liquid (in this recipe, coffee or Dr. Pepper) as evenly as possible over the cake mix. (There’s no need to stir. In fact, don’t stir it up.)

Then, thinly slice the butter and arrange those evenly across the top of the ingredients.

5. Cook over Charcoal Briquets

Place the dutch oven on top of 10 pieces of charcoal (evenly spaced apart or in a ring) with 20 pieces of charcoal on top of the dutch oven lid (again, evenly spaced apart or in a ring around the outside).

Cook for approximately 30 minutes, checking for doneness once the cake is cooked through.

(Charcoal numbers are based on a 12″ dutch oven. Cooking times are approximate and will depend on air temperature and well as wind conditions.)

5. Enjoy!

As you can imagine, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of this chocolate cherry dump cake is to die for. However, if you’re like us and never bring ice cream with you while camping, a dollop of whipped cream is still very tasty!

Let me know in the ratings if you try out this dump cake recipe or have other variation ideas.