Chocolate Campfire Orange Cakes
Bake these individual chocolate cakes right over the campfire inside orange peels.
The easy clean up and fun steps make these campfire orange cakes great for family camping, scout trips or a backyard fire dessert.
Mixing up the homemade chocolate cake mix in this recipe is almost easier than using a store-bought cake mix, because all you need when it’s time to bake are oil and milk. You can shake the batter up in a mason jar so you don’t even need to dirty a bowl or spatula!
The orange peels act as a baking container, but also help to keep the cake moist, even when cooked in the extreme heat of a campfire. Plus, you can eat right out of the aluminum foil packet, making clean up a breeze.
Adding a little vanilla ice cream or whipped cream makes these camping chocolate cakes even better. And best of all, there won’t be any dirty dishes.
How to Cook in an Orange Peel While Camping
Cooking baked goods in orange peels helps to keep the cake moist and prevent it from burning in the coals.
Cook it Over Charcoal Briquets or in the Campfire Coals
After wrapping the oranges in heavy-duty aluminum foil, place them on 3-4 pieces of charcoal or in the hot campfire embers. Rotate the orange every 2-3 minutes to help the cake cook evenly.
Ingredients in Campfire Orange Cakes
Make this chocolate cake mix before your trip and store it in a mason jar. Then, when you’re ready for dessert, simply add oil and milk to the jar and shake well!
- Chocolate Cake Mix: In the recipe, you’ll find the steps to make a quick homemade chocolate cake mix using only flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Or, you can buy a boxed instant cake mix to use in this recipe instead. (Just follow the directions on the box to make the batter.)
- Oranges: Larger navel oranges work best for this recipe because it gives the most space inside for the cake mix. However, you could substitute smaller whole oranges or even grapefruits as well (they’ll just take longer to cook).
- Chocolate Chips: Semi-sweet, milk chocolate or white chocolate all work beautifully in this recipe. Choose your favorite for some melty goodness in your cake!
- Oil: I usually use canola oil or vegetable oil in this recipe because it’s what I have on hand. But any oil will work (just know that some, like olive oil, add flavor). Or, you can also melt butter as well.
- Milk: The higher fat content in the milk, the richer the flavor in the cake. With that being said, I never bring different milk than what we’re drinking (usually skim or 1%) to use in recipes. I definitely don’t have room for that in the cooler/fridge!
- Cinnamon Rolls: You can also cook cinnamon rolls in an orange peel. Each orange can hold two cinnamon rolls. (Here’s a full post on four different ways to cook campfire cinnamon rolls – including in an orange peel!)
a note from Jenny
I first tried these with my Girl Scout troop as a fun individual campfire dessert that wasn’t s’mores. Although I was skeptical they would turn out, the only issue we had was the girls getting cake-mix-happy and overfilling the oranges.
Most of them still ate the cake that spilled over the top of the orange and into the aluminum foil, even if it was a little burned.
Looking for other camping dessert ideas? Try out these campfire baked apples or these dutch oven camping desserts (coming soon).
How to make Campfire Cakes in Oranges
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 images to see the steps –>
1. Make the dry cake mix
Combine all-purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking powder in a 1 quart mason jar or mixing bowl. Thoroughly combine and close the container.
(Skip this step if using a boxed cake mix.)
2. Remove inside of orange
Cut a small amount of the orange off at the top. Use a spoon to scoop out the orange pieces from the peel. Make sure to not dig too deep or to split open the orange peel.
Serve the orange pieces and orange juice to the ravenous kids while they wait for their campfire cakes to cook.
3. Make the cake batter
Add milk and oil to the jar of dry ingredients, replace the lid, and shake up until it’s fully mixed together. There’s no need to add eggs to this dry mix!
If you choose to use a box cake mix, follow the instructions on the box to make the batter, which usually calls for oil and eggs.
4. Fill orange and wrap in foil
Pour the batter into each of the hollowed-out oranges, filling no further than halfway up the hollow orange. If you fill it higher, it will ooze out over the top and can burn easily in the foil.
Add chocolate chips, put the top of each orange back on, and wrap in aluminum foil. Be sure you keep the top of the orange facing up at all times. If you tip it over, the batter will ooze out the top and will be a complete mess.
5. Place oranges in the hot coals
Place the foil-wrapped oranges into the hot coals of a campfire or on top of 3-4 pieces of charcoal. Keep the oranges with the top up the entire time. Rotate the oranges in the fire every few minutes to cook the cake evenly.
Cooking time can vary, but the cake should take about 15 minutes to cook through. Check your cakes after about 10 minutes. Insert a knife of toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean with only crumbs, the cake is cooked through.
Note: The chocolate chips will be melted instead. Don’t mistake the melted chips for uncooked batter!
5. Enjoy!
As you can imagine, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream is delicious on top of these camping chocolate cakes. Eat them right in their tin foil packets for the easiest clean up ever!
Chocolate Cake in an Orange Peel
Ingredients
- 5 navel oranges, set aside one extra in case there's extra batter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips, your choice of white, dark, semi-sweet
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup oil
Instructions
Mix the Dry Ingredients
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking powder and stir or shake to combine. (I like to combine the ingredients in a 1 quart mason jar and shake to combine. Then, I pack this jar with all the other camping food.)
Prepare the Orange Cakes
- Cut the top part of each orange off. Set the top aside (it will be used later as the lid.)
- Use a spoon to remove the orange segments from the peel, being careful not to puncture through the peel in any areas.
- Add milk and oil to the mason jar with the dry cake mix. Place the top back on and shake the jar to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients together. (If needed, use a spoon or spatula to mix in any dry pockets.)
- Fill each orange with the batter, no more than halfway full. Add chocolate chips to each orange.
- Place the orange lid back on top and wrap the orange up in aluminum foil. Be sure to keep the top of the orange facing up the whole time.
- Set the orange (top side up) into the campfire coals or on top of a few pieces of charcoal. Rotate the orange every few minutes for even cooking.
- Cook times will vary, but they should take approximately 15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes to gauge how much longer is needed.
Nutrition
You can also make tons of other baked goods in an orange peel over the fire!
For breakfast, add some muffin mix or raw cinnamon rolls and they’ll bake up perfectly inside the orange peel. Of course, you can also use any flavor of cake mix in the recipe, or even brownie mix.
Let me know if you make this campfire chocolate orange cake recipe and how it went for you.