Dutch Oven Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake

A campfire dessert cooked in a dutch oven with strawberries, cream cheese and cake mix. This strawberry cheesecake dump cake will feed your entire family!

I rarely make desserts at home, but when I’m planning my camping menus, I always plan a dessert for every day of the trip.

But here’s the problem: I hate s’mores. And I want to enjoy dessert when I’m camping just like everyone else. This is why dutch oven dump cakes have become one of my go-to camping desserts.

Camping dump cakes taste like they took forever to make, but they actually take less than 5 minutes to assemble because everything is just layered into the dutch oven and then cooked using campfire coals.

This strawberry cheesecake dump cake requires only a few ingredients and cooks over campfire coals while everyone is eating dinner. It’s delicious with whipped cream or ice cream!

How to Cook a Dump Cake over the Campfire

Cakes and brownies 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 dutch oven cakes. Just be sure you have enough to also place on top of the dutch oven.

Ingredients in Dutch Oven Strawberry Cheesecake

• Strawberries or Strawberry Pie Filling: You can use 2 cans of strawberry pie filling or 2 cups diced strawberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Or, use a combination of both! I like to use one can of strawberry pie filling and 1.5 cups of diced strawberries. You can also use frozen strawberries in place of fresh. Just defrost them before using in this recipe.
• Cream Cheese: Regular cream cheese works better than low-fat cream cheese in this recipe. But, if that’s all you have it will still work. It just won’t melt down as nicely as original cream cheese.
• Cake Mix: White cake mix or yellow cake mix both work in this recipe.
• Sprite: Sprite helps the cake to cook evenly throughout.
• Butter: The little pads of butter on top help the cake to fully cook through in all the spots so there aren’t any dry pockets.

Looking for other camping dessert ideas? Try out this these dutch oven camping desserts.

How to make Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake

1. Prepare Dutch Oven

Line your dutch oven with parchment paper (or dutch oven parchment paper liners). The parchment paper makes clean up a breeze, but you can also use cooking spray or butter to coat the inside of the dutch oven.

2. Add strawberries

Dump the strawberry pie filling into the bottom of the dutch oven. If using fresh or frozen strawberries, place them in the bottom of the dutch oven and them sprinkle the sugar on top.

3. Add cream cheese

Dollop small spoonfuls of cream cheese across the top. The smaller the dollops of cream cheese, the more it incorporates into the cake when cooking.

4. Cover with cake mix

Dump the cake mix on top, spreading across the top evenly.

5. Top with Liquid and Butter

Pour Sprite evenly over the top of the dry cake mix.

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

6. 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).

Charcoal numbers are based on a 12″ dutch oven. If you have a smaller dutch oven, lower the number of coals, but keep the 2:1 ratio of coals on top to coals on bottom the same.

Cook for approximately 30-40 minutes. Cooking times are approximate and will depend on air temperature and well as wind conditions.

5. Enjoy!

Whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream are both amazing on this strawberry dump cake.

Let me know if you make this strawberry cheesecake dump cake! I hope everyone in your camping crew enjoys it.