Advice: cake on the playa?

marcelmouse · Post by **marcelmouse** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 11:49 am

So, my birthday is September 5th....

I've been googling for camping-friendly cake recipies. I've found all manner of dutch-oven cake recipies, and I already have a big-ass dutch oven. However, they all assume cooking in campfires, and placing coals on top of yr. oven. The camp I'm with (Imagenode) has two big gas grills, so most of the recipies I've seen don't apply.

What do y'all think I should do? Seeing as I'm unwilling to face Sep. 5th without CAKE.

My best ideas are:

1) Experiment w/the dutch oven and gas grills here in PDX until I manage to pull off a decent german chocolate cake. Lots of work.

2) Bake my cake on one of the community burn platforms. This sounds sketchy.

Any suggestions?

robbidobbs · Post by **robbidobbs** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:19 pm

i dunno how you can bake it, but here is a faboo recipe for a cake that is nigh impossible to screw up, and it lasts a long time (not that it will once made). i make this every year for myself. enjoy!

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 c cocoa or 2Tb pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2Tbs vinegar (no really!)
3/4 cups oil
2 cups very hot water
1 Tbs vanilla

mix dry, pour in wet except water. Fold in water. Bake 350 for 30 min.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 2:25 pm

Marcelmouse,

Guessing you won't be able to close the grill over the dutch oven, I think I would try tenting it with heavy duty aluminum foil. All you need to do is even the heat out some, you might need to set the oven on a metal plate or something with some rock between the plate and the oven to avoid over heating the bottom.

With a cake does anyone know if you have to make some sort of changes to adjust for altitude?

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 5:41 pm

I've seen oven fixtures for sale for Coleman stoves. I haven't the foggiest idea of how well they work, but they might be an option.

Stormy · Post by **Stormy** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:14 pm

Have you considered bringing a frozen cake? You could keep it on dry ice and not open the cooler, at all, until it's cake time.

Bob A · Post by **Bob A** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 9:36 pm

Make friends with someone with an rv or camper. A lot of them have ovens in them, Like mine. I Didn't really want to turn it on during burning man it will be hot enough already and I don't have A/C. But For a birthday cake cause I'd let you use it.

Bob A

marcelmouse · Post by **marcelmouse** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:53 pm

Stormy wrote:Have you considered bringing a frozen cake? You could keep it on dry ice and not open the cooler, at all, until it's cake time.

Thanks for all yr. responses; I think I like this one the best. I'm going to try the "tenting" thing referred to above, because I really want to try to make a cake out on the playa, but in case of abject failure (or the presence of a more friends than a single cake could satisfy, or sheer gluttony), I'll have a backup.

An ice-cold backup. In fact, maybe an ice-cream cake.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:17 pm

Try this:

Make the cake sponges out here in Babylon...freeze them and put them in the cooler. You can even sandwich it if you're making a mousse cake like schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cake to the uninitiated).

Make your cake syrup and frosting and decorate it up out there. Make the decorating part of the party.

I'd pick my side-masking ingredients very carefully to avoid the MOOP factor. Most side-maskers are extremely MOOPacious. Go with sliced almonds, that's the least scatterable.

Another thing you could do is to make a dobostorte or Opera torte. They're made of very very thin layers, almost like almond paste pancakes, sandwiched with thin layers of chocolate buttercream frosting.

If you want a truly decadent cake, sub one layer for a nice meringue ring. Fold nut meal and cocoa powder into a regular cold meringue, spoon it into a piping bag and pipe out a full layer the same diameter as the other layers.

Or you can be really disgusting and on-topic and make a baked alaska! Cake and ice cream in one unit and it's on fire! Line a ceramic bowl with thin cake sponge, fill it with ice cream of choice, set a cake layer or meringue ring on top and freeze. Keep it in a cooler with dry ice to remain frozen, and make a cold meringue out there. Pipe it on, spray it with Bacardi, light it up and let it burn until the meringue is caramelized, and meanwhile everyone stands around and goes "Oooh! Ahhh! Ooooh! Ahhh!"

You can also make a croque-em-bouche. Lots of little cream puffs stuck together with caramel and set on a platter of almond toffee.

I better stop it here before I really go off and make everyone sick...

Selkie · Post by **Selkie** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:47 am

diane o'thirst wrote: You can also make a croque-em-bouche. Lots of little cream puffs stuck together with caramel and set on a platter of almond toffee.

Oh dear god, Diane O'Thirst my dear, you have just described the most delectable sounding dessert I think I have ever heard of. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Okay, actually I'm trying not to drool on my keyboard.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:38 pm

Thanks a LOT Diane! I think I gained 15 pounds just reading your post!!!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:57 pm

My work here is done!

Don't worry, BAS — I think I gained thirty from reading my own post!

Cruz'n Connie · Post by **Cruz'n Connie** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:13 pm

I just got a request for a wedding cake from a couple planning to get married on the playa.

I will have an RV, but I agree that baking a cake out there doesn't sound appealing.

The Baked Alaska sounds great! Any other ideas?

Stormy · Post by **Stormy** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:51 pm

Cruz'n Connie wrote:I just got a request for a wedding cake from a couple planning to get married on the playa.

I will have an RV, but I agree that baking a cake out there doesn't sound appealing.

The Baked Alaska sounds great! Any other ideas?

How about a premade icecream cake? Bring it in a sealed cooler with dry ice. The guests should love that.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 3:00 pm

I mentioned baked alaska because ice cream can be made on-Playa. All you need is the following:

- Thoroughly chilled ice cream or sherbet or sorbet base, prepared at home and contained in a ziploc bag,

- A large garbage bag,

- Ice,

- A zip-tie,

- A bunch of people standing in a circle.

You place the ziploc of ice cream base in the ice-filled garbage bag, zip-tie it closed, and start tossing it around the circle of people. Keep it moving, keep tossing it around until All Your Base Belongs To Antarctica (i.e., is frozen into ice cream). Easy to transport, no hand-crank machine or electricity needed, a fun interactivity and a good way to cool off during the day

Advice: cake on the playa?

Advice: cake on the playa?

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