Orange Almond Campfire Cakes

You don’t need any fancy camping gadgets to wow fellow campers with these cakes baked inside oranges. You’ll simply need a fire, some heavy-duty tinfoil, and some spoons to dig in! Since these cakes are also egg and dairy free you can make the batter before you leave home and not worry about keeping it refrigerated until it’s time to eat. You want to prep everything in advance and simply fill and wrap the oranges at your campsite for a hassle free execution.

Orange Almond Campfire Cakes

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: makes 7 mini cakes

INGREDIENTS

For the Orange Almond Cakes

• 8 navel oranges (reserve zest and juice of 1 orange)

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 cup almond meal

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup canola oil

• 2/3 cup maple syrup

• Splash vanilla extract

• ¾ cup almond milk
  

For the Orange Glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar

•  Zest of half an orange (from the reserved orange zest noted above)

•  Almond or soy milk to thin

DIRECTIONS

Take 7 of the 8 oranges and cut the tops off to form lids (approximately 1 inch tall). Hollow out the insides, first cutting along the edges with a small knife and then using a spoon to dig out the flesh. You might as well eat the insides as you go! Rinse and dry the hollowed out oranges and lids. Zest and juice the remaining orange and set aside. This will be used in both the cake batter and the glaze.

In a large bowl sift together flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium sized bowl whisk together canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, reserved orange juice, ½ of the reserved orange zest and the almond milk. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until the batter is smooth. Place the batter into a Tupperware or a large heavy duty Ziplock bag for easy packing.

In a medium sized bowl mix together icing sugar, other ½ of reserved orange zest and almond milk. Generally you want your glaze to be the consistency of thick honey but since you are making this in advance I would suggest to make it a slight bit runnier than normal so that it doesn’t dry out over time. Store in a small Tupperware or well-sealed Ziplock bag.

Before you leave on your adventure be sure you bring the hollowed out oranges, the cake batter, the glaze, a roll of heavy-duty tin foil, some spoons and whatever you need to start your fire.

Get your fire going and ensure there is enough space around the bottom of it to place all 7 oranges. You do not want to cook the cakes directly on top of the fire (but if the flame lightly licks the sides of the oranges that is okay). Fill the hollowed out oranges ¾ of the way up with batter and put the lid on each. Wrap them in foil and place at the bottom of the fire. These should take anywhere from 30-45 minutes but it depends on how big and hot your fire is blazing. Check the cakes in 15 minute increments to see how they are coming along, turning them halfway through cooking time. The cakes are done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Unwrap the oranges from the foil, top with orange glaze and dig in!