Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake

It was a little chilly on our last campout to Dauphin Island in Alabama.  The perfect weather to break out the Dutch Oven and cook over an open flame.   Pineapple Upside Down Cake was the first thing we made when we got a Dutch Oven last year.  It was so good, and easy to make that we decided to make it again on this trip.

Ingredients 

A recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake came with the Dutch Oven when we bought it.  We tweaked it a bit, but it’s really just following the cake recipe on the box of your  favorite cake mix with a few adjustments.

• 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 (20 oz) Pineapple Slices Canned
• 1/2 Cup of Pineapple Juice from the Can
• Maraschino Cherries (As many as you fit!)
• 3 Eggs ( Or as many as your box recipe tells you)
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
• 1/3 Vegetable Oil (We replaced this with Milk)
• Cooking Spray

Directions

The Set Up

Prepare your charcoal briquettes, you will need about  21 of them.  The easiest way is with a chimney starter.  Let them heat up for about 20-30 minutes.

 I highly recommend getting these Dutch Oven foil inserts  in the size of your oven or these casserole inserts I got at the grocery store.  They  will save you so much time when cleaning the oven and make flipping the cake easier.  Spray the liner very well with cooking spray.

  Place your pineapple rings on the bottom of the pan.  We used only five.  If you have a bigger Dutch Oven you may need more.

Next add the maraschino cherries.  My kids love these cherries, so they went everywhere there was a space. So pretty!

Add the brown sugar and cinnamon on top the pineapples and cherries.  Set aside.

Mix It Up

In a medium bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, milk (or oil), and pineapple juice. Mix well.

Pour mixture over the pineapples and cherries.  Place the foil liner into the Dutch Oven.

Bake 

Now comes the tricky part.  How many coals (briquettes) you need to place on the top and bottom of the Dutch Oven.  I will tell you that we had too many on the bottom and burned the bottom of the cake.  Oops!  We just cut that part off, and it still tasted great anyway.  Second attempt, we used fewer coals on the bottom.  So depending on the size of your oven, ours is a 10 inch,  you  should  use  14 on top and 7 on the bottom.  This is according to the manual, not my husband. 

This should get your oven up to  about 350 degrees.  Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes.

To find a dutch oven like the one I use click here.

Enjoy

Carefully, using hot pads, take the foil liner out of the oven and flip it over onto a plate.  Hopefully it comes out in one piece.  Cross your fingers.

Attempt number two worked!  It sunk a little in the middle, but it tasted so good.  Good luck when trying this at your next campout and if you do send me a picture of your masterpiece.  Check out another cake recipe we did earlier in the year, Cherry Coke Camp Cake.

To find these  cool camping bowls that I use click here.

Happy Camping!

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