Dutch Oven Chocolate Depression Cake

Dutch Oven Chocolate Depression Cake is a simple recipe that requires no eggs, butter or milk to bake. This makes it a fantastic recipe for camping. It also bakes wonderfully in a Dutch oven.

It is called a depression cake because it was popular during the Great Depression when certain ingredients were hard to come by or expensive. Or it could be called a depression cake because of the depressions put into the cake before mixing. Either way it’s a moist chocolatey cake that everyone will love.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon White Vinegar
• 5 Tablespoons Oil (vegetable or olive)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Water

Directions

This is a simple recipe to follow. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Next pour the mixture into a greased Dutch Oven liner or directly into a well seasoned Dutch oven.

Then make three depressions or wells into the mixture.

Then pour the vanilla, vinegar and oil into their own depression.

Quickly pour the water over the mixture and stir all the ingredients together. If you are using a Dutch oven liner gently place into the Dutch oven.

Baking

To bake the Dutch Oven Chocolate Depression Cake you should have about 14-16 briquettes on top of the lid and about 7 on the bottom. This will get the temperature close to 350 degrees. I baked this cake directly on the ground because the fire pit at the campground was on a hill. The cake would not have baked evenly.  I use a 10″ Dutch oven when baking.  

We made this cake two nights in a row. The first night I baked it for 30 minutes. It was a little burned on the bottom. The next night I only baked it about 20 minutes and it came out perfect. Baking times will vary with the Dutch oven.

Dutch Oven Chocolate Depression Cake

This was such an easy cake to make while camping at Table Rock State Park in South Carolina. Although I burned the first cake a little on the bottom the boys ate the whole thing and devoured another one the next night. Dutch Oven Chocolate Depression Cake was definitely a hit with them.

Frosting makes it even better!

Give this amazing cake a try on your next campout, even if it’s in your backyard, or try another one of my Dutch oven recipes like Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Happy Camping! (Hopefully Soon!)