Recipes / Dessert
Chocolate orange cakes in the coals
Chocolate cake batter baked in hollowed-out orange halves, wrapped in foil and set in low coals. The peel flavours the cake as it bakes.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 25 min
- Plan ahead
- 2 minutes cooling before unwrapping
- Serves
- 6 (1 orange half each)
Ingredients
Batter
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Set the burners to low, 120 to 160°C (250 to 325°F), stand the parcels upright on the grates and close the lid.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning each parcel a quarter turn after 10 minutes, then test with a skewer as in the recipe.
- Grate the zest from one orange before you cut it. Set the zest aside for the batter.
- Cut the oranges in half across the middle. Scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon, leaving the white pith in place, and take care not to break through the skin.
- Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, oil, vanilla and orange zest. Pour this into the dry mix and stir until just smooth.
- Spoon the batter into the orange halves until each is two-thirds full. Push a piece of chocolate into the middle of each one.
- Wrap each half in two layers of foil. Leave a loose tent of foil over the top so the cake has room to rise, and scrunch the base flat so it stands upright.
- Set the parcels upright on low coals at the edge of the fire, or on the grid just above them. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning each parcel a quarter turn after 10 minutes.
- Open one parcel and test it with a skewer. If the batter is still wet, close it and give them all 5 minutes more.
- Lift the parcels out and leave them for 2 minutes. Open the foil and eat the cake from the peel with a spoon.
Done when: a skewer pushed into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, and the top springs back when pressed.
Tips
- Hot coals burn the peel and the bottom of the cake long before the middle is cooked. Wait until the fire has died down to grey embers.
- A box of chocolate cake mix works well. Half a standard box makes enough for 6 orange halves.
- Drink the scooped-out orange flesh as juice, or serve it on the side with cream or vanilla ice cream.
Baking cake in an orange skin is a campfire trick that scouts and campers have used for decades. The peel works as a small baking tin and gives the cake a bitter orange flavour that pairs well with chocolate. At a braai it is a dessert for the end of the evening, when the meat is off and the coals are fading. For help judging when the fire is ready, see reading your coals.