Trail Cake (Yes, it is good!)

[sarbar]

I posted this today on my blog:

Trail Cake:

My good friend Ldyblade got this started this past week. On last weekend's hike she showed up with dehydrated chocolate cake. And proceeded to wave under my nose warm cake a few minutes later. Even though she gave me a bite I wanted the whole bag, dangit!

So she let me in on her secret that she had figured out. And I went to work to duplicate it. L had used a boxed mix, but unless I buy organic mixes I can't use them (artificial flavors/colors) so I found a yellow cake recipe to play with, and saved the cost of a mix.

Yellow Cake Mix:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup egg beaters, at room temperature
1 cup nonfat or 1% milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Very lightly grease a 13x9" glass pan.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Mix together the sugar and applesauce, stir in vanilla, milk and eggs.
Add dry ingredients until well blended. I used a hand mixer for this.
Spread batter evenly into pan, using a spatula.
Bake for 27 to 35 minutes on middle rack, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Depending on oven and humidity it may take up to 40 minutes for it.



Now, you might have noticed something. There is nearly no fat in this recipe. And that is the trick you need to follow. Most cake mixes can be made with applesauce or baby prunes (there is also a commercial baking prune mix you can get in the baking aisle). Use a 1:1 ratio of it to oil called for. For eggs, either use egg whites or buy Egg Beaters and use 1/4 cup per egg called for. You may have to bake your cake a bit longer, but that is fine. The applesauce you want unsweetened, as it adds enough sweetness on it's own. What I feel is that next time I make this yellow cake, I am going to make it a spice cake. It would be great for a blustery evening.

Now onto the drying:

I got the dehydrator out but did not line the trays. As much airflow as you can get is needed for this project. I cut strips of cake, then cut them in half, then diced them up, to large crouton size.



I dried them at 135* for 12 hours or so. What you want is crouton style. Hard and crunchy. Think of it this way, you are making cake biscotti.

Rehydration:

I tried two ways. First was doing it chunk style, the second was after running the chunks thru my chopper into smaller pieces/some large powder (you can use a blender). Each bag had 1/4 cup dry cake.

I brought a cup of water to boil, and started with 2 Tbl in each bag, working it in by carefully kneading the bag. In the end the bags took nearly a 1:1 ratio of water to cake. I was happier with the smaller pieces, as it rehydrated almost instantly.

Now you might ask, what does it taste like? Well, it tastes like warm cake. If you watch the water carefully as you add it, it won't be too wet. Even if you do, it is still good. The crumbs come together and it feels like a piece of smushed cake. L has said chocolate cake would be great with some adult beverage drizzled in as part of the water......

Come day 3, you pull cake out, you could be the coolest person in camp ;-)

~Sarah

My Blog Entry

[Skidsteer]

Lord have mercy.

That's the name. 'Have mercy' cake.

Because that's what hiking partners will say when you pull it out,

"Have Mercy, give me some cake!"

[ShakeyLeggs]

Wow I'm going to have to give this a try. hehe it even gives me a reason to buy another dehydrator. I wore out my first one.

[Jimmers]

Wow, that sounds sooo good. Real chocolate cake on the trail...This may be what makes me finally break down and buy my own dehydrator.

[MrHappy]

Wow. This is awesome. Cake is one of my biggest cravings while out there (right after hamburgers, pizza, and ice cream). Thanks so much Sarbar.

[RockStar]

Hey I LOVE cream cheese icing...I'd be willing to lug a plastic can of it out for this. I'll have recruited a few sherpas in no time! lol

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

::: dino bows repeatedly at Sarbar's feet (and does not bite her on the toes ) :::

[Gaiter]

makes me want to get a dehydrator
hmmmm, wonder if i could get coldstone's cake batter ice cream in a freeze dried variety?

[sarbar]

makes me want to get a dehydrator
hmmmm, wonder if i could get coldstone's cake batter ice cream in a freeze dried variety?

I'd be in Hiker Heaven if Cold Stone or Marble Slab would make FD ice cream That stuff should be banned
One area we hike in up here, the town next to it has a CSC, and that is where we pig out afterwards. I had a friend who had never been there, and he was drooling seconds after we walked in.

[Outlaw]

Sarbar, have you ever tried the Adventure Foods chocolate cake mix? I haven't personally, but my buddy did last year (the dirty, rotten SOB wouldn't share any with me! LOL), but he thought it was pretty darn good. It comes with a chocolate frosting that he smeared on after the cake "baked" in a bakepacker. I must say, I was a bit jealous!

[sarbar]

Sarbar, have you ever tried the Adventure Foods chocolate cake mix? I haven't personally, but my buddy did last year (the dirty, rotten SOB wouldn't share any with me! LOL), but he thought it was pretty darn good. It comes with a chocolate frosting that he smeared on after the cake "baked" in a bakepacker. I must say, I was a bit jealous!

I was playing around with the Betty Crocker mixes that make 5 muffins and only need water. I split the mix in half, into two freeze bags. I added 1/4 cup water to one bag, pushed out all air, and kneaded till mixed. I put it in a simmering pot of water for about 20 minutes. It cooked up just like omelets in a bag do

[Outlaw]

It cooked up just like omelets in a bag do

!!! My buddy's didn't resemble anything like what your photos portrayed... it actually looked like a real 6 inch round chocolate cake & with the frosting, it looked like a personal size store bought cake.

May be the bakepacker insert helped with the firmness/texture issue?

[sarbar]

!!! My buddy's didn't resemble anything like what your photos portrayed... it actually looked like a real 6 inch round chocolate cake & with the frosting, it looked like a personal size store bought cake.

May be the bakepacker insert helped with the firmness/texture issue?

The Bakepacker does help quite a bit, as does if you cook the cake in say, a bag with a tie closure (would sit more evenly.) The way I did it, the muffin was laying thin over the whole bag. Still tasty, just ugly I shook it out of the bag, and hence, why it was all broken up.

If I could get myself to carry the weight, I'd probably love the Bakepacker!

[Jimmers]

The Bakepacker does help quite a bit, as does if you cook the cake in say, a bag with a tie closure (would sit more evenly.) The way I did it, the muffin was laying thin over the whole bag. Still tasty, just ugly I shook it out of the bag, and hence, why it was all broken up.

If I could get myself to carry the weight, I'd probably love the Bakepacker!

I've never understood the presentation side of preparing food. If it tastes good, why does it have to look good? (must be my German heritage for practicality) I've eaten plenty of food that looked great, and tasted, well....,not so good before the tabasco.

[tekiechick]

Trail cake: Oh man, I am SO all over that! Being a cake junkie, this might be one of the best pieces of hiking advice/info that I've gotten yet.

...and here I thought I'd have to go cold turkey for six months.

[StarLyte]

Lord have mercy.

That's the name. 'Have mercy' cake.

Because that's what hiking partners will say when you pull it out,

"Have Mercy, give me some cake!"

ha ha you said it Skids....this sounds great!

You should do a presentation/class at the Gathering. Hikers would love that...and anything else to do with food ))

[Pennsylvania Rose]

Can't wait to try it! We've fried up "muffin cakes" (like pancakes made with muffin mix) in the past - but what a mess! I bet this would work with cornbread mix, too. I'll have to try it tonight.

[katagious]

Hmmm, have you tried dehydrating brownies and rehydrating in the same manner?