Double Chocolate Muffin Cake

Ingredients

2 boxes - Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Muffin Mix of Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Muffin Mix

2 to 4 eggs, 2 for Betty Crocker and 4 for Ghirardelli

1 stick butter

1 can water packed cherries

12oz root beer

18 pound bag of charcoal

Equipment

12 inch Dutch Oven

Directions

The whole process can be performed in the Dutch Oven.

1. If you are using an oven, preheat it to 350 degrees, if charcoal, get it started.
   
2. Melt the stick of butter (you could use it to lightly grease the pan first, see #2),
   
3. Gease the bottom and sides of the Dutch Oven,
4. Add the eggs, and water packed cherries,
5. Add the mixes,
6. Partially mix the ingredients together.
   
7. Add the melted butter, stirring while you slowly pour it in.
8. Mix the batter until mostly smooth.

To bake over charcoal, we'll use the standard formula modified for baked goods. A 12 inch dutch oven takes 12x2+1=25 charcoal brickets to start. You don't want a lot of bottom heat so place 6-7 brickets under the oven and the other 17-18 on top. If you get to much heat on the bottom you'll burn it. It's hard to check the bottom so you have to be very accurate about this. The coals should be placed around the edge of the oven whether the coals are on the bottom of top.

Unless it is very cold, you will probably only have to do this once, but always be prepared to exchange diminished coals for fresh. Also, ash accumulating on the coals retards the heat exchange so tapping the coals on top to knock the ash off will improve their performance. Also if you need to add more coals to the top shake of the ash first.

Bake until a probe pushed into the center of the cake comes out clean and the sides of the cake begin to pull away from the sides of the oven. Don't over bake it.

History

I was an assistant Scout Master with Boy Scout Troop 63 in Williamston Michigan at the time I concocted this recipe. My son's patrol was on a camping trip and we had to make dinner. I had planned on making a dump cake for desert. I had all the ingredients, or so I thought. With a dump cake you typically dump some whole fruit filling in the pot, add some soft dring, mix it a little, add in some melted butter and mix some more. Then dump in the cake mix and bake (no mixing here). It makes something like a cobbler.

So I'm mixing my dump cake and throw in the whole fruit filling and all this liquid comes out of the can of cherries. I had picked up water packed cherries instead of cherry pie filling! Now I was in a pickle. We needed a dessert. So I thought hard and noted that the muffin mix called for water. I said to myself that between the water in the cherries and the Root Beer I would have the liquid covered. So I added in the liquids, dumped in the box mixes, stirred a bit then added the butter and mixed some more. That is what got baked and served for desert. It was REALLY GOOD. So I've been making it ever since. I made it once for a Scout Master's Dutch Oven Dessert bake off and it took first place.

If you try this recipe, please leave a comment.

Thanks,

John Hayes