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Dehydrated Trail Cake

Mon, 04/06/2009 - 20:55 — Sarah

Summary

Yield
Servings
Prep time6 hours

Description

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.

Ingredients

2 1⁄2call-purpose flour
2 1⁄2tbaking powder
1tbaking soda
1⁄4tsalt
1 1⁄4csugar
3⁄4cunsweetened applesauce
1tvanilla extract
3⁄4cegg whites
1cnonfat milk

Instructions

At home:

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 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 through 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 Tbsp 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 ;-)

Notes

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 its 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.

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Comments

Tue, 11/06/2012 - 19:28 — LexingtonNC

Recipe substitutions

Can substitute 1 tsp flax meal per egg. Normally all the egg is for is to act as a binder and the flax meal performs this duty just fine. Won't hurt to add a little extra flax meal, but it is oily so don't get carried away.

Wed, 11/07/2012 - 22:08 — Sarah

Yes

I do flaxseed eggs all the time for baking - I use 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 Tablespoons water and let hydrate for 10 to 15 minutes, so it thickens. Good, healthy and full of fiber.

Thu, 07/01/2010 - 12:15 — servingbrother

Sweet Potatoe

Got a sweet tooth on the trail and want a healthy snack.  How about a dehydrated sweet potatoe.  I'm not a hiker, but I was a Survival Instructor and I dehydrate for food storage.  First get a sweet potatoe and bake, boil, or steam.  I steam mine for about 15 minutes in a pressure cooker.  When the potatoe is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin.  After removing the skin, I put mine on a piece of wax paper and mash it up.  Then I turn the potatoe over onto my dehydrating tray with the wax paper on top now, and peel the wax paper off.  Now take a knife or pizza roller and cut it into squares before dehydrating, (you could also use a cookie cutter if you want to be get fancy).  Just make the cuts, they will be easier to take off the trays and bag after dehydrating.  I set my dehydrator on 135 and let go for about 8 hours.  When I dehydrate sweet potatoes I usually do 9 trays at a time so the time may not take as long with less.  After they have been dehydrated, just peel the sqaures off the tray and bag 'em.  I vacuum seal mine for storage.  When rehydrating, just add boiling  water and wait a few minutes.  For a special treat you can add a little cinnamon before dehydrating.

Sat, 09/05/2009 - 17:35 — tothetrail

Tried it with brownies!

After baking plain brownie mix, I dehydrated the cut-up brownies. Smashed the brownie to bits with a meat tenderizer in a bag. Added a cup of the bits to a zip top bag and added about a tablespoon of boiling water, adding additional drops, if needed, and kneaded the bag. Too much water made it taste kind of bland. Then topped it with chopped walnuts and mixed them in. It only took a couple of minutes to rehydrate.

Just like you said, it tasted like warm brownies, right out of the oven.

Thanks for the idea!

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 19:42 — Sarah

Yum!

I will have to try that way out :-)

Sun, 04/12/2009 - 19:28 — waterbug920

Healthy Spice Cake

To make a really yummy, nearly fat free,very high fiber cake, try 1 small can of packed pumpkin and a small amount of water added to spice cake mix, leaving out the oil and eggs.  Cooking time is longer, just watch your toothpick test. 

You can also combine 1 can of soda (I use diet) with a package of cake mix, leaving out oil, eggs, and water.  Some good combos:  Sierra Mist and yellow cake mix, Cherry Coke and dark chocolate cake.... 

Try em out sometime, I think you'll like it!

Tue, 04/14/2009 - 11:01 — Sarah

Ooh, sounds good!

I love adding pumpkin and it dehydrates really well. Great in brownies also.

I have to try the pop idea - sounds neat.