When my friend and co-worker Jann wanted to make a birthday cake for her grandson, Evan, she decided to make a Campfire Cake. Jann and her husband, Tom, own a cabin in northern Minnesota and often entertain their grandkids there. In the evenings on a cool night they sit around a campfire and roast marshmallows to make s’mores. It’s their family tradition to make s’mores more interesting by using different chocolate candy bars rather than the traditional milk chocolate bars.
Jann made a few changes to the Campfire Cake recipe (below). She:
- Purchased candy stones (online) and used them for the ring around the campfire and didn’t use the chocolate wafer cookies
- Used a scratch butter cream frosting instead of the ready-to-spread frosting from a can
- Baked the cake in a 10-inch spring-form pan at 340°F for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center came out clean. After cooling for 15 minutes, she and ran a knife around the sides of the pan and removed the sides of the pan and let it cool completely before decorating it.
Here is Evan on his 9th birthday.
Campfire Cake
Prep: 50 Min
Ready in: 2 Hr
1 (18.25-oz.) package any flavor cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs
5 individually wrapped red cinnamon hard candy disks, unwrapped
5 individually wrapped yellow butterscotch hard candy disks, unwrapped
1 (16-oz.) can vanilla frosting
10 to 15 chocolate wafer cookies
8 to 10 pretzel rods, broken in half
6 to 8 miniature marshmallows
4 bamboo skewers
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Prepare and bake cakes as directed on package, using water, oil and eggs. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; place on wire racks. Cool 45 minutes or until completely cooled.
2. Meanwhile, line 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place red and yellow candies in freezer plastic bag. Finely crush candies with hammer or flat side of meat mallet. Pour crushed candies into sprayed foil-lined pan; spread in thin layer. Bake at 350°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until candies are completely melted. Cool melted candies completely before handling.
3. Place 1 cake layer bottom side up on serving plate; spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with second layer, bottom side down. Spread very thin layer of frosting on sides of cake to seal crumbs. Spread remaining frosting evenly on sides and top of cake.
4. Break chocolate wafer cookies into large pieces. Press broken cookies onto sides of cake, arranging to resemble rock wall. Arrange pretzel pieces on top of cake to resemble logs of campfire. Break cooled sheets of melted red and yellow candies into pointed shards. Insert candy pieces in top of cake in and around pretzel "logs" to resemble flames. Place 1 or 2 marshmallows on pointed ends of bamboo skewers. Insert blunt end of skewers around "flames" with marshmallow ends pointing toward center of cake.
5. When ready to serve, remove decorations; cut cake into wedges. Serve decorations with cake.
12 servings