Tango Spice Test Kitchen: February 2013

On a particularly chilly Sunday in January we were out back again trying another Dutch Oven recipe experiment. So far the Dutch Oven cooking has been a lot of fun and has yielded some great food. Of course, as you notice that I have not gotten into doing coal counts - yet. I will definitely be getting into that very soon, but for now, just placing the oven over a small fire has worked out great.

This cook was for a dessert - and what better dessert for a Dutch oven than pineapple upside down cake. I know, I could have made peach cobbler, but there was a can of pineapple in the cupboard so that is what made up my mind.

As usual, a couple of Tango Spices found their way into the mix. Yes, this is a recipe that uses not one but two of our blends - Double Spiced!

Dutch Oven Double Spiced Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 15 oz Can Sliced Pineapple / drained - reserve juice

1 Box Pilsbury Yellow Cake Mix

1 Box Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 TBS Tango Spice Southwest Sunset

1 Cup Reserved Pineapple Juice

1/2 Cup Canola Oil

4 Eggs

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Stick Butter

1 TBS Tango Spice Midnight Espresso

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients well. In a separate bowl lightly whisk eggs to break the yokes. Add the pineapple juice and oil, blend together.

Pour the egg / juice mixture into the dry and gently mix together - do not over mix it.

Over a nice little fire, we placed a grate to take the place of a trivet. Our dutch oven does not have legs so we improvise. The grate did keep the oven away from the heat, I think it worked out pretty well.

Place the dutch over over the fire, add a stick of butter and let it melt. Once melted add about a cup of brown sugar. The sugar we used was from Compare Foods and is there store made, which real good, less sticky than regular brown sugar. To this added about a TBS of Midnight Espresso (or more). Spread that out evenly.

Place the pineapple slices over the buttery sugar evenly and then pour the batter over it and smooth it out.

Put the Dutch oven over the fire, and place a ring of coals along the edge of the lid.

Here is where I lost track of the time, so I just lifted the lid and checked the cake. It's all a learning curve and as I get better I will keep track of times and temps so I can pass on some better tips.

After maybe 20 minutes or so on the fire the cake looked done, as the edges were pulling away and had just a hint of dark brown. When I turned the Dutch over a couple of the pineapple rings stuck, but they came off easily with a spatula. The darkened pineapple & brown sugar tasted like candy, which is a good thing.

The cake was moist and fluffy, almost like sponge cake, and with the Southwest Sunset it had a nice kick to it.

So, all in all it was a great cook! This will be dessert again real soon!

Thank you to Joanie & Dean over at Outdoor Cast Iron Cooking for the inspiration!