I am sure that some of you are probably sitting there blinking right now, but canning a cake is one of the coolest, handiest and easiest things ever. I discovered it several years ago while reading one of those country living sort of magazines. We use the technique on a regular basis in order to have a shelf-stable, but yummy, dessert on no notice. Canning a cake allows us to have just a couple of portions for each person and then be done with it. No overeating and no stale cake. But it is also a great way to take a cake to a camping event. No smushed cakes, and just in case you don’t actually eat it all (unlikely) nothing wasted.

So how does one accomplish this not so modern miracle? Canning supplies and a good recipe. My very favorite is an old-fashioned pound cake. I have had mixed results with things like banana bread, but once you have had success with a basic pound cake you should experiment to find other options that you like. Be sure to read the instructions ALL THE WAY THROUGH before you make this so that you can have all of the equipment that you will need ready to go.

Canned Pound Cake Recipe

3 cups of sifted flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup butter

3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 large eggs

1 cup of milk

7- 1 pint Freezer/Canning Jars

A note about using the correct canning jars: Freezer Jars are wide mouth jars that are smaller at the bottom than at the top. Do NOT use regular canning jars that have an opening smaller than the largest part of the jar – the cake will NOT come out in one piece. This picture shows the shape jar that you want to use.

front of new pint & half jar (Photo credit: Marisa | Food in Jars)

Clean and grease your jars (I use shortening on a paper towel). Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and the salt together and set aside. Cream the shortening, sugar and butter together. Add the eggs to the shortening mixture – one at a time, beating in between. Add the vanilla and the milk to the shortening mixture, beating to incorporate. Slowly add in the flour mixture, while beating. Scrape the bowl thoroughly and then mix for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Fill the jars 1/2 full. Be careful to clean the top rims of the jars. Place the jars on a baking sheet in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Test with a toothpick to make sure they are done.

While the cake is cooking, clean and heat the jar lids in hot water and have your rings ready to use. Place a large cookie cooling rack, or a cutting board covered with a towel on the counter next to the oven and have a couple of good quality oven mitts or pot holders ready. You will need to be able to handle the hot jars and lids quickly and safely when the cakes are done. You can also use a canning jar lifter to remove the jars from the oven. Remember the jars are 350°F.

When the cakes are done, turn off the oven. Keep the oven closed. Quickly dry a hot jar lid with a piece of clean paper towel. Take the jars out ONE AT A TIME. Check the top of the jar to make sure that it is clean, place the lid on the jar, screw on the band, turn the jar upside down and allow it to cool on the rack or towel. Repeat until all of your jars are sealed. Once the jars are completely cooled, check the seal of each jar. If the jar has not sealed use the cake within a week. If the jar is sealed properly, label and store the jar in a cool dark location. I am not really sure how long they will last, because we have always eaten them within 3 months, but they should last at least 6 months.

To serve, open the jar, dump out the cake, and slice it. Our favorite dessert when camping is this cake with canned peaches in a bowl. Yum! Use your imagination, and remember – when canning cleanliness is above godliness – clean hands, clean counter, clean equipment and clean fresh paper towels are your friends. Enjoy!

The Pennsic War is unique in the SCA. To my knowledge it is the only two week long war that is scheduled every year. While there are plenty of food merchants at this event, if you want to eat your own food for the entire time, it is definitely possible, it just takes a bit more planning.

So how do you camp for more extended periods of time? Well, we use a combination of the tactics that we have already discussed and a few other handy tricks. The first trick, which we sometimes use even for week long events, is to freeze gallon jugs of drinking water in the deep freeze. You must purchase drinking water in plastic bottles with screw tops. The pop-off tops will fall off from the pressure of the ice when the water freezes.

We use two or three of these frozen gallon containers in the bottom of a five day cooler. This cooler is dedicated completely to zero degree frozen food. The food is packed into the cooler, the top is shut tightly and a blanket or quilt is used to increase the insulation factor. We are extra careful to keep this cooler away from the wall of the tent, especially if that wall gets sun. The more stable that you can keep the temperature, the better. This arrangement will usually keep the food in the cooler completely frozen for four to six days, especially if you have frozen the food in blocks. When the gallons of water are finally melted they become an excellent source of safe cold water for drinking.

So, you can rely on fresh food for two to four days, then frozen meals for 2 to four days, and then? Well, there are some “fresh” foods which are just plain less susceptible to spoilage than others, for instance, carrots and ham. A ham steak, with canned yams and biscuits makes a lovely dinner. As long as you keep the ham on ice it will keep for weeks. I usually carry water proof boxes of flour, and brown sugar with me. Canned yams + brown sugar + butter + frying pan = candied yams. Yum! Carrots will keep for weeks if you keep them from drying out. Boil them and serve with a little butter, or candy them. Delicious and nutritious either way. Oh, and you can even buy canned ham – that is good for years. Which brings me to another topic – canning.

Canned food (Photo credit: excelglen)

Obviously you can always resort to commercially canned food (commercially prepared dehydrated food, too). Almost anything that you can think of comes in a can – soup, stew, hot dogs and beans, meat, fish… But, yes, we can our own food to take camping – beef roast in broth is just as good canned as fresh. We have even experimented with canned soup concentrates, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, cookies and cake, all of which were yummy.

Our goal when we camp is to have safe, delicious food that takes a minimum amount of preparation. As merchants our schedule is often dictated by the presence of customers, but good food is still important to our health and general well-being.

Next Time: Eating Well When You Camp – Canning a Cake

So last time we discussed some ideas about what sorts of pre-cooked home-made dinners could be vacuum packed and reheated in hot water. This food is truly yummy – after all you made it yourself, but extra calories are often a mandate when you are camping. So what can you do that will be yummy, and maybe even a little healthy? Now first of all, let me say that I use very few preprocessed foods at home when I cook, but I have found a few that are truly awesome, especially when camping.

Dehydrated potatoes. A standard for our camping events. You can buy them completely plain, and rehydrate them with milk and butter, or by the “butter flavored” version and just add boiling water. They take less than 5 minutes to make, and they are darn good. Some versions even come with things like cheese and bacon – check it out in the pasta aisle.

Couscous and couscous blends. Be sure to read the instructions well to be sure of what you are buying. Some of these products are almost totally instant – add boiling water, allow to sit, fluff it up with a fork and serve.

Dehydrated stuffed pasta meals. I try not to mention brand names, but Barilla makes some really good pasta dishes – ricotta & spinach, and three cheese. A two person package is small, shelf stable, and cooks up in about 10 minutes in boiling water. You can serve it as a meal, or a side dish. Add butter, or sauce, depending on what you prefer. These meals also come in a four person serving size. The quantity is fairly generous.

Pre-made Roll Biscuits. These are the biscuits that come in the tubes, usually in the dairy section at the grocery. We rarely use them at home – we prefer to make rolls from scratch, but they cook up really well in our little camp oven. Be careful not to burn them, some camp ovens are a bit fussy. Once you have conquered biscuits you can also buy breakfast rolls and cookie dough. We often make our cookie dough at home, create uniform cookies with a scoop, and freeze the uncooked cookie dough. If you want instant friends at a camping event bake up some fresh chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon rolls in camp.

2009-03-12 – Potatoes & Biscuits – 0007 (Photo credit: smiteme)

Canned Fruit, V-8 Juice, individual fruit cups, granola bars, individual yogurt cups, individual fruit juice drinks, and store-bought cookies are only a few of the other items that you can add to your basic cooked meals to make them special. Reheated Roast Pork and gravy served with applesauce and freshly baked biscuits – not a bad way to finish the day. “Cheating” by adding a V-8 juice or fruit juice during the day helps to up the “healthy factor” on your diet, and obviously reading the labels and choosing your products carefully makes a huge difference.

We even carry an emergency kit for my Service Dog that includes a container of shelf-stable pre-cooked rice and a can of chicken stock. This will actually work for people with upset tummies, too. We rarely need it, but it is cheap insurance.

As someone who regularly camps at SCA events for a week or more, having something safe and yummy to eat is a very important thing to me. And you may ask: But What do We do for a REALLY long war like Pennsic? Next week.