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Season 6

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Easy Camping Meals – Soldiers Fruit Cake on the Weber

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During a recent visit to the Charleville WW11 Secret Base we discovered the story of the soldiers fruit cake and were inspired to learn more about this war time tradition.

With their loved ones scattered all over the country and world, holding together the front lines against enemy forces, the symbol of this simple fruit cake became one of love, hope and comfort. Wives and mothers all across Australia would bake their family fruit cake in what was known at the time as a Willow cake tin, bundle it up in calico and send it through the post to their solider. 

History tells that many of these cake tins travelled hundreds of miles across Australia and the world, back and forth between the war and the safety of the soldier’s home town. 

 

Ingredients

  • 750g bag mixed fruit (or individual portions of currants, raisins, sultanas, Glaće cherries, dates, mixed peel etc)
  • 125ml Brandy
  • 250g butter
  • 300g sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 375g flour
  • Tsp baking powder
  • Tsp mixed spice
  • 100g flaked almonds

Instructions

  1. Set up your Weber for indirect cooking at a low heat.
  2. Line a deep cake tin with greaseproof paper.
  3. Combine your dried fruit in a bowl and cover with Brandy. Leave or as long as desired (or overnight).
  4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.
  5. Add sifted flour, baking powder and spice into butter and egg mixture. Mix well. 
  6. Add Fruit mixture and nuts, stir well.
  7. Spoon cake mixture into prepared tin and bake for 3-4 hours on a very low heat.

Tips

  1. If you don’t want to use alcohol, apple juice works well in place of the Brandy.
  2. Once cooked, leave your cake to cool in the tin, wrap well in foil and store in an air-tight container.
  3. We found the lowest Weber heat setting was still cooking the cake too quickly, which resulted in a slight burning of the bottom and sides. To avoid this, wrap your cake tin in a couple of layers of foil to protect the bottom and sides during cooking.

Other Easy Camping Meals

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SEAFOOD SAGANAKI FRASER ISLAND

Easy Camping Meals – Seafood Saganaki on the Weber

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We recently had the great pleasure of filming an episode with the fantastic crew from Channel 7’s hit lifestyle TV show, Creek to Coast. If you haven’t seen the program, be sure to check it out on Saturday’s at 5.30pm or stream online via 7plus.com.au. During that time we were able to put one of our easy camping meals to the test.

We caught up with Sally Jenyns, Creek to Coast resident chef, who showed us her version of a Greek Seafood Saganaki, an all-in-one-dish taste sensation!

So where better than the world’s largest sand island, K’Gari Fraser Island, to give this fantastic recipe a go! With only a handful of ingredients and only one dish required, not only is this a super easy meal to make on the go, it’s also a super easy cleanup (which is always a winner in our opinion!).

Ingredients

  • Dash olive oil
  • Thinly sliced brown onion
  • Thinly sliced fennel bulb
  • Thinly sliced garlic clove (or teaspoon of crushed garlic)
  • 1 can of tinned diced tomatoes
  • Sliced kalamata olives
  • Fresh white fish, cut into bite sized pieces (we use Snapper)
  • 1 fresh squid sleeve, cut into bite sized pieces and scored
  • Fresh prawns
  • Feta cheese
  • Fennel leaves for garnish

Instructions

  1. Using your Weber frypan, fry off onion, fennel and garlic in olive oil.
  2. Add tinned tomatoes and kalamata olives and stir, cook for a few minutes.
  3. Add your seafood – fish, prawns and then squid – and cover with the tomato sauce. Close Weber lid and cook for a few minutes.
  4. When your seafood is cooked, sprinkle dish with crumbled feta and serve immediately.
  5. Dress with fennel leaves and enjoy! Yum!

K’Gari Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island

Other Easy Camping Meals

Follow our Lap Around Australia