2 (16 oz) packages frozen whole berry medley: raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries were in ours
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 and 1/4 c. sugar
4 Tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder
1 (15 oz) box Betty Crocker Gluten-Free yellow cake mix
1/4 cup Earthbalance original buttery spread (dairy/casein free)
12 oz. (1 and 1/2 cups) of fruity flavored pop (we used cherry 7up, but the cranberry sierra mist or strawberry kiwi Shasta or black cherry shasta would've been great as well)
cast iron Dutch oven; aluminum foil, cooking spray, campfire down to embers/white charcoals
1. Line the Dutch oven with aluminum foil (a double layer would be worth it, we laid two pieces criss-cross and still had a leak!) and spray the aluminum foil with cooking spray.
2. Mix together the sugar and cornstarch/arrowroot. Pour the sugar/powder mixture over the frozen berries & mix to coat them evenly. Mix in the lemon juice. Dump the mixture into the prepared Dutch oven.
3. Pour the cake mix evenly over the fruit. Use a spoon to drop chunks of the Earth balance along the top of the cake mix (don't stir it!)
4. When you are ready to begin cooking your cobbler (ie, your embers are hot or coals are down to white charcoal so there is a steady, even heat), then pour the pop over the top, but don't mix it in.
5. Place your Dutch oven on some hot embers or pieces of charcoal right next to (not directly in the middle of!) your campfire. The rule of thumb we used is to put roughly twice as many pieces of charcoal on top of the lid as there are below the Dutch oven. Since then I have found this very helpful chart which gives a lot of tips for cooking temperatures using campfires and Dutch ovens.
6. Check your cobbler occasionally to see if the topping is golden and firms up (it shouldn't be sticky/pasty). When it looks like the pictures above, it's done! I can't give you an accurate cook-time because temps and other conditions will vary, but I think ours was done in approximately an hour.
The above recipe is adapted from a recipe I found here which has step-by-step pics and uses canned pie filling in the place of frozen berries. In our photos, we had only used 16 oz of berries, but we all agreed that the topping was disproportionate compared to the berries. We opted to use frozen berries rather than canned pie filling because then we could eliminate the red food dyes often found in them and also save some money!