Have you ever thought about the scorching heat your Car Dashboard endures on a sunny day? Joe Brown, a TikTok content creator, decided to put that heat to the test, not for car repair, but for cooking! While you might be more accustomed to thinking about your car dashboard for its gauges, infotainment system, or maybe even a place to stick your phone, Brown saw it as an unconventional oven. His experiment with baking gummy pizza on his dashboard, though requiring a 20-minute cleanup, was just the beginning of his sun-powered culinary adventures. This exploration into dashboard cooking raises some interesting questions about car dashboard temperatures and the potential (and pitfalls) of using your vehicle as a solar oven.
Brown’s journey into viral video fame began before the gummy pizza incident. Initially, he was just a 20-year-old movie theater employee with a modest TikTok following. When the COVID lockdown shuttered the theater, he sought entertainment in his Gilbert, Arizona backyard. His first viral hit? Successfully cooking an egg on the sidewalk. This quirky experiment garnered thousands of new followers, sparking the idea for an outdoor cooking series. What started as a bit of fun soon evolved into rooftop grilling and eventually, dashboard cooking in his hot car. From cupcakes to pizza, grilled cheese to pasta, Brown has seemingly cooked it all on his car dashboard. He even ventures beyond cooking, melting candles, crayons, and gummy bears for comedic and visually engaging content. One memorable video features a tray of gummy bears transforming into a melted, gooey spectacle on his roof, eventually dripping down his driveway – a testament to the intense heat.
Living in a hot climate ourselves, we were particularly intrigued by Brown’s car dashboard cooking exploits. The idea of harnessing the sun’s energy via your car dashboard is certainly novel. So, how exactly does one bake a cake on a car dashboard? Brown’s method involves using metal and foil-lined pans to maximize heat absorption. He strategically angles the pans, especially on the car dashboard, tilting them towards the windshield to further intensify the solar heat. According to Brown, he waits for dashboard temperature readings to exceed 200°F (around 93°C) before starting the cooking process, which typically takes about three hours.
Using foil-lined metal pans and tilting them toward the windshield can increase your in-car temperature.
Maximize your car dashboard’s cooking potential by using foil-lined metal pans and tilting them towards the windshield to trap solar heat.
However, before you rush out to turn your car dashboard into a solar-powered kitchen, it’s crucial to consider the potential mishaps and, most importantly, food safety. Brown himself has experienced minor burns and emphasizes the necessity of oven mitts when handling hot pans from the rooftop or car. It’s also vital to let the food cool slightly before consumption to avoid burns. But beyond burns, there are more serious concerns. Cooking food at relatively low temperatures for extended periods, as is the case with dashboard cooking, significantly increases the risk of foodborne illnesses. Bacteria thrive in temperatures between 40°F and 140°F (4°C and 60°C), and food left in this “danger zone” for over two hours can become hazardous. Brown’s own experience with “rancid” rooftop pancakes, which led to a trip to urgent care, serves as a stark reminder of these risks. And let’s not forget the less glamorous, but equally important, question: how clean is your car dashboard, or your rooftop for that matter?
Considering these food safety hazards, we opted for a recipe with a lower risk of bacterial contamination for our own car dashboard baking experiment: wacky cake. This recipe, originating from the Great Depression when eggs and milk were scarce, relies on ingredients like flour, sugar, cocoa, oil, salt, vinegar, and baking powder. It omits dairy and eggs, ingredients more prone to spoilage in less-than-ideal cooking conditions. The batter is made with warm coffee or water, giving the cake a slight head start in heating. To ensure safety, we also planned to continuously monitor the internal temperature of the cake using a probe thermometer. If the temperature remained below 140°F for more than two hours, we were prepared to discard it.
Another advantage of wacky cake for dashboard cooking is its cocoa color. Achieving browning in baking depends on the Maillard reaction, a complex chemical process requiring protein, sugar, and high heat. Since car dashboard temperatures are unlikely to reach the 300°F (149°C) needed for significant browning in a reasonable timeframe, recipes like Brown’s pale pancakes and grilled cheese make sense. The dark cocoa in wacky cake, however, would make the lack of browning less noticeable.
Finally, wacky cake recipes typically benefit from quick baking immediately after mixing, thanks to the reaction between vinegar and baking soda creating air bubbles for a light texture. Our concern was that the slower baking process on the car dashboard might result in a denser cake. However, we hoped the recipe’s other benefits would outweigh this potential drawback.
On baking day, with the forecast promising peak heat, our car dashboard reached 176°F (80°C) by noon. We placed a foil-covered tray and a parchment-lined metal springform pan on the dashboard to preheat, much like preheating an oven.
Wacky cake batter is leavened only with baking soda, so the bubbles are delicate and short-lived.
Wacky cake batter’s delicate bubbles, created by baking soda, necessitate speed, a challenge in dashboard cooking.
After about 45 minutes of preheating, we prepared the wacky cake batter indoors. As expected, the batter immediately started to bubble, emphasizing the need for speed. To minimize heat loss from the preheated pan, we quickly transferred the batter to the car. Sitting inside the hot car with the baking pan on our lap was an experience in itself! Pouring the batter into the pan in the confined space proved challenging, highlighting the less-than-ideal ergonomics of car dashboard baking.
Experiment 1: The springform pan.
Our first car dashboard baking experiment utilized a springform pan.
We inserted the probe thermometer and retreated indoors, anticipating cake in approximately three hours. However, an hour later, a check-up revealed a less-than-perfect situation.
Experiment 1, Hour 1: Disaster struck.
My first attempt at dashboard cooking was a literal hot mess.
Our initial dashboard cooking attempt turned into a messy spill, proving the instability of car dashboard baking.
Our first attempt at car dashboard cooking was, quite literally, a hot mess. The springform pan had slid off the dashboard, flipping upside down onto the foil-lined tray. While most of the batter was contained within the pans, a significant puddle landed on the car seat. Despite the setback, we considered it a partial success – proof that baking was indeed happening on the dashboard, albeit somewhat chaotically.
Saved by some kind of cake-pan gymnastics. Whew.
Cake-pan gymnastics saved the day, preventing a complete car dashboard baking catastrophe.
For our second attempt, we switched to a mini muffin tin, hoping for better stability and faster cooking. After preheating the muffin tin on the dashboard to 185°F (85°C), we filled each muffin cup with batter and carefully wedged the tin to prevent another spill.
Experiment 2, Hour 1:
I set up my mini muffin pan with a probe thermometer for easy monitoring.
A mini muffin pan, equipped with a probe thermometer, was used for our second, more controlled car dashboard baking experiment.
After an hour, the mini cakes were cooking, but not springing back to the touch, indicating they were likely baking from the top down, like a giant, slow Easy-Bake Oven powered by the sun.
Hour 2:
Two hours in, the mini cakes were hot and dry to the touch, reaching an internal temperature of 193°F (89°C). While cake is typically considered done at around 200°F (93°C), we hoped the smaller size and eggless batter might compensate.
The internal temperature of my dashboard cupcakes reached an incredible 193 F.
Car dashboard cupcakes achieved an impressive internal temperature of 193°F (89°C).
The resulting dashboard wacky cakes were sunken in the middle and had crunchy edges, but overall, they were recognizably cake-like.
Dashboard wacky cake doesn’t rise to the occasion as well as the oven version, but it’s not bad.
While not as fluffy as oven-baked, car dashboard wacky cake is a surprisingly decent result of solar cooking.
After cooling, the mini cakes released from the pan relatively easily, though some crumbled.
Oops. Dashboard cake turned into dashboard crumbs.
Car dashboard cake can be fragile, sometimes resulting in crumbs rather than perfect cupcakes.
Despite the crumbly texture and dense crumb, the final result was edible.
Dashboard cake started out a hot mess, but it cleaned up pretty nicely.
Despite a messy start, car dashboard cake can yield a presentable, if not perfect, baked good.
So, should you attempt to turn your car dashboard into an oven? While car dashboard cooking is certainly possible and a fun experiment, it’s not exactly practical for everyday baking. The long cooking times, food safety concerns, and potential for messy spills make it more of a novelty than a reliable cooking method. However, as Joe Brown’s TikToks demonstrate, there’s value in experimentation and curiosity. His dashboard cooking adventures, while whimsical, highlight the intense heat that car dashboards can reach, a point worth remembering for pet and child safety in vehicles during hot weather. If you’re inspired to experiment, prioritize food safety, use a thermometer, and maybe stick to less precarious recipes than a full-sized springform cake on your car dashboard. And perhaps, consider exploring other, safer and more efficient methods of harnessing solar energy or reducing energy consumption in your daily life, like using slow cookers or simply enjoying fresh, no-cook fruits and vegetables. As for Joe Brown, he’s moved on to toasting Eggo waffles on his car dashboard and exploring ways to use his platform for good, like promoting awareness about the dangers of hot cars. Perhaps his most valuable takeaway message is to embrace curiosity, experiment safely, and always be mindful of food safety – and car dashboard temperatures!
