super surprise birthday cake!

a few weeks back, i came across a recipe in my Campbell cookbook "Cooking With Soup" (1968) that completely baffled me at first: Tomato Soup Cake. After looking over the ingredients, i noticed that it essentially is a spice cake that has added fruit to make it nice & moist. you could make this same cake with applesauce or pumpkin purée if you please, but tomato soup is a cheaper and much more interesting substitute. after poking around on the internerd, it makes complete sense that this recipe came from the depression era. you could make this cake with just a can of soup, some water & spice cake mix and voilà! you have a cake to please your guests on a budget.

since katie's birthday was coming up, what better than to surprise her and her guests with a mystery cake! everyone thought it was a carrot cake until i told them there was soup in it. after i let the cat out of the bag, everyone was trying their hardest to see if they could taste the tomatoes in it and no one accomplished that at all, not even myself! it was definitely a hit & i would make this again without any hesitation at all.


katie cutting the yummy cake!

i took some liberties with the recipe and added or changed a few ingredients to give it a bit more depth of flavor.

Tomato Soup Cake, à la reannuh!

2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 Cups sugar*
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 Cup UNSALTED butter, softened at room temp.
1 can (10.75 OZ.) reduced sodium condensed tomato soup
2 eggs
1/4 Cup water

*i used the same amount of well packed light brown sugar since that was all i had in my cupboard at the time... i tasted it before pouring & added just a hair bit more so it didn't taste so tomatoey. and in the end, it turned out great!

preheat oven to 350 F. grease & flour two round layer pans (8" or 9"x1 1/2") OR an oblong 13x9 pan. mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. add butter & soup, mix at medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the sides from time to time. add eggs, water & vanilla, mix for 2 more minutes. pour batter into pan(s). bake for 25-30 minutes. let the cake stand in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. once cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting and nom!

you can also add these for different variations:

1 cup of raisins or nuts and increase the time to 35-40 minutes.

or

1 cup of dates and 1 cup of walnuts and increase the time to 40-45 minutes.


Cream Cheese Frosting (from better homes & garden cookbook)
1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar

beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla with mixer until light & fluffy. gradually add powdered sugar until desired consistency. this will frost a two layer cake. for a 13x9 cake, just halve the recipe! once the cake is frosted, be sure to refrigerate it.