Sunday, May 17, 2009

Tomato Soup Cake - Cooking with Alicia and Annie Contest

That's a strange name for a cake, huh? The first thing that came to my mind was this unappealing red-colored cake. (For those who don't know, red icing and red cake just doesn't appeal to me at all). I skipped over the recipe but then kept thinking about it because using tomato soup in a cake intrigued me.

I decided to make it last night for dessert. I figured what the heck, I had everything on hand to make it so I might as well try it.

The recipe is very simple:

2 1/4 c. cake flour or 2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/3 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can Campbell's tomato soup
1/2 c. hydrogenated shortening
2 eggs
1/4 c. water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour two round layer pans, 8 or 9 inches or 13 x 9 pan. Measure dry ingredients into large bowl. Add soup and shortening.

Beat at low to medium speed for 2 minutes (300 strokes with a spoon) scraping sides and bottom of bowl constantly. Add eggs and water. Beat 2 minutes more, scraping bowl frequently. Pour into pans.

Bake 35 or 40 minutes. Let stand in pans 10 minutes; remove and cool on rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting or favorite white frosting

VARIATIONS: For a 9 inch tube pan, prepare as above; bake 1 hour. Nut or Raisin: After mixing, fold in 1 cup chopped nuts or raisins. Bake 35 to 40 minutes.

Date and Nut: After mixing, fold in 1 cup chopped walnuts and 1 cup chopped dates. (Use 1 to 2 tablespoons flour to sprinkle over dates while chopping them.) Bake in 9 inch layers or 13 x 9 inch pan for 40 to 45 minutes.

******

The spices in the cake will make your kitchen smell wonderful. I love, love, love cloves and this spice added a really nice taste to the cake.

The batter turns out to be a really pretty salmon color, not red like I was expecting to see.


It turned out perfect baking it for 35 minutes. The cake is light, airy and a little on the sweet side.

I topped it with canned cream cheese frosting. It was really good but almost too sweet for my liking. I will make this cake again but the next time I will use only a dusting of powdered sugar on top. It would also be good topped with whipped cream.


I found this cake recipe at Annies Recipes.

I'm entering this one in the Annie and Alicia Blog Event.

7 comments:

Barbara Bakes said...

Oh my goodness - that is the first tomato soup cake I've ever seen. It looks delicious!

karen said...

wow - this sounds so different. it makes me curious to try it out.

Amanda said...

You are braver than me, I never would have tried it! So glad it worked out ;)

Aleta said...

Tomato Soup Cakes must have been very popular in midcentury America, because I see that A LOT in my Ladies' Guild fundraiser cookbooks. I always kinda wondered if they were any good at all or just *kinda* okay.

Tami said...

I have to say that the cake is even better today. The flavors have had a chance to blend together. I didn't mind the icing on it tonight at all.

I have to agree, Aleta, I have a lot of church and local cookbooks that have these types of recipes in them.

If you all like spice cake, I would say to give this one a try. I promise that you cannot taste the tomato soup in it.

Pat/Texas said...

Tami, I have been baking the Campbell's Tomato Soup recipe for years - in fact since 1966. I got the recipe from a fellow student that was giving a demonstration on how to bake it for a speech class in Ventura, California. My recipe is slightly different but I bake it at Christmas every year. I'll post my version. Pat/Texas

Pat/Texas said...

2 C. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 C. golden raisins
1/2 C. chopped nuts
1/2 stick soft butter
1 C. sugar
1 egg
1 can cond. tomato soup
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg onto paper. Sprinkle 1/4 C. flour mixture over raisins & nuts. Beat butter, sugar & egg in bowl. Mix till fluffy. Combine soup & rind. Add alternately with flour mixture, beating till smooth. Stir in raisins & nuts. Spoon into greased loaf pan. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 mins. Cool completely & wrap in foil or plastic.
Bake 1 hour @ 350 degrees (I guess this should be at the top. LOL)

Thanks! I enjoy your blog very much. Pat/Texas

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