Name me a masochist, however to rejoice April Idiot’s Day this yr, I figured I would mud off my classic cookbook assortment and check out a very questionable recipe. After the yr we have had, I could as effectively play the joke on myself, proper?
It is no secret that I am an enormous fan of mid-century delicacies in all its bizarre glory, from its extreme use of canned soup to the inexplicable obsession with jellied salads. Nonetheless, I’ve all the time been greater than a bit of hesitant to truly check out any of these recipes.
It’s true that some issues are most likely greatest left previously, however possibly a few of these dishes won’t be fairly as unusual as they sound.
And so, pricey readers, I am kicking off a brand new collection the place I will boldly go the place many housewives have gone earlier than by recreating a few of these forgotten classics. I am certain I am going to uncover that almost all of them are fairly horrible, however hopefully I am going to additionally discover a couple of gems that deserve a second probability at life.
My inaugural decide for this new collection is a classic bundt cake that includes a really uncommon secret ingredient – an entire can of condensed tomato soup.
Sure. You learn that proper. I made cake with tomato soup. No joke!
The primary identified recipes for tomato soup cake began showing in neighborhood cookbooks within the Twenties, usually dubbed as “Thriller Cake” due to their intelligent secret ingredient.
Like many different truffles made with uncommon components, comparable to mayo or sauerkraut, this cake actually gained in reputation in the course of the Despair and WWII, as a result of the tomato soup acts as an alternative choice to hard-to-get components like butter and eggs.
After the conflict, bakers embraced the fashionable comfort of condensed soups as a shortcut for all their outdated made-from-scratch dishes, from sauces to casseroles to desserts. It’s round this time that Campbell’s began printing a recipe for this cake on soup cans, which solely added to the rise in reputation.
This traditional dessert could have fallen out of recognition in recent times, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a beloved favorite custom for a lot of households.
I discovered a number of completely different tomato soup cake recipes whereas researching, starting from the Despair-era model with no eggs and little or no butter, to the quick-and-easy postwar model made with boxed cake combine.
I briefly thought of attempting the field combine, however that’s the one line I refuse to cross. So as an alternative, I mixed the 2 most reasonable-looking recipes – a one-bowl layer cake from my beloved classic Campbell’s Soup cookbook, and a bundt cake from the 1975 version of The Pleasure of Cooking.
The normal topping for tomato soup cake is cream cheese frosting, so I used a my favorite recipe to frost the completed bundt. It is a super-simple three ingredient model with simply the proper stability of sweetness and tanginess, which softly drapes excessive and sides of the cake like a contemporary snowfall.
Lots of the recipes I discovered embrace raisins and/or chopped nuts as an optionally available mix-in. I opted for pecan as a result of I am typically not into raisins in my baked items, however it’s best to go together with no matter makes you cheerful!
The brief reply isn’t any, fortunately!
Regardless of the entire can of tomato soup within the batter, the completed cake does not have a noticeable tomato style as soon as it is baked. It does, nevertheless, give the cake a refined depth of flavour and a light-weight orangey-red color.
If I needed to describe the style to somebody with out freely giving the key ingredient, I would say it is mainly a barely edgier model of a pumpkin-spice cake. Which should not be that a lot of a shock… tomatoes are a fruit, in spite of everything!
(And if the concept of utilizing tomatoes in candy recipes sounds intriguing, do you know it’s also possible to make candy tomato jam? You are welcome.)
I price this one a strong 4 out of 5. Surprisingly good, however not a life-changing revelation.
What’s your favorite bizarre classic recipe? Let me know and I is perhaps courageous sufficient to take it for a take a look at drive!
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Nobody will ever guess that this scrumptious one-bowl bundt cake will get its deep reddish-orange color and delicate flavour from an entire can of condensed tomato soup.
It is no secret that I am an enormous fan of mid-century delicacies in all its bizarre glory, from its extreme use of canned soup to the inexplicable obsession with jellied salads. Nonetheless, I’ve all the time been greater than a bit of hesitant to truly check out any of these recipes.
It’s true that some issues are most likely greatest left previously, however possibly a few of these dishes won’t be fairly as unusual as they sound.
And so, pricey readers, I am kicking off a brand new collection the place I will boldly go the place many housewives have gone earlier than by recreating a few of these forgotten classics. I am certain I am going to uncover that almost all of them are fairly horrible, however hopefully I am going to additionally discover a couple of gems that deserve a second probability at life.
My inaugural decide for this new collection is a classic bundt cake that includes a really uncommon secret ingredient – an entire can of condensed tomato soup.
Sure. You learn that proper. I made cake with tomato soup. No joke!
A Temporary Historical past of Tomato Soup Cake
The primary identified recipes for tomato soup cake began showing in neighborhood cookbooks within the Twenties, usually dubbed as “Thriller Cake” due to their intelligent secret ingredient.
Like many different truffles made with uncommon components, comparable to mayo or sauerkraut, this cake actually gained in reputation in the course of the Despair and WWII, as a result of the tomato soup acts as an alternative choice to hard-to-get components like butter and eggs.
After the conflict, bakers embraced the fashionable comfort of condensed soups as a shortcut for all their outdated made-from-scratch dishes, from sauces to casseroles to desserts. It’s round this time that Campbell’s began printing a recipe for this cake on soup cans, which solely added to the rise in reputation.
This traditional dessert could have fallen out of recognition in recent times, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a beloved favorite custom for a lot of households.
A Little Extra About This Recipe
I discovered a number of completely different tomato soup cake recipes whereas researching, starting from the Despair-era model with no eggs and little or no butter, to the quick-and-easy postwar model made with boxed cake combine.
I briefly thought of attempting the field combine, however that’s the one line I refuse to cross. So as an alternative, I mixed the 2 most reasonable-looking recipes – a one-bowl layer cake from my beloved classic Campbell’s Soup cookbook, and a bundt cake from the 1975 version of The Pleasure of Cooking.
The normal topping for tomato soup cake is cream cheese frosting, so I used a my favorite recipe to frost the completed bundt. It is a super-simple three ingredient model with simply the proper stability of sweetness and tanginess, which softly drapes excessive and sides of the cake like a contemporary snowfall.
Lots of the recipes I discovered embrace raisins and/or chopped nuts as an optionally available mix-in. I opted for pecan as a result of I am typically not into raisins in my baked items, however it’s best to go together with no matter makes you cheerful!
The Verdict: Does Tomato Soup Cake Style Like Tomato?
The brief reply isn’t any, fortunately!
Regardless of the entire can of tomato soup within the batter, the completed cake does not have a noticeable tomato style as soon as it is baked. It does, nevertheless, give the cake a refined depth of flavour and a light-weight orangey-red color.
If I needed to describe the style to somebody with out freely giving the key ingredient, I would say it is mainly a barely edgier model of a pumpkin-spice cake. Which should not be that a lot of a shock… tomatoes are a fruit, in spite of everything!
(And if the concept of utilizing tomatoes in candy recipes sounds intriguing, do you know it’s also possible to make candy tomato jam? You are welcome.)
I price this one a strong 4 out of 5. Surprisingly good, however not a life-changing revelation.
What’s your favorite bizarre classic recipe? Let me know and I is perhaps courageous sufficient to take it for a take a look at drive!
Tomato Soup Bundt Cake
Writer: Isabelle Boucher
Whole Time: 1 hour
Yield: 12 1x
Description
Nobody will ever guess that this scrumptious one-bowl bundt cake will get its deep reddish-orange color and delicate flavour from an entire can of condensed tomato soup.
Tomato Soup Spice Cake:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 can (284ml / 10.75oz) condensed tomato soup
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp floor cinnamon
- 1 tsp floor cardamom
- ½ tsp floor cloves
- ½ tsp floor nutmeg
- 1 cup raisins or chopped pecans (optionally available)
Cream Cheese Icing:
- ½ cup (125g / 4 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ cups icing sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp milk, divided
Directions
Make the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter a 9-inch bundt cake pan.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream collectively the butter and sugar till mild and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing effectively after every addition. Add the tomato soup, and stir till clean.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and spices, and blend till mixed. Fold within the pecans or raisins, if utilizing.
- Pour the batter into the ready bundt pan, and clean out the highest. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, or till the cake is calmly browned and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clear.
- Cool the cake within the bundt pan for five minutes, then fastidiously unmold and switch to a wire rack to chill off fully.
Make the Icing:
- Whereas the cake is cooling, put together the icing. In a small bowl, beat collectively the cream cheese and icing sugar till mixed. Stir within the milk, ½ tbsp at a time, till you’ve got a thick, pourable glaze.
- Spoon the icing onto the highest of the cooled cake, permitting it to drip over the perimeters. If potential, let sit for at the very least an hour earlier than serving to permit the icing to set.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Prepare dinner Time: 50 minutes
- Class: Desserts
- Methodology: Baked
- Delicacies: American