Key Points
Tomato soup cake has started trending on social media, with recipes that include a can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup going viral.
This cake is far from new, and versions of tomato soup cake have been enjoyed in the United States since roughly the 1920s, with the dessert becoming more popular during economic hardship after World War II.
The warmly spiced cake has a faint aftertaste of tomato soup but primarily tastes like pumpkin bread and is better than it sounds.
We’ve successfully turned carrots and zucchini into the stars of two widely popular baked goods — few people will turn down a batch of warmly spiced carrot cake or chocolate chip-studded zucchini bread — but something about adding tomatoes to a sweet treat still feels off. Tomato soup cake is here to change that.
Clips of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup being poured into a bowl of cake batter have quickly gained traction on social media over the past month, thanks to their shock value and unexpectedly appealing results. Creator Rachel (@eatsbyrachel) makes her tomato soup cake look decadent by serving a frosting-lathered slice on a plate in a beam of sunlight. Rachel notes that she was inspired by fellow creators Joshua Godfrey and his mother (@joshandmomma), who, in turn, went viral for re-creating user Michael Averett’s (@michael_averett) recipe.
They may have introduced more people to this unusual cake via the internet, but none of these creators are responsible for inventing it. Multiple commenters chimed in on Averett’s video, sharing feedback such as “I got this recipe from my husband’s grandmother about 35 years ago,” and “This is an old cake recipe. This is so good, and it does not taste like tomatoes.”
“Old” is an apt descriptor because tomato soup cake has a history that goes back roughly 100 years. It’s managed to endure for decades because it’s more delicious than you might expect.
The history behind tomato soup cake
According to Campbell’s, which provides a brief history of the tomato soup cake on its website, the first published recipe for the dessert appeared in an unnamed, undated cookbook in the 1920s. Peruse the poorly documented early history of this cake online, and all sources agree that this is the decade when it first started cropping up in America. Anecdotal evidence from home cooks online suggests that the recipe was popular with Irish immigrants in the early 20th century, although this can’t be verified through historical records.
Related: What Happened to Turtle Soup? How a Dish Became a Delicacy Then Disappeared
Campbell’s first official recipe for something akin to a tomato soup cake — a steamed, spiced pudding studded with fruits and nuts and calling for a secret ingredient, the brand’s condensed tomato soup — was published in 1942. Over the years, the company would go on to publish and promote multiple recipes for warmly spiced cakes that incorporated its famous tomato soup.
As Atlas Obscura reports, tomato soup cake grew in popularity during the Great Depression because it could replace more expensive eggs and butter with its namesake ingredient. Although later renditions of the dish may call for eggs or dairy, improving on their earlier counterparts, they still center on the signature can of tomato soup and warm baking spices that define the century-old cake.
Is tomato soup cake actually good?
Search for tomato soup cake recipes online, and some more intensive versions of the dish call for making the cake batter from scratch. Allrecipes, for example, uses a fairly standard base cake recipe — with eggs and butter — for its spiced tomato soup cake. The rendition that’s trending online takes one major shortcut, so you can whip up the dessert in no more than 10 minutes of active effort.
The recipe Rachel follows in her viral video calls for boxed cake mix, Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, tomato paste, eggs, sugar, and warm baking spices. Everything is mixed in one bowl, then baked in a square cake pan before being finished with a generous layer of canned cream cheese frosting.
I tried this method myself, and before tasting the results, I was skeptical about two things. First, I was concerned about the tomato soup and how it would affect the cake’s flavor. But I was more preoccupied with the lack of fat in the cake batter — there is no butter, margarine, or oil.
The lack of fat in the viral tomato soup cake produces a thicker, crisper crust on top.
Credit: Food & Wine / Merlyn Miller
I can attest that the most difficult part of making the tomato soup cake is stirring the thick batter. When it comes out of the oven, the dessert will look a bit different from other freshly baked cakes. Because you don’t add any fat to the batter, it develops a slightly thicker, crisp crust on top. Don’t worry — beneath that crust is a surprisingly moist cake.
As many commenters have noted on social media, tomato soup cake primarily tastes like pumpkin bread. That profile comes from the warm baking spices in the recipe. Rachel’s version uses just cinnamon and nutmeg, but I opted for a pumpkin pie spice blend to make my life easier. Aside from that, the main tasting note you’ll get is pure sugar. When you combine a boxed cake mix, which already contains sugar, with an additional cup of sugar, you’re going to get pronouncedly sweet results. This is largely intentional and helps mask any strong tomato soup flavor.
Related: What Is Perpetual Stew — and Is It Actually Safe to Eat?
I won’t lie to you: this cake does have a very faint aftertaste of the classic Campbell’s tomato soup we know so well. It isn’t significant. As my colleague and our senior food editor Audrey Morgan noted after trying the dish, “I would never know there was tomato soup in it, but since you told me, it does come in on the aftertaste. It makes sense that it’s heavily spiced to mask the flavor.”
The tang of a cream cheese frosting helps balance out the cake’s overt sweetness. If you have time to make your own icing, that would be better, because the canned stuff is also incredibly sweet.
Should you make tomato soup cake? If you have a can of tomato soup and a box of cake mix on hand and want to try a novelty treat, go for it. It’s tasty enough that it won’t go to waste. However, if you have time to plan a grocery trip, I’d recommend making pumpkin bread instead. It’s better, doesn’t have a tomato-forward aftertaste, and a can of pumpkin purée costs about the same as condensed tomato soup.
Read the original article on Food & Wine
Dining and Cooking