Saturday
May162009
Getting Canned: An Exploration of the Tomato Soup Cake
Saturday, May 16, 2009 
From Soup to nuts? Pshaw. We're talking soup to cake, baby.
With Seattle's brand new Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. offering an attention-grabbing Tomato Soup cake, it seemed appropriate to talk a little bit about the background of this unusual confection.
How long has it been around? foodtimeline.org, Tomato Soup Cake, which is also known as "Mystery Cake" or "Tomato Soup Spice Cake", was perhaps first mentioned in 1928 in a Los Angeles Times snippet about cooking classes--however, in 1932 the same paper had a more official mention of the cake, including a recipe.
How do I make Tomato Soup Cake? Here's a recipe from the venerable foodie M.F.K. Fisher, from her classic How to Cook a Wolf:
With Seattle's brand new Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. offering an attention-grabbing Tomato Soup cake, it seemed appropriate to talk a little bit about the background of this unusual confection.
How long has it been around? foodtimeline.org, Tomato Soup Cake, which is also known as "Mystery Cake" or "Tomato Soup Spice Cake", was perhaps first mentioned in 1928 in a Los Angeles Times snippet about cooking classes--however, in 1932 the same paper had a more official mention of the cake, including a recipe.
Why did it gain popularity? Consider these factors. It made its debut on the cake scene right around the Great Depression, when times were lean. Certainly there was bound to be a place for a cake that required limited ingredients (some early recipes include no eggs, no butter, and little sugar) but still tasted good, and that kept well too. Additionally, it's been proven that soup consumption holds steady during times of depression, so Tomato Soup was probably something that would commonly be found in a pantry. Further to this point, this was around the time that manufacturers were getting savvy to the concept of using back-of-the-box style recipes to promote their products.
What does it taste like? Well, the reason it's referred to as "mystery cake" is that if you didn't know the secret ingredient, it's not likely you'd guess it to be tomato soup. The cake is generously spiced, and the flavors of cloves and nutmeg tend to hit you first. Some say they can distinctly taste the tomato, but it would be interesting to see how many of them already knew it was an ingredient.
Is it delicious? Some love it, some loathe it. M.F.K. Fisher was a fan, citing that "This is a pleasant cake, which keeps well and puzzles people while you are cooking other things, which is always sensible and makes you feel rather noble, in itself a small but valuable pleasure". Personally I find it to be a pleasant, if not especially memorable, spice cake. Original recipes don't always call for topping, but I think it needs a healthy dollop of cream cheese frosting.
How do I make Tomato Soup Cake? Here's a recipe from the venerable foodie M.F.K. Fisher, from her classic How to Cook a Wolf:
- 3 tablespoons butter or shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1 can tomato soup
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ginger, cloves mixed
- 1 1/2 cups raisins, nuts, chopped figs, what you will
(CakeSpy Note: At this point, upon cooling, topping it with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting would be appropriate).
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