I'm Cookin' In My Kitchen: Tomato Soup Cake

Tomato Soup Cake

1 9-inch square cake or loaf

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 can condensed cream of tomato soup

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped dried apricot

1/4 cup chopped dried dates

Whisk together sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves & salt.

Beat the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy.

On low speed, blend flour mixture into the butter and sugar in 3 parts alternating with the tomato soup until smooth.

Fold in fruits and nuts.

Batter will be thick, scrape it into your pan and smooth the top. Bake in a preheated oven set at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan on a cake rack.

Dust with confectioners sugar or frost with a cream cheese frosting.

Absolutely lovely with a cuppa tea : )

What the heck is Tomato Soup Cake???

Tomato soup cake is essentially a spice cake, rich in color and flavor without the addition of egg or milk. It's a family recipe we grew up enjoying from time to time that always sounded odd but tasted great. Who doesn't love a warming bowl of traditional tomato soup? I always did, especially paired with a great grilled cheese sandwich, it's a classic.

My mother's recipe was handed down to her when she was in her early twenties and remains in our family as a special memory. Her recipe is very similar to the one I adapted above with a few variations, hers included shortening instead of butter and she used eggs. When I was looking at the recipe, I wondered if people still even used shortening *laughing*, of course they do, I just haven't had any in the house for years. So I went to my handy dandy Joy of Cooking book and decided on using their recipe. I'll have to get some shortening next time I'm in the grocery and give the family recipe a whirl...until I do, try the recipe above...everyone who tried it, liked it and be sure to stop back and check out if there are any differences between the two recipes and what they are : )

I didn't have ground clove but didn't let that stop me : ) I grabbed my itty bitty mortar & pestle and got to work. Sadly I don't own any other and should really put one on my wish list...this little one I bought for decorative purposes cuz it was too darn cute and not very expensive.

Strain spice through a fine mesh strainer to remove any larger particles that weren't ground small enough

Sifted flour takes on a smoother appearance..........................and helps to remove any large particles

It's worth the time you take to sift your flour, just pour it into a
fine mesh strainer and shake the sifted flour into a large bowl.

I love the different colors of the clove, nutmeg and cinnamon : ) add these and your salt and baking soda into your sifted flour and whisk well.

You can add only the fruit you like, the original recipe only called for raisins but I was short so I added the apricot and dates to round out the amount I needed.