Tomato Soup Cake

I love making my Mum's (and Campbell's) Tomato Soup Cake). I have always avoided adding the raisins (something just seemed wrong about the raisins) - but I am a devoted date-lover (frequently making an orange and cardamom version of my Mum's Matrimonial Cake) - so a reader's comments about adding chopped dates instead of raisins is going to take my Tomato Soup Cake to a whole new level of wonderul!!

I love making my Mum's (and Campbell's) Tomato Soup Cake). I have always avoided adding the raisins (something just seemed wrong about the raisins) - but I am a devoted date-lover (frequently making an orange and cardamom version of my Mum's Matrimonial Cake) - so a reader's comments about adding chopped dates instead of raisins is going to take my Tomato Soup Cake to a whole new level of wonderul!!

When I opened your email and saw the recipe for the Tomato Soup Cake I couldn't help but smile. Use to make it all the time when my four children were growing up. Lost the recipe through the years, but will print this one out and make it. Thanks for the memories!!!

Thank you for this. I'd lost my mother's hand written recipe card box and this was a Christmas staple in our house along with shortbread. My mother always had me cream the shortening and sugar together while she prepped the rest. I don't remember her using eggs but I've just made it and it reminds me of being ten again! Thank you all. Fingers crossed it turns out.. in loaf pans as well ????

Now that it's the time of year that fresh tomatoes are overflowing in gardens, I prefer to make fresh tomato spice cake instead of using canned tomato soup: http://food52.com/recipes/29297-fresh-tomato-spice-cake-a-summertime-sweet

I made this cake for years until I lost the recipe. Instead of raisons I use pitted dates cut in pieces. I found it in my very first edition of " The Joy of Cooking". Yummmmmm!

I knew I wasn't losing my mind when I told a friend I was considering using my Banana Mango Ketchup in baked sweets like cookies, cake or bread. I think I'll use this Tomato Soup Cake recipe as a guide for when i try it out with the ketchup. This recipe has come into my life at the perfect time. Thank you for posting it!

This is so funny, I was just talking about looking for a recipe for Tomato soup cake with a friend of mine just a little while ago, when she was talking about making a 7-up cake. This is great. I will make this and surprise her with it! Thanks for reading my mind......

Just made this, and didn't realise it was meant to be condensed soup! I also used mixed spice instead of the spices given here as I didn't have all spice in. All in all nice recipe - probably would have come out better if I'd have used the right soup!

I love this! I made it for a 94 year old woman I take care of and she loved it too! I once made a pie using tomato paste that was really great but I can't find the recipe so if you find one I sure would love to see it. Thank you for the cake recipe!....

One more note about this cake for anyone who thinks it odd that tomatoes are in a cake; there is not the slightest taste of tomato or vegetable note, just a slight sweetness. The tomatoes/soup add moistness instead of using oil like a lot similar 'vegetable' cakes, i.e carrot cake.

Can I add just tomato passata? Because I don't have this kind of soup in my shop. Only with garlic or with herbs but I think that it won't work ;)

Thanks, Marian for writing about this great cake. My grandmother made this in the late 50's-60's and it was always one of my favorites as it was not too sweet. I still have her recipe card and she called it Aggie's Tomato Cake (her name). She used 2 1/2 cups of canned tomatoes, chopped, instead of tomato soup, 2 cups raisins, and added chopped walnuts as well. I remember her cake always in a 9 x 13 pan with thick cream cheese frosting. Although I have not made this in quite some time, I think I will, thanks to you!

This recipe was also in an older edition of "The Joy of Cooking." It was called "The Mystery Cake." The ingredients are the same as those used by grandma Ruthie. This site also published their own version with contemporary updates: 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
2/3 cups muscovado sugar, packed (or brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground sumac (Rhus coriaria) or lemon zest
1-2 tablespoon instant espresso powder, your choice of strength, optional
1 teaspoon vanilla (Tahitian preferred)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or canola oil)
1 cup low sodium V8 juice
1/4 cup yellow raisins, plumped up in 1 tbl. of V8 juice, optional
1 teaspoon lemon (or orange) zest, optional
powdered sugar for dusting

Though this cake was not part of my childhood, it looks yummy and easy enough to make me want to give it a try. I assume the canned soup is condensed soup; it might help those unfamiliar with the recipe to clarify that.

Can't help wondering what the tomato soup adds and how this differs from a 'traditional' spice cake?

I remember this cake. A woman who babysat for us while my mom worked baked it. Sounds weird but tasted great, as I recall. Will try this recipe.

OOOooooo - This sounds great. Not one for tinned soups, but will enjoy giving it a try as an alternative. I wonder what it would be like with some grated carrot as the recipe posted by manykittiesmama sounds like a carrot cake, with raisins and walnuts? What do you think, how much should I add? 1 ½ cups of grated maybe?

How is this with chocolate chips?

This recipe appears, almost exactly -- the only difference being the addition of raisins -- on the cooking site of the company that produces Campbell's soup. The original version they published differs somewhat, as manykittiesmama has noted. I suspect that the one that your grandmother made was more like one of the much older versions, which can be found here: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#mystery (Do a text search on that page for "Marian Manners," who is believed first to have published it. You'll see a number of other recipes, over the years.)
King Arthur Flour posts on their site the same recipe as yours, with 1/2 cup of raisins, describing it in their head note as a "Depression Era" cake. As I'm sure many readers here know, M.F.K. commented on this very recipe (well, the one that was current at the time) in "How to Cook a Wolf." ;o)