Serves a Crowd

Fresh Tomato Spice Cake: A Summertime Sweet

June 29, 2014
4
6 Ratings
  • Makes a 9 x 13" pan (about 24 slices)
Author Notes

This recipe is great for using up overripe tomatoes. Juicy, tangy and sweet, seasonal tomatoes make it obvious that they’re fruits and not vegetables. Eating one recently, I noticed that it almost tasted like a berry, and I wondered why we make sweet treats from pumpkins and zucchini but hardly ever from tomatoes, at least not that I’ve seen or tasted. Now was the time.
The result is a moist, flavorful, casual cake whose main ingredient will go unsuspected by many. Feel free to adjust and augment the spices as you wish, and to add some orange zest, nuts, and/or raisins to the batter -- they make welcome additions!
This recipe first appeared on my web site, buttersugarflowers.com —ButterSugarFlowers

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Ingredients
  • For the cake
  • Just under 2 pounds ripe tomatoes (I use very ripe multicolored heirloom tomatoes)
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1.5 teaspoon salt
  • 2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2.5 teaspoons ground nutmeg
  • 1.5 teaspoon ground ginger
  • For the glaze (optional)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2+ tablespoons strained lemon juice
  • a few dashes cinnamon and nutmeg
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9 by 13” cake pan with parchment paper; grease parchment and inner sides of pan. Wash the tomatoes and cut the stem spot off each of them, then slice into fourths and place in food processor. Puree until liquidy and even in consistency; little flecks of colored skin are welcome. Measure out 2 and 2/3 cups; set aside. (Use remainder as you wish.)
  2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and molasses until smooth and even in color. Beat in the oil until incorporated. Sift all remaining dry ingredients over the egg mixture. Begin to fold in the dry ingredients, gradually adding the measured tomato puree. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with spatula; mix until batter is even.
  3. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing the surface with spatula. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until center tests clean with a toothpick and no longer jiggles. Let cool completely in pan, then transfer to a large plate or cutting board, removing parchment.
  4. While a dusting of spiced powdered sugar or decadent cream cheese frosting are equally delicious, I like to opt for the easy, pretty glaze noted above doing the following: Sift powdered sugar and spices into a bowl. Whisk in lemon juice and mix until smooth, adding more lemon juice by the teaspoon if too thick. Drizzle diagonally over cake using a pastry bag, plastic bag with a small hole cut in its corner, or a spoon or fork. Let icing dry before serving.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

6 Reviews

kathleen54 October 3, 2021
My husband just made this and it was wonderful. It exceeded all expectations. There’s 0 taste of tomato or look. It’s basically a fabulous tasting spice cake. Highly recommend 🍅
Erica B. October 5, 2020
this just did not work for us. the cake was easy to prepare and baked nicely but we both thought the taste was quite odd. in addition, it stuck to the pan which was fully buttered and lined with parchment paper also greased.
Shannong August 27, 2020
My family's garden was extremely fruitful and we had too many tomatoes this year to know what to do with!! I found this tomato spice cake recipe and it was perfect! I cannot believe how good this turned out. My whole family loved it!!
Shannong August 27, 2020
My family's garden was extremely fruitful and we had too many tomatoes this year to know what to do with!! I found this tomato spice cake recipe and it was perfect! I cannot believe how good this turned out. My whole family loved it.
tony September 3, 2017
This is a lovely cake good use of a glut of tomato's, but for the life of me i don't understand why you have to use 2lb off tomato's when 1/2 lb makes enough liquid for the recipe. what are you suppose to do with the 2 liter's that's left.
ButterSugarFlowers September 4, 2017
Thanks, Tony! It's true that the density and water content in the tomatoes affect how much puree they'll yield. But I can only imagine an 8 ounce tomato turning into 2 and 2/3 cups of puree -- wow! From my own experience and others' feedback, the amount of leftover puree can range from 1/4 cup to 2/3 cup, which I usually freeze and add to pasta sauce or soup at a later time. I've never seen more than that left over, especially not two liters! Since there are variables after the tomatoes are weighed (like how much fruit gets trimmed off and whether juice is lost in the cutting process), it was safest recipe-wise to list the scant 2 pounds of tomatoes in order to allow for a few ounces of cushion room (in reality, 2 and 2/3 cup tomato puree tends to weigh about 1 lb + 13 ounces, depending on density). I'm sorry for your trouble with the recipe, but very thankful that you tried it and gave this feedback.