by RetroRuth | Sep 9, 2015 | , , Desserts, The BEST | 30 comments
So, after last week’s prune-chili sauce-gelatin debacle, I think we all need some comfort food. Since that was arguably the worst recipe we have ever made, I’ve decided to follow it up with the BEST recipe we have ever made here on the blog. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself. You will not be disappointed!
I cannot resist cakes with weird ingredients. I just can’t. So, when I came across a recipe for a chocolate cake that had, as the “secret” ingredient, a can of condensed tomato soup, I knew I was going to have to make it.
The recipe came from a recent Salvation Army score comprised of ALL handwritten recipe cards and recipe clippings, sans boxes. There were about five or six collections of cards from different women, spanning the 1950’s-1990’s and I managed to snag them all for only $2. In this stack of wonderfulness, I came across the recipe for this Black Magic Cake with tomato soup twice; once handwritten from the 1970’s and another was a clipping from a grocery store handout from 1994.
I did some research for this cake, because I was convinced that it must have it’s origins in a mid-century Campbell’s recipe. But I hit a dead-end. I even asked Sharon from the Flickr group, “Gee, That Food Looks Terrible” and she couldn’t put her finger on it, either. But what I know so far is this: Cakes made with tomato soup are very common in Depression cooking, and are also common in mid-century cooking. Even though I can’t lock down the source or the exact year, this recipe could very well be from the 1960’s or even earlier. This recipe is also very similar to Hershey’s Black Magic Cake, which uses a cup of cold coffee instead of tomato soup, and I think the debut year for that recipe was 1934.
AuthorRetroRuth
Tested Recipe!
1 ¾ cups AP flouror 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1
Sift together the first 6 ingredients.
2
Add the next 5 ingredients, and beat on medium speed for 6 minutes.
3
Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or 2 round cake pans.
4
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 mins. (start checking after 30 mins if making rounds)
5
*Note - This cake rises high, the batter almost doubles in size. Be sure to leave lots of room in your pans or cupcake tins or you will have a big mess on your hands!
CategoryCake, DessertsCooking MethodBake, CakesTags#bakingpowder, #bakingsoda, #buttermilk, #cocoa, #condensedtomatosoup, #egg, #flour, #oil, #sugar, #vanilla
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups AP flouror 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1
Sift together the first 6 ingredients.
2
Add the next 5 ingredients, and beat on medium speed for 6 minutes.
3
Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or 2 round cake pans.
4
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 mins. (start checking after 30 mins if making rounds)
5
*Note - This cake rises high, the batter almost doubles in size. Be sure to leave lots of room in your pans or cupcake tins or you will have a big mess on your hands!
Black Magic Chocolate Cake
IngredientsDirections
But I have to tell you I don’t care exactly where the recipe came from. I know this is usually the part of the post where tell you how I felt while I was making the latest dish and trying to keep the end result a surprise, but this time I am letting the cat out of the soup can early and telling you that this cake was amazing.
I know, I am ruining this post, but I don’t care. This cake was just that good.
I even made this cake twice in one week, because that is how good it was. I originally made the recipe exactly with no substitutions according to the rules here on the Mid-Century Menu, and I made it in a 13×9 pan because I was lazy and didn’t feel like frosting a layer cake.
And the batter smelled bad. It smelled really bad! I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes at this point. But then…
It came out of the oven and the finished cake smelled so good, and it was so moist and delicious. And Tom kept eating so much of it.
“This cake is so good.”
“I know!”
“I am getting another piece.”
“No don’t! This is your third piece already. And it isn’t even 10:00 am yet!”
“I want it!”
“We have to get rid of this thing. It’s like tomato-chocolate-crack.”
Finally, we agreed that we had to send the cake away to be eaten by Tom’s co-workers, otherwise we were going to eat the whole thing by ourselves in two days.
But we couldn’t stop thinking about the cake. We daydreamed about it. We pined for it. We cursed the decision to give it away. And so, when our neighbors invited us over for dinner that Saturday, we knew exactly which cake we were going to make to take for dessert.
Oh yes. It’s back!
This time I tweaked it a little, and it ended up being even better than the first one. It was moist, very chocolately, had an excellent depth of flavor provided by the tomato soup and it was very stable. I was easily able to bake it in two 8 inch layer pans, turn the cakes out with no problems AND split each layer with no turntable and just a serrated knife. The layers took quite a bit of flapping back and forth as I filled the cake, and never once cracked or crumbled. And this sucker stayed moist, too. Three days later I got an email from our neighbor who took leftover cake home, exclaiming on how moist the cake still was.
Total success.
But you don’t have to take just my word for it. You can also check out Tom’s face.
From the first taste-test and…
From the second tasting.
The Verdict: Amazing! Tom has decided this is his new favorite chocolate cake, and I am never to make a different one again. Ever.
AuthorRetroRuthFrom Maid of Scandinavia
A fantastic, vintage bakery style cake frosting that makes a sugar “crust” when exposed to air.
Tested Recipe!
½ cup shorteningor a combination of butter and shortening
1 pound powdered sugar
2 pasteurized egg whitesfrom a carton
2 tbsp cake flour
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
1
Cream shortening and sugar well.
2
Add egg whites and blend well.
3
Add flour, vanilla and 1 T milk at a time until the right consistency to spread.
4
Will frost a three-layer cake. Double recipe for filling and frosting for a three-layer cake.
CategoryDesserts, Frostings and FillingsCooking MethodNo-CookTags#cakeflour, #eggwhite, #milk, #powderedsugar, #shortening, #vanilla
Ingredients
½ cup shorteningor a combination of butter and shortening
1 pound powdered sugar
2 pasteurized egg whitesfrom a carton
2 tbsp cake flour
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
Directions
1
Cream shortening and sugar well.
2
Add egg whites and blend well.
3
Add flour, vanilla and 1 T milk at a time until the right consistency to spread.
4
Will frost a three-layer cake. Double recipe for filling and frosting for a three-layer cake.
Vintage Bakery Birthday Cake Frosting
IngredientsDirections
AuthorRetroRuth
Tested Recipe!
½ cup butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
⅛ tsp salt
2 ⅓ cups sifted powdered sugar
⅓ cup undiluted evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
1
Melt the butter and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler. Remove from heat and beat in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for two hours or until chilled but not hard. Beat with a rotary egg beater (or mixer) until frosting is the consistency you desire.
CategoryDesserts, Frostings and FillingsTags#butter, #evaporatedmilk, #powderedsugar, #salt, #unsweetenedchocolate, #vanilla
Ingredients
½ cup butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
⅛ tsp salt
2 ⅓ cups sifted powdered sugar
⅓ cup undiluted evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1
Melt the butter and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler. Remove from heat and beat in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for two hours or until chilled but not hard. Beat with a rotary egg beater (or mixer) until frosting is the consistency you desire.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
IngredientsDirections
Lassieon September 9, 2015 at 1:32 pm
Making a note of this one!
I love Tom’s t-shirt, I saw one like it some time ago and never went back to buy it.
Ellenon September 9, 2015 at 1:50 pm
I just made this last week after finding it on here! It’s a great cake, and I loved telling my guests what the secret ingredient was.
Zendelleon September 9, 2015 at 2:43 pm
Have you ever come across a tomato soup cake recipe that wasn’t chocolate? Maybe a tomato soup spice cake or a tomato soup pound cake? I am extremely sensitive to caffeine and can’t have more than a bite of anything chocolate. But I know with this cake I wouldn’t be able to stop at just one bite!
Fran Tielemanon September 9, 2015 at 5:10 pm
In August 1960 I was a Food Demonstrator at the Canadian National Exhibition for the Campbell Soup Company. We blended soups, made casseroles and other recipes that would be right at home on mid century menu! The piéce de résistance was …. the tomato soup cake. I am not sure I have ever made it since but it was a big hit then. Love this blog. Have you made a mayonnaise cake yet?
Becky Son September 9, 2015 at 10:28 pm
I have been thinking about making this cake since I saw it on your website a few weeks ago. I remember my mom talking about a tomato soup cake years back.
In this post, you write that you tweaked the recipe for the second run. What tweaks did you make?
Arleneon September 9, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Zendelle, I have a copy of “Cooking with Soup” (“a Campbell cookbook”) — no publication date that I can see, but by the drawings I’m assuming it’s from the 1960s. It’s spiral-bound and 200 pages. The cover is red with a photo of an oval casserole dish containing Glazed Fruited Pork Chops. If you google the book name and look at images, you’ll see the one I mean. Looks as if some of them are available on Amazon. This book has three versions of spice cake (no chocolate) with tomato soup as an ingredient: Rosy Chiffon Cake, Tomato Soup Cake, and Quick Tomato Spice Cake. The latter recipe even has several variations including Easy Fruit Cake, Mincemeat Cake, and Apricot or Prune Upside Down Cake. I would be happy to mail you copies of the relevant pages if we can figure out how to connect and exchange contact info. 🙂
Arleneon September 9, 2015 at 11:17 pm
There’s also a link to a similar spice cake recipe that I found in the FB comments for this post. It was on a Campbell’s site. Seems you might be able to search for this and other versions online.
Janiceon September 10, 2015 at 12:10 am
I made a chocolate tomato sauce cake from a recipe in Chocolatier magazine in the early 1980s. The chocolate frosting contained tomato sauce and sweetened condensed milk, and it was VILE. You could taste the tomato sauce in both the cake and frosting. Even my husband wouldn’t eat it. Maybe tomato soup versus tomato sauce made your version more palatable, as well as the absence of the frosting. I swore I’d never try something like that again, but you may have persuaded me if I can figure out a gluten-free version (celiac disease).
RetroRuthon September 10, 2015 at 9:51 am
It’s one of his favorite shirts! 🙂
RetroRuthon September 10, 2015 at 9:51 am
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
RetroRuthon September 10, 2015 at 9:56 am
Fran – That is so cool! I bet that was just a blast!
I need to make the chocolate mayo AND a chocolate prune cake I saw recently. This might be the month of chocolate cakes!! 🙂
RetroRuthon September 10, 2015 at 9:58 am
You should give it a try, Becky! It’s super easy.
The tweaks were using cake flour instead of regular all purpose flour and baking it in round layers instead of the 13×9 pan that is recommended. Both didn’t make any real difference at all in the finished cake. 🙂
RetroRuthon September 10, 2015 at 10:04 am
I think the chocolate tomato soup cake may have been trendy for a short time in the 80’s, so that sounds about right.
It also sounds bad. I am certain that tomato sauce mixed into chocolate frosting is a horrible mistake. The cake didn’t stop smelling like tomatoes until after it was baked, so I am assuming that the baking process is essential.
I wonder if tomato sauce could be used in the cake, but maybe in a lesser amount? The soup would be a “diluted” tomato flavor. Maybe mixing buttermilk with pureed tomatoes? If you come up with something, I would love to hear it! 🙂
Julie Armstrongon September 10, 2015 at 6:52 pm
I use coffee in chocolate cake as part of the liquid required; it gives ordinary cocoa powder cupcakes a great depth. But the tomato soup chocolate cake? Sorry, I’ve never liked it. Maybe it tastes too salty to me. Nonetheless, it is a favourite recipe among family and friends.
Christianon September 11, 2015 at 4:24 pm
I made this cake a while ago and I can confirm, it is excellent! If you want a super easy, tasty basic chocolate cake this is 100% a go-to. I bet it would be perfect for kids’ birthday cakes and stuff – and it’s priceless telling people it has tomato soup in!
Zendelleon September 13, 2015 at 9:14 am
Thanks for the heads up Arlene, I google and found two versions of tomato soup spice cake on the Campbell’s site. This is the scratch version: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/tomato-soup-spice-cake-24354
and there is also an “easy” version which starts with a boxed spice cake mix.
Thanks again – will give this a try!S. S.on September 17, 2015 at 1:59 am
I made it and announced it was “Cake Surprise!”. It’s so delicious and also passes the let’s-serve-it-to-others-without-telling-them test.
Melissaon October 20, 2015 at 1:18 pm
As you said, best cake I’ve ever had. Best cake my mom has ever had. We’re the only two who have had some so far but I have no doubt everyone will agree. I used a flour based frosting from tasty kitchen.com (look it up, it’s the best frosting I’ve ever had.) and on the inside I used a quick chocolate creme I make with 1 package of Jello Chocolate Fudge Pudding Mix and 2 cups of heavy cream, whip it together, it’s glorious.
BEST cake I’ve ever had.
Laurie Kon January 16, 2016 at 10:45 pm
I found your recipe last month when searching for a tomato-soup cake recipe for a relative’s 79th birthday. He wanted a spice-type cake, so that’s what we made (he has dementia, and his mom used to make it for him). Funny what we remember!
Now it’s MY birth month, and this is the cake I’d like to make! Thank you for including the recipe for frosting . . . I’m awaiting your chocolate frosting/filling recipe. If it’s not forthcoming, I’ll try Melissa’s filling. Thanks so much!
Randion January 23, 2016 at 10:38 pm
I’ve been making the original version( with coffee) for over 20yrs. I always add choc. chips. The cake always gets rave reviews too. I’ll have to try this version, I have a can of tomato soup in the pantry.
Nicholeon May 8, 2016 at 8:08 pm
This is a question; do you use “natural” cocoa powder, or “dutch processed?” We are going to try this next weekend!
Tallinheelson September 10, 2016 at 8:53 pm
Dental floss. Wrap it around the middle of each layer and pull it tight. Voila! Clean layers!
Camilleon February 7, 2017 at 12:55 pm
This recipe is, hands down, the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. No one will suspect that it’s made with tomato soup. People are kind of puzzled when I tell them about the secret ingredient, they are sure they can taste it, but they can’t.
Jennyon June 4, 2017 at 3:15 pm
I made this cake, and another tomato soup cake from the Campbell’s Soup Cookbook another commenter mentioned. Both were excellent! Here’s an interesting article about the history of tomato soup in cakes.
http://www.thekitchn.com/the-enduring-allure-of-tomato-soup-cake-227786
SCVon December 26, 2017 at 12:17 pm
I have made this and my family said it was good (I personally don’t know because I don’t like or eat chocolate =D ) I made it with butter cream cheese frosting and also one time with sour cream frosting and the really like it. 🙂 Any good recipes with chocolate. 🙂
rockhound4011on July 26, 2019 at 12:17 pm
Hello, Now I am retired I have just started to learn how to cook. I think I secretly hope I will be sent back to work! And I think my better half secretly wishes I’d leave her kitchen alone.
I really want to attempt this black magic cake, but as a surprise, so I can’t ask her questions.
I am having trouble with the recipe. In UK we don’t use ‘cups’ and AP flour. I manage to find a conversion for ‘cups’ and that AP flour is bread flour and baking soda is bicarbonate of soda on the ‘University of Wikipedia’, but what do you mean by ‘oil’? Is it olive oil or rape seed oil…or engine oil? Half a cup does seem a lot of either of the former – and if it really is engine oil I will forget this project entirely!!!!!
Regards
JohnRattlesnakeon August 2, 2019 at 8:52 am
Hi, John! Passing through and saw your comment. A general rule of thumb I personally go by is that if an oil is unspecified, I use vegetable oil for baking and deep frying, and olive oil for general cooking. (It can’t handle the high heat frying takes). Olive oil can have a strong taste unless it’s an extra light version, and that’s not really something you want in a baked good. Definitely NEVER engine oil, heh. Good luck in your cooking endeavors, good on you for being willing to ask questions, and and remember that persistence and patience will eventually pay off in both higher speed and skill. Even the greats will have fumbled their way through a number of dishes in the early years! I hope your cake turns out well. 🙂
rockhound4011on August 30, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Many thanks.
Sparkinaon April 7, 2021 at 2:12 pm
This cake does sound divine. Do you ever make it for your little ones’ birthdays? Sounds like a great cake for a birthday.
RetroRuthon April 19, 2021 at 9:12 pm
I do! TJ absolutely loves chocolate cake! 🙂
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