You say “tomato,” I say…“dessert”? 

That would certainly be the case if I were living during the Great Depression and World War II. This era was known for its recipes featuring cheap and long-lasting, albeit unconventional, ingredients and less-than-appetizing names. “Wacky cake,” “water pie,” “poor man’s pudding,” just to name a few. And yet, against all odds, these desserts tend to be surprisingly tasty. 

The tomato soup cake is no different. Wait! Hear us out. 

A Depression-era (?)  dessert that refused to be forgotten

Printed iterations of the cake date back as early as the 1920s, sometimes under different pseudonyms like “Soup to Nuts Cake,” “Believe It Or Not Cake,” or “Husband’s Cake,” that last one possibly because the robustness of the spices? Who’s to know… Regardless, it really surged in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Campbell’s Soup Company, which had already been selling canned tomato soup since 1895, really tried to cash in on the trend by promoting the recipe in ads. Eventually, they would branch out to offer a recipe for chocolate tomato soup cake as well as an apricot (or prune) upside-down tomato soup cake, among other variations. And around 1966, a cream cheese–frosted version surfaced, which remains the most popular version to this day.

Why tomato soup is actually a baking MVP

When you........

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