Talk:Tomato Soup Spice Cake/@comment-76.70.103.27-20110427195223

The beauty of the original Tomato Soup Cake recipe was that you could make a cake without eggs and dairy products. This was a Depression era invention. The acid in the tomato soup mixed with the baking powder/soda makes the cake rise. In place of butter, depression era bakers could use lard which was more available and less expensive. The cake will work with any form of fat, oil, lard, shortening and butter. I like to make it with butter but eggs are not required. I would check out some vintage Tomato Soup Cake recipes on the web instead of this recipe which I suspect may be drier than the original cake should be. This was a cake which I first tasted when a friend of my mother's brought it over as a gift when I was a little girl (late 50's). I tasted it and loved it without knowing the secret ingredient which was a good thing as I HATED tomato soup! My Mom made this cake quite often once she realized my Dad and I liked it. I still make it once in awhile and it is still a treat for my husband and I. Of my children, only my son and eldest daughter liked it, my youngest daughters did not like any kind of fruit or spice cake. Their loss!