in a recent video from the YouTube series, “The Secret Sauce with Grossy Pelosi,” blogger and culinary enthusiast Dan Pelosi joins Marian Bull to help her grandmothers tomato soup herb cake, which many 20th-century home cooks made as a low-cost treat when fresh ingredients were hard to come by. The procedure is quite familiar: they mix the dry ingredients and beat in some eggs, but then they add a can of Campbell’s tomato soup instead of another wet ingredient, such as milk. Supposedly, the soup not only adds moisture to the cake, but also sweetness and body from the added sugars and wheat flour (via Campbell’s† After topping the cake with a cream cheese frosting, the duo taste the thoroughly spiced cake that doesn’t really taste like tomatoes. It’s so light that Pelosi says he could have it for breakfast.
Typical tomato recipes are usually for salads, pasta dishes or dips, such as pico de gallo. However, the fruit is usually made of water – about 95% – and the carbohydrate component means it is both sweet and sour. That’s why it’s the perfect ingredient to add moisture and unexpected flavor to a dessert like cake, says Enjoy your dinner† Other sweets with tomatoes are more refreshing for the summer, such as a Ecuadorian sorbet made with tree tomatoes. If you’re a fan of the fruit, go ahead and add tomato or tomato soup to your next homemade treat. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it!
