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.
AuthorRetroRuth
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Sift together the first 6 ingredients.
Add the next 5 ingredients, and beat on medium speed for 6 minutes.
Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or 2 round cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 mins. (start checking after 30 mins if making rounds)
*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!
Ingredients
Directions
Sift together the first 6 ingredients.
Add the next 5 ingredients, and beat on medium speed for 6 minutes.
Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or 2 round cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 mins. (start checking after 30 mins if making rounds)
*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!
Notes
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.
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.
*Note – The layer cake is frosted with Vintage Bakery Frosting, and filled with a vintage chocolate frosting/filling that I will be posting soon!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:20]
LAST DAY FOR GLISTENING AND JIGGLY SUBMISSIONS!
This is it, it’s the last day to send in your submission for our vintage gelatin recipe contest! Send us any vintage recipe you’ve got, good or bad! Email them to ruth@midcenturymenu.com or ruth@nopatternrequired.com . We have tons of great prizes, AND you get to see Tom choke down your worst and enjoy your best gelatin dishes.
Come on! You know you want to!
I’m so happy to have discovered your blog! So interesting!
I didn’t know they used to use tomato soup in chocolate cake, it sounds really strange but the result looks so amazing! I’d like to try it!
Tom needs a moment alone with the cake – haha! A former co-worker of mine once brought a tomato soup cake to work and it apparently was terrible on a legendary level. I’m glad (and intrigued!) to hear this one turned out so well. I might have to give it a try!
Other than the way it looked in the mixer, this cake looks delicious!
You totally should try it, Laura! It’s great!
You just might have to, and undo all the tomato soup stigma from your workplace as well! 🙂
I have to admit, I was pretty grossed out by the mixer myself. However, I must say I wasn’t tempted to try the batter!
How nice–and unusual–to see that expression of utter serenity on Tom’s face.
Annnnnnd….once is enough, really. Could you please hurry back to grossing him out? Kthnx.
This looks awesome, I’m SO going to try this and not tell anyone what’s in the cake until after they have had it!!! 🙂
The trick is to have a party and serve this and the mayonasie cake – then after everyone is finished make the guests guess which is mayo and which is tomato…
I remember a tomato soup cake in a community cookbook my grandmother used; it was a spice cake or gingerbread cake though. The cookbook had recipes in it that were “older than dirt,” and that may true of this one, since Campbell’s started producing condensed tomato soup in 1897! Now I want to track down that spice cake recipe…..
I printed the recipe & will be baking this sucker…
I made this cake in the 1970s. It is kind of oddly amazing. I’ll have to try it again.
This mix looks so yucky but the end result looks so good I am keeping it up my sleve for my next dinner party 🙂
I have been looking for that recipy for years….we use to make when i was a kid and yes i am child of the 60…just one thing use Campbell soup and nothing else or it will not come out right…thanks.
Yeah. The “Mixer Cam” pic was disgusting. But, I bet it’s good. I’ll have to try it. I made tomato soup bread a few times, from an old recipe. It was wonderful. It was a yeast bread, and it was…. red. Pretty cool.
I can’t wait to try this cake.
I can’t wait to try that cake out, especially after the rave reviews from your hubster!
I’ve heard rave reviews of “Tomato Soup Cake”, which I think is a spice-type cake, but never heard of a chocolate cake made with it.
I once tried a chocolate sauerkraut cake, just because of the weird factor. It turned out to be fantastic, oddly enough, so I guess I should give this recipe a try, too.
What a great find at Salvation Army! You’re bound to have a lot of fun with that collection.
Hey, Ruth, when you made the cake did you use actual buttermilk, or did you go the lemon-juice-in-sweet-milk route?
Hey Veg! I used real buttermilk!
Hi there – I need to tell you the story of my encounter with the tomato soup cake.
I attended a depression era/mid century pot luck a couple weeks ago and was looking for something to bring. This sounded interesting, so I tried it. Everyone there LOVED it!
Fast forward a couple days – I was at work – I teach middle school – and I was telling my students about the cake and how good it was. Surprisingly, they begged me to bring it in for them. So yesterday, I did. I made 2 9×13 pans of it, frosted it with the chocolate icing recipe you recommended, and they absolutely devoured it! Several kids wanted seconds. Some kids came in during their lunch hour to see if I had leftovers because word had gotten out about the cake. I even had kids ask for the recipe so that they could have their moms make it!
So there you go – you know it’s good when teenagers will eat it even when they know what the ingredients are!!!
I just made homemade tomato basil soup, googled for magical properties of tomato soup and this popped up. I am SO making this. What will it do to my waste line? 😉
Hi, I am ready to make this cake could you tell me what size can of tomato soup to use I have the larger size 400g is this ok or should I use the smaller size 🙂
Becky!! That is a fantastic story! I am SO glad everyone liked it. 🙂
Hey Mia!
You should use the smaller can. I think it is about 10 oz or so? Good luck!
What type of oil do you use?
Hi Katie! I just used vegetable oil.
Hi….I stumbled across your page trying to find a recipe for Tomato soup. I just finished baking your tomato soup!! I can not wait to try it…I’m sure it will be delicious! thanks so much for posting! I love all things Retro and shared your page and recipe with my friends! I’m sure they will not believe that I used tomato soup…haha. 😉
Thanks again!
Kimberly
…Tomato soup *Chocolate Cake. 🙂
I am making this tonight! I hope it tastes as good as it looks!
I’m so glad I found this website.This cake was delious! I have viewed some other recipes and I can’t wait to try them!
I made this for a party. It’s so good, but it’s RICH. Almost too rich.
I’m planning on making this on Sunday – do you just use Campbell’s condensed tomato soup or is there a specific kind?
Hi Rachel –
You can use any condensed tomato soup, but the cake really tastes the best when you use Campbell’s.
My lovely neighbor Shirley Bloom used to bake this for us in the early 60s I believe. I have missed it ever since! She frosted it with chocolate
We made this today and it was WONDERFUL, just…WONDERFUL! This has to be the best looking chocolate bundt cake my mother has made since I can remember. It tastes good, too. It cuts so cleanly.
Hi,
After I read this post, I remembered a Live Journal post that had an original ad for Campbell’s Soup. It showed the cake, and said to find the recipe in the Campbells Cook Book. You could write for a free copy, looked to be the 1950’s. The cake was a pan cake, with white frosting.
Frank
I made this cake as part of a recreated TV Dinner menu. The cake was a hit, big time. I’ll definitely make it again.
Frank
hi, i was wondering if anyone made this with “sour milk” instead of buttermilk?
This cake is AMAZING!……A M A Z I N G!!!!!!! I have had maybe one or two chocolate cakes in my life that I thought were really amazing. This recipe blows anything else away!!! Sublime! I made it 3 times in 2 weeks…..it is just that good! Thank you for sharing it. Just a couple of questions……….if it’s baked in a glass baking dish, how should the temperature and baking time be adjusted? Can you also use this recipe for cupcakes? Any info would be helpful. Thanks again. MAKE THIS CAKE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Baker Bill: Rule of Thumb for a glass pan, lower the oven by 25 degrees fahrenheit. [I also raise the oven rack by one or two notched if using a “regular” [not convection] oven]. I was always leery of baking with my glass pan as I have scorched a few cakes that way, until I started using a convection oven – which makes me wish I had more than one glass cake pan it works so well.
Any cake recipe can be baked as cupcakes, start testing for doneness at about a third of the way through the full cake baking time. Sooner if it’s for a big cake, like a bundt cake, wait til about half time if it’s for a sheet cake [ala 13 x 9]
Hey Bill! See Sue-on-the-farms comment below for the glass pan adjustment!
For cupcakes, make sure that you only fill the cupcake liners HALF full instead of the normal 3/4 way full. This recipe raises a LOT. The cupcakes are done then you touch them in the center and they spring back, and I usually start testing cupcakes for doneness after 20 mins. Good luck!
OMG! I MADE THIS CAKE FOR OUR FAMILY SUMMER BIRTHDAY PARTY!! NOTICE THE CAPS! I AM SHOUTING B/C IT WAS FANTASTIC! I USED HOMEMADE CHERRY VANILLA CREAM CHEESE FROSTING!YUMYUMYUM. I WILL MAKE THIS EVERY TIME I MAKE A CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!
Nice, sara! Soooo glad you liked it and that it turned out for you. And that frosting sounds amazing!
ruth, i call it my 3 pound frosting…1 pound of powdered sugar (sifted), 1 pound butter , 1 pound cream cheese, 1 tablespoon vanilla…to make it cherry / vanilla, i use the “juice” from maraschino cherries. yum yum yum. it makes a TON, but leftovers can be frozen…so you always have some yummy frosting ready to go.
I baked the one you linked to made with coffee and it was amazing. So easy and it stayed moist and awesome for TWO WEEKS in the fridge. i could not believe it. I didn’t even think it needed frosting. I did stir the cocoa powder into the hot coffee since I knew that would bloom the cocoa powder and make it more flavorful.
I’ve just made this cake and was a little bit anxious because of the conversions ( I’m French ). Moreover I’ve made a big BIG mistake : tasting the mixing = horrible and I was afraid of the tomato coulis ( 200gr ) I’ve put in it.
After the baking and the tasting: delicious ! I’m pretty amazed by the moist of this cake but I’ll try with more chocolate and a little bit of coffee the next time.
So, thank you for this recipe =)
Just want to say a quick thank you for posting this recipe. We tried it over the weekend and it lived up to all our expectations. The batter was as grim as advertised, and the end product is sublime.
In 1962 I was given a recipe box filled with recipes from friends and neighbors. One of the recipes was for Tomato Soup Cake, and the friend who gave it to me said it came from WWII, when many cooking ingredients were scarce, and they made-do with substitutions. I made this cake several times, and loved it. During the ensuing years and a number of moves, my precious recipe box has gone missing, but I am finding similar ones on the internet.
Oh I so want to make this! I wonder if I could do it gluten free as I am celiac. I’m sure I could do the rest of the cake with substitute flours but Campbell’s tomato soup has wheat in it.
I’m 60, and I remember my grandmother making this fifty years ago. I have no idea where she got it; she kept all her handwritten recipes in a tin box. Yes, it is totally awesome, and I am so glad to have found your website and this recipe in particular. Thank you!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day! I have this cake cooling on a rack right now!! I’ve always wanted to try it and this seems like the perfect time. It smells delicious. I made the frosting on the confectioner’s sugar box, which I haven’t made in probably 15 years. I loved it as a kid, and made it all the time, but I lost the touch when I got older 🙂 Seems to have come out this time, yay!
Why does it take so long for a cake to cool????
Laureen, My middle name is Maureen. Make with fresh tomatoes your own tomato soup, process tomatoes with a blender or just mash well,cook tomatoes in a sauce pan mash after cooked, on a medium heat, stir a lot as they will burn, when they are cooked down some they are ready. Add a little of the sugar from the cake recipe as this balances the acid. If you can have dairy add just enough to be creamy, I prefer half and half as it is creamy already and does not have foreign ingredients in it. Hope this helps.****
wow came across this recipe, and wanna try it, will cupcakes work ?
Hi Lucy – I haven’t tried cupcakes, but I think other people have and they did turn out. Just make sure you only fill them half (or less than half) full, this batter rises a lot! Good luck!
this was ny favorite birthday cake as a child,love it with walnuts and golden raisens in it also.do you have a recipe for jello molds with cream cheese balls in it?Or a basic moist yellow cake with boiled maple syrup icing?
Made it & love it! Thanks:)
I have been wanting to make this cake since I stumbled onto this recipe in May. Was gonna make it for my mom for Mother’s day but didn’t have any cocoa or buttermilk. 🙁
Made the spice cake version though and she liked it. Got cocoa this time and it’s her birthday this weekend, so guess what mom’s getting for her birthday? Hope it’s good!
Success! The cake turned out awesome and your tomato-chocolate crack description certainly was apt! And I did all the mixing by hand, didn’t even use a mixer. Mom loved it and the cake went like gangbusters. Even I had to stop and say wow when I tasted it. Well done Ruth, this is going in the recipe box!
Mmmmmm! I stumbled on this site and cake while looking up Jell-O monstrosities of yesteryear (and I mean that in a good way). Oh my heavens, this cake is so delicious! My wife and one son couldn’t get past the knowledge that there was tomato soup in the cake, and didn’t like it. The other three sons and I loved it! I am going to make this a lot!
Ruth, your whole site is amazing, and now bookmarked. Great writing style, great recipes. Thank you!
My grandmother used to make this in the 1960s and I’ve been looking for a good recipe ever since. And guess what? My grandmother was in the Salvation Army. So I’ll take that as a sign and try this for sure. Thank you for posting it!
I made this tonight and frosted it with Jiffy fudge frosting. It blew my mind! Do you have any vintage recipes for the chocolate cake that uses mayonnaise?
This reminded me of a recipe called Thunder Cake. It appears in a children’s book of the same title by Patricia Polacco and is a recipe her grandmother used to make. This recipe is made with fresh tomatoes.
What about the recipe for the filling? It looks delicious. Thanks.
I notice that you said you would post the recipe for “the vintage chocolate frosting/filling that I will be posting soon” but I am not seeing the link yet. Can you post your recipe for the chocolate filling?
This cake….. Oh this cake. My family talks about it. We had to have silence while eating so we could enjoy it without distraction.
I came across your website in that most wonderful of ways… I fell down the Pinterest hole which led me to the larger internet hole. I haven’t baked a cake from scratch before and when I saw this recipe I knew this was THE cake I had to make first. The only change to the recipe, as posted, was the use of Hershey’s special dark cocoa. Knowing this cake has a strange power over the minds of we poor mortals, I decided to bake the cake and take it to work with me tomorrow.
I planned not to taste it myself but…when I realized I’d forgotten to put some toothpicks in the cake to hold the Saran Wrap up… I ended up with a bit of cake on the wrap… Since I was replacing it anyhow I figured a small taste wouldn’t hurt. I licked the small bit of cake off the wrap and had to fight the urge to devour the entire thing. This cake is crazy, amazing good!! I cannot wait to see the look on my co-workers faces tomorrow
How FUN! Let me know how it goes, and glad you like the cake!!!! 🙂
I made tomato cake for our family in winter birthday party. The taste was fantastic. I used a cherry vanilla cream to make the tomato soup. I make tomato cake every time for any occasion. Thanks for sharing great recipe.
Hiiiii, I am soo excitedd to male this recipee but I don’t want to screw it up. When you say one can of condensed tomato soup, how many ounces do you mean??
Chocolate!? Thank you for postingI have the spice cake recipe from my campbells cook book. I like both versions! I was so happy to know we can do it in a chocolate version! We made these as cupcakes for Independence day! I made some cream cheese frosting to top!So moist! Even better to enjoy within the week after too! I will make this chocolate one today for my mother in-laws bday, they twisted my arm. ;D
Wait….what?
I know that I’m replying to a comment from 2015, but if anyone else is looking, the recipe is listed as, “Old-Fashioned Chocolate Icing and Filling – A Retro Recipe Test.”
http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2012/05/old-fashioned-chocolate-icing-and-filling-a-retro-recipe-test/
The recipe is missing, and I NEED it for my mother-in-law’s birthday tonight!!! AHHHHH!
I am so sorry, I have no idea where it went!
• Black Magic Chocolate Cake
•
• 1 3/4 cups flour (or 1 3/4 cups plus 2 T cake flour)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 can condensed tomato soup (such as Campbell’s)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Beat wet ingredients together in large bowl.
• Sift in dry ingredients, then beat on medium speed 6 minutes.
• Pour into a greased and floured 9×13 pan or 2 round cake pans
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 mins
I made this cake in a baking contest in grade 4, in 1958. It won. The recipe was on the tomato soup can. Recipes on products are always wonderful: the best chocolate chip cookie recipe is on the package of chips, for example. It is the tomato soup that keeps this cake moist, rather like yoghurt does in cakes, and I suppose the soup adds extra salt to the sweet cake, something that is generally quite addictive.
I’ll give it a try!!!
Hey Ruth! Could you edit the article and put the recipe back in!
Done! Sorry, Thayne!
You should read the story “Thunder Cake” by Patricia Polacco. It’s a story about a girl and her grandmother making a chocolate cake with tomatoes in it during a thunder storm.
Can you make cupcake. How long would bake them.
What icing is in the pix – white AND brown please.
https://www.midcenturymenu.com/recipe/old-fashioned-chocolate-frosting/
https://www.midcenturymenu.com/recipe/vintage-bakery-birthday-cake-frosting/