My favorite part about this was that the website didn't start with the author's backstory and is ad free! Otherwise, I'm very interested and might just have to make this.
My favorite part about this was that the website didn't start with the author's backstory and is ad free!
Otherwise, I'm very interested and might just have to make this.
That's a pretty genius "recipe hack". The condensed soup is going to have a lot of salt, which brings the cake closer to the bliss point. Meanwhile the tomatoes bring glutimate that enhances the...
That's a pretty genius "recipe hack".
The condensed soup is going to have a lot of salt, which brings the cake closer to the bliss point. Meanwhile the tomatoes bring glutimate that enhances the savoriness, acid which makes it brighter, and some more sweetness (which would make sense if this is a recipe from the Great Depression or during WW2 when sugar was rationed). I would venture to guess the touch of fiber in the tomatoes makes helps it to stay moist, as well. Plus, you know, celery and garlic improves everything. In all seriousness, the many flavor compounds in the chocolate and vanilla means that the flavors from the herbs might not be terribly noticable. I think I've seen a rosemary thyme chocolate bar somewhere before.
Thank you for posting this! I was so intrigued by it I had to make something similar myself. Having no access to Campbell's soup specifically nor an adequate soup to replace it by, nor to...
Thank you for posting this! I was so intrigued by it I had to make something similar myself. Having no access to Campbell's soup specifically nor an adequate soup to replace it by, nor to buttermilk, I made do in spirit with some tomato passata, kefir, and slightly increased flour and salt contents. "Inspired by" is probably an apt descriptor.
Tomato content was very roughly one part in five by weight. Also using a 9" / 23cm diameter round spring form instead of the pan.
40 minutes in the oven. Cake definitely rose a lot, so much so that it detached from an outer ring shell while in the oven, essentially making a slight two-tiered result haha.
30 minutes to cool and it was still slightly warm and on the edge of gooey at the very center. Getting a thicker version with the smaller spring form presumably contributed to that. Another 30 minutes to cool and it was all settled.
If someone had served me this and not told me about the tomatoes there is no chance I would have guessed it. The only thing I would notice is that it was slightly less chocolatey than I'd expect from a chocolate sponge cake. To be fair though, my sense of taste isn't the greatest, so take it with a pinch of salt (heh).
In either case, fresh baked the cake was very moist and after the longer cooling period seemed to me structurally sound enough to use as a base for a layered cake. Not that I tried, but still.
Now to see if I can resist eating it all up over the next couple of days to see how it holds up.
EDIT #1: Two days in and it's still very moist, definitely servable. For context, I'm storing it in my fridge, just under a basic plastic microwave splatter guard which is not air-tight. The fridge is set at 2°C according to the printed markings on the 2/4/6/8°C thermostat but I really have no way of verifying the actual temperature (and temperature in fridges can get... complicated)
EDIT #2: About four days old, it started drying out a bit at the outer edge. Not dry, but noticeably less moist than at the start. It would probably be servable for at least a couple more days, and if made into layered cake I think that usually keeps it moist longer? Anyway, the last piece has been consumed, so no more updates on this now.
Immediately made me think of B. Dylan Hollis, because I knew I'd seen him do one of these tomato cakes. It's not the same recipe (no chocolate), but apparently it... tastes like chocolate. He's...
Immediately made me think of B. Dylan Hollis, because I knew I'd seen him do one of these tomato cakes. It's not the same recipe (no chocolate), but apparently it... tastes like chocolate. He's great fun for weird antiquated recipes!
Interesting that ChatGPT is confident the recipe is from Campbell's Soup, while the article couldn't find any such connection. Pity we can't really ask ChatGPT for its sources.
Interesting that ChatGPT is confident the recipe is from Campbell's Soup, while the article couldn't find any such connection. Pity we can't really ask ChatGPT for its sources.
https://chatgpt.com/share/ba4c275c-5db3-48c2-9c62-0228dc590c53 I went ahead and asked and it did a few web searches instead of giving me sources for it's original text. However, even those...
I went ahead and asked and it did a few web searches instead of giving me sources for it's original text. However, even those "sources" it found, they were all talking about spice cakes, not chocolate. I asked about it, which caused another web search.
It could be that it's more concerned with cake in general and doesn't consider the types an important detail when making the original claims that it came from Campbell's. This is an excellent reminder to always (always!) double check the info you get from these LLMs, they aren't search engines or encyclopedias, they are effectively just very fancy next-word-guessers.
My favorite part about this was that the website didn't start with the author's backstory and is ad free!
Otherwise, I'm very interested and might just have to make this.
Gonna second the fact that I actually read the whole story when I typically just look for the "jump to recipe" link.
Fun read, thanks OP!
That's a pretty genius "recipe hack".
The condensed soup is going to have a lot of salt, which brings the cake closer to the bliss point. Meanwhile the tomatoes bring glutimate that enhances the savoriness, acid which makes it brighter, and some more sweetness (which would make sense if this is a recipe from the Great Depression or during WW2 when sugar was rationed). I would venture to guess the touch of fiber in the tomatoes makes helps it to stay moist, as well. Plus, you know, celery and garlic improves everything. In all seriousness, the many flavor compounds in the chocolate and vanilla means that the flavors from the herbs might not be terribly noticable. I think I've seen a rosemary thyme chocolate bar somewhere before.
Thank you for posting this! I was so intrigued by it I had to make something similar myself. Having no access to Campbell's soup specifically nor an adequate soup to replace it by, nor to buttermilk, I made do in spirit with some tomato passata, kefir, and slightly increased flour and salt contents. "Inspired by" is probably an apt descriptor.
Tomato content was very roughly one part in five by weight. Also using a 9" / 23cm diameter round spring form instead of the pan.
40 minutes in the oven. Cake definitely rose a lot, so much so that it detached from an outer ring shell while in the oven, essentially making a slight two-tiered result haha.
30 minutes to cool and it was still slightly warm and on the edge of gooey at the very center. Getting a thicker version with the smaller spring form presumably contributed to that. Another 30 minutes to cool and it was all settled.
If someone had served me this and not told me about the tomatoes there is no chance I would have guessed it. The only thing I would notice is that it was slightly less chocolatey than I'd expect from a chocolate sponge cake. To be fair though, my sense of taste isn't the greatest, so take it with a pinch of salt (heh).
In either case, fresh baked the cake was very moist and after the longer cooling period seemed to me structurally sound enough to use as a base for a layered cake. Not that I tried, but still.
Now to see if I can resist eating it all up over the next couple of days to see how it holds up.
EDIT #1: Two days in and it's still very moist, definitely servable. For context, I'm storing it in my fridge, just under a basic plastic microwave splatter guard which is not air-tight. The fridge is set at 2°C according to the printed markings on the 2/4/6/8°C thermostat but I really have no way of verifying the actual temperature (and temperature in fridges can get... complicated)
EDIT #2: About four days old, it started drying out a bit at the outer edge. Not dry, but noticeably less moist than at the start. It would probably be servable for at least a couple more days, and if made into layered cake I think that usually keeps it moist longer? Anyway, the last piece has been consumed, so no more updates on this now.
Amazing!
Saw a post somewhere that this recipe tastes good, anyone have other weird recommended recipes?
Immediately made me think of B. Dylan Hollis, because I knew I'd seen him do one of these tomato cakes. It's not the same recipe (no chocolate), but apparently it... tastes like chocolate. He's great fun for weird antiquated recipes!
My wife has made some banana bread cupcakes with avocado chocolate frosting a few times. they are pretty good.
Had to ask ChatGPT
Interesting that ChatGPT is confident the recipe is from Campbell's Soup, while the article couldn't find any such connection. Pity we can't really ask ChatGPT for its sources.
https://chatgpt.com/share/ba4c275c-5db3-48c2-9c62-0228dc590c53
I went ahead and asked and it did a few web searches instead of giving me sources for it's original text. However, even those "sources" it found, they were all talking about spice cakes, not chocolate. I asked about it, which caused another web search.
It could be that it's more concerned with cake in general and doesn't consider the types an important detail when making the original claims that it came from Campbell's. This is an excellent reminder to always (always!) double check the info you get from these LLMs, they aren't search engines or encyclopedias, they are effectively just very fancy next-word-guessers.
Yup! I only mostly trust its response when asking it to confirm something I already know but want validation of.