Ingredient Function Friday Returns!!!!
Finished Cupcakes. Yum!
Hello Bakers,
Today we are exploring tomato soup as an ingredient in baked goods. A little weird but fun.
There have been revivals of tomato soup cake in blogs in the past few years. The first recipes were introduced in the 1930s during the depression. At that time marketing campaigns were directed at women who needed to be very frugal when it came to providing for their families - Campbell’s ran on of these, relying on home cooks for recipes. It was also known as “mystery” cake.
They did not have a test kitchen until 1941. The first company (Campbell’s UK) generated recipe was for a steamed pudding. Campbell’s UK opened their test kitchen in 1940
Fascinating right? Do these cupcakes taste like tomato soup.? No it tastes like sweet spicy cake with optional additions of sweet golden raisins and toasted walnuts for more flavor and interest.
So what is the tomato soup doing in this recipe? It is a substitute for milk, oil, and butter. The earlier recipes did not use 4 ounces of butter - 1 ounce of butter would have been about it. But since it is 2019 and we are not in a crisis (yet) I loaded up the batter with butter. Tomato gives off a background of spicy when combined with the rest of the ingredients.
Tomato Soup Cupcakes - Yield 12
Equipment: Stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or hand held mixer fitted with standard beaters, spatula, scale, teaspoons, 12 cup muffin tin lined with paper liners (can be made into a 9” cake, square or round pan, greased and lined with parchment paper.
Tomato Soup Cupcake Mise en Place
Ingredients:
9 ounces (255g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon (good pinch) nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon (15g) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch Process
4 ounces (113g) butter, cut into pieces
7 ounces (198g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 can tomato soup (10 ¾ ounces), undiluted
4 ounces (113g) golden raisins (optional)
4 ounces (113g) toasted, chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and cocoa.
Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy about 6-8 minutes, stop mixer and scrape down from time to time.
4. Add the egg one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Both eggs are in - it it looks just the little bit broken it’s ok -
5. Add the dry mixture on low speed until just combined.
6. Add all of the tomato soup and mix until just combined on low to medium low speed.
7. Add remaining ½ of dry ingredients and mix until combined.
8. Take the bowl off mixer and add the optional raisins and nuts stir until combined - do not over mix
9. Scoop into prepared muffin cups.
One medium scoop and one small scoop on top works great for a 12 cup pan
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Semi Sweet Chocolate Icing (it’s ganache)
Equipment: Small saucepan, spatula, bowl of ice water, extra dry bowl, whisk
6 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
Heat cream to boiling, remove from heat add chocolate and stir until all chocolate is melted. Scrape into dry bowl and whisk gently over ice water until it thickens
Ice cupcakes right away. You can omit the ice bath if you have time for the icing to thicken up on it’s own as it cools.
Whisk over ice water until it looks like this - pipe on cupcakes right away. If it does seize up a little then warm briefly (3-4 seconds at a time) over a double boiler of simmering water
To finish the cupcakes I put the icing/ganache in a piping bag fitted with a medium star time and piped away.