HINTS FROM HELOISE:
Tomato soup makes the cake.
Dear Heloise:
My mother got a fabulous cake recipe from your mother many years ago. I remember that it had tomato soup in the batter and tasted so good. Could you reprint it?
My mother, the original Heloise (1919-77), also called it Conversation Cake because you don’t tell anyone it contains tomato soup. After they taste it, it starts a conversation!
Mother’s Tomato Soup Cake
½ cup solid shortening 1 cup sugar 1 can tomato soup (10½ ounces) 1 cup chopped nuts 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup raisins 1½ cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder Optional for spice (experiment with one or two first — not all of them, unless you really like spice): 1½ teaspoons nutmeg 2½ teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice ½ teaspoon ground cloves
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in one can of tomato soup (undiluted) and the rest of the ingredients, one at a time. Cream well after each addition. Grease a 10-inch square cake pan. Pour in the batter, and when the oven reaches 375 degrees, bake for 45 minutes.
When cake is done, remove from the oven. Loosen the edges with a knife. Turn onto a cake rack and let cool.
Note: Cream cheese icing works well with this cake. But don’t tell anyone that there is tomato soup in the cake until he or she has eaten it!
Heloise@heloise.com Heloise P.O. Box 795000 San Antonio, TX 78279 King Features Syndicate