A recipe from the kitchen of Marion Malavasi
1 cup sugar
2 Tbls. butter
1 can tomato soup (undiluted)
2 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup nuts
1 teas. baking soda
2 teas. baking powder
2 teas. cinnamon
2 and 1/2 teas. powdered cloves
1/2 teas. nutmeg
Cream butter and sugar. Add tomato soup and baking soda. Sift dry ingredients and mix. Add nuts and raisins (in flour). Bake in oven 40 minutes.
Cream Cheese Icing:
3 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Cream and spread on cake.
That's how it was written in Righteous Recipes and Faithful Favorites, but I strayed a bit after discovering I had no baking soda, not even a box freshening my refrigerator. I always substitute applesauce for butter or shortening in cake or quick bread recipes, so dump in 1/4 cup of that, unless you prefer butter or healthy oil. I ended up using Trader Joe's MultiGrain Baking and Pancake Mix because it had a variety of flours and baking soda, a gift of sorts from one sister who is experimenting with all the organic, vegan, no-sugar foods she once made fun of me for eating, years ago. Whatever. So the original sparse instructions make vague sense but leave out the size of the pan as well as what temperature to cook the cake. Sifting is a waste of time.
My way: Just measure the ingredients and mix in a bowl. Add an egg because all cakes should have at least one egg. I took the cream cheese out to let it soften, but my husband kept putting it back in the refrigerator, so technically the cake isn't iced yet...
I was baking a nice roast beef with garlic cloves shoved into little X's made with a sharp knife and the oven was at 350 for that and some golden potatoes. I used an 8 by 13 inch oiled pan and let the cake bake until a toothpick came out clean, almost exactly 40 minutes. Spinach and romaine salad with red peppers.
Warning: This cake looks more like meatloaf, but smells like gingerbread and Christmas. It is also on the dense side, but chewy and you would never know there is tomato sauce in it!
On a scale of Angel Food Cake to Fruit Cake, this falls closer towards Fruit Cake, although much tastier, even without the icing.