Tomato Juice Cake

Let's Talk About Cake

The great thing about cake is that it's easy to make, it comes in different flavors, and it feeds a bunch of people. In fact, when I was young, cakes were the go-to dessert for all group gatherings--funerals, church potlucks, family reunions. Grandma had a few standbys in her repertoire, and Tomato Juice Cake was one of her favorites. Case in point, there was not one but two recipe cards for it in her box, and one looked like it had been through a war and back. Grandma's other standbys included Oatmeal Cake, which had a yummy coconut topping, and Marble Cake.  

That was then. My now is that nobody likes cake in my immediate family, no one but me and my mother. This has made testing some of Grandma's recipes difficult. Cakes are for crowds, not a treat for two. Fortunately, it was my turn to host the neighborhood ladies' monthly gathering, and I figured they would make the perfect guinea pigs. 

How to Make Tomato Juice Cake

Hurdle one was that I didn't have tomato juice in my pantry. After wandering the grocery store aisles for a while, not sure whether it would be shelved near the canned tomatoes or the juices, I found a six-pack of small cans in the “mixer” aisle. 

To begin the cake, I first measured out the shortening and the sugar then mixed those two ingredients together. I know . . . you and I both are wondering if butter would have been better, but shortening was what the recipe called for so that was what I used.  

I added the eggs and beat the mixture well. 

I then added the dry ingredients to a sieve so that I could sift them in. Notice that the dry ingredients included lots of spices. 

Alternating between additions of the dry ingredients and the tomato juice . . .  

I ended up with a rustic-looking pink batter. 

The recipe said that raisins and nuts could be added, but I wasn't sure if any of my guests had nut allergies or raisin aversions, so I skipped them. I spread the batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan. 

Next hurdle--I wasn't sure how long to bake it. The temperature and time on the recipe card were suspect. (370 for 40 minutes? That seemed way too long and way too hot.) I opted for 350 degrees and 35 minutes. 

Even that turned out to be too long. When I took out the cake, the edges were quite brown. Five minutes less probably would have been better.   

Grandma’s recipe didn't say anything about frosting, but I distinctly remembered that Grandma served it frosted.  So, since I had free rein, I chose to make a simple cream cheese frosting of butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar. It wasn't a thick layer, but that was okay because the cake wasn’t thick either. 

The Verdict

When the ladies came, I didn’t tell them what kind of cake they were about to eat. I told them to taste it first and give me a guess. Most of them guessed pumpkin, but nobody said tomato juice because it tasted nothing like tomato. Instead, it was a rich, flavorful spice cake, and the cream cheese frosting added a sweetness and tang that knocked it out of the park. The next day, even my cake-hating husband polished off more than one piece and declared it delicious. What more proof do you need that you should try this cake? 

To do that, click the link below the recipe card to download and print it out. Then serve this cake at your next big gathering, don't tell anyone what's in it, and watch it disappear.