Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Lightly grease 2 x 8-inch/20cm round cake pans.
Add the condensed tomato soup (don’t add water) to a bowl and stir in the baking soda (it will puff up a bit as it reacts with the acidity). Set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Add the sugar and butter to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer then beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.
Mix in the tomato soup. (Note: it might ‘split’ slightly but don’t worry, it will come together with the flour).
Sift in the flour, baking powder and spices, then gently mix to combine (with a wooden spoon, don’t use the electric mixer). Don’t overmix, but ensure no streaks of flour remain.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting.
Beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Frost the completely cooled tomato soup cake.
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Notes
All refrigerated ingredients need to be at room temperature before baking to ensure even cooking inside the cake.
For this recipe, use unsalted butter as the tomato soup already contains salt.
The cake needs to be completely cooled before frosting to prevent the frosting from melting or running.
You’ll need to make sure you purchase condensed soup only and DO NOT add water. Use the full can undiluted in the cake.
To make sure the cake stays light and fluffy, do not overmix the ingredients. Once you mix the dry ingredients in, use a wooden spoon and fold until there are no flour streaks present without overmixing.