Tomato Soup Cake

For Carrie:


Tomato soup cake is basically a spice cake (cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves) with a can of condensed tomato soup added in. I also added some chopped dates and pecans. Frost with a cream cheese frosting. Hopefully make it prettier than I did. I was not expecting to take pictures, and the heat yesterday was making the frosting slump.

It's a pretty good cake, and the tomato soup doesn't really make a noticeable difference in texture, color, or flavor. Depending on whom you're serving, you may or may not choose to reveal the mystery ingredient. The revelation was not well received last night, I must say.

A quick online search will turn up a jillion recipes, but mine came from an old edition of the Campbell's Soup Cookbook. Next on the menu will be the Rosy Chiffon Cake (also made with condensed tomato soup) and the Steamed Pudding (also made with--you guessed it!--condensed tomato soup).

I have a surfeit at the moment.
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Obligatory knitting content:

Currently, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is having an exhibit on the origins of American photography.

I cannot go, alas, but they have a nice online tour of the exhibit with features to zoom in on photos with great detail. Zooming in on the c.1855 photo to the right reveals that the woman is wearing knitted undersleeves.

To see details, go here, click "enlarge image" and then zoom in two or three times.

The sleeves are really interesting in that they seem to be done in garter stitch, but of stripes made of different fibers, not just different colors. I don't know how else to account for the sheen on the alternate stripes. The cuffs looked ribbed with a crocheted border, but something seems unusual about the rib stitch. It's possible they're done in a twisted stitch by knitting into the back of the loop. It's really hard to tell, but the baby may also be wearing a knitted undershirt.