Today is Sandra's birthday. Sandra is our receptionist and a work friend of mine who is very thoughtful about planning for other people's birthdays, so it is only fitting that she should have a lovely cake for her birthday.
Flicking through Rose Levy Beranbaum's Heavenly Cakes, my attention was caught by a very striking Chocolate Tomato Cake, decorated by wafer candles. You can find the recipe online here.
Perhaps even more striking than the decoration of this cake was the fact that it contains a tin of tomato soup. Yep, you read correctly - tomato soup. Rose recommends Campbells brand, as she originally made the cake for Campbells, but I used Heinz Big Red instead. As Rose had foreshadowed, the soup made the cake a lovely dark chocolate colour:
Once the double layer cake had been ganached to the nines, it was surrounded by "candles" made of chocolate filled wafers (I used Arnotts Fun Sticks) and piped red icing flames:
I have even tried the cake, as I levelled off the bottom cake before filling it - and it is beautifully moist, compliments of the tomato soup. It is also very chocolatey, despite only containing cocoa powder.
Here's hoping Sandra enjoys it - happy birthday Sandra!
