Tomato Soup Carrot (Spice) Cake

One of my bosses goes out of her way to bake something for everyone's birthday so when it was her birthday, we baked for her instead.  And while she would've been happy with just boxed brownies, I wanted to make something a little more special/difficult/from scratch.

I first read about this recipe back in April 2010 from The Pioneer Woman.  My cousin reposted it from her RSS feed and when I flew to visit her, we decided we had to try it.  An egg-less cake with tomato soup?  Too crazy NOT to try!

So we tried it using The Pioneer Woman's modifications and it tasted like a Gingerbread Spice cake to us.  So this time, I modified it some more to be more like a spicy carrot cake. 

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ¼ cups light brown sugar
• 2 cans (10.75oz) condensed tomato soup
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 ½ cups grated carrots

For the Frosting

• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound powdered sugar

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 11x13 cake pan with oil.

For the Cake: Cream together butter and sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine the tomato soup and baking soda.  (This is my favorite part - the mixture grows!)  Once combined, mix into the creamed sugar mixture.  Add all other cake ingredients.  Spread into pan and bake for 40 minutes.

For the Frosting: Cream all ingredients together.  Spread onto cooled cake. 

S'mores (Pie) Bars

I went camping with my friends earlier this month and we had every good intention to make legit s'mores on a campfire.  That never did happen though because we had so much other food we could've fed a small nation.  (And that's barely an exaggeration.)


I didn't think it was fair for me to keep all the leftover food when everyone paid an equal share for it.  So, I decided to create S'mores (Pie) Bars to share.


I started with the basic Chocolate Candy Bar Pie recipe I found on the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog.  And then I made it my own in order to make it a S'mores tasting recipe using the ingredients I already had from the camping trip.  And then because I thought bars would be easier to transport to a picnic than a pie, I made them in bar shape.


Here's my recipe for S'mores (Pie) Bars:

INGREDIENTS


For the Crust

• 1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs (about 4 oz)
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 stick Unsalted Butter, Melted and Cooled
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional - I just happen to be on an almond kick) 

For the Filling

• 4 whole 1.55oz Hershey's chocolate bars
• 8oz, weight Whipped Topping
• 10 Jumbo Marshmallows (1/2 cup regular sized would've been easier but I was using what we already had)
• 5-10 Jumbo Marshmallows cut into smaller chunks for decoration (or 1/2 cup regular sized)
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips for decoration

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (I used a silicon square baking pan but if you're not using silicon, be sure to lightly oil or butter your pan.)


For the Crust: In a food processor, finely grind the graham crackers plus sugar into crumbs.  Blend in butter and almond extract (if using).  Press mixture into the bottom   Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 12 minutes.  Allow the crust to cool while you're preparing the filling.


For the Filling: Melt the chocolate bars over a double boiler, stirring until smooth.  (I don't own a double boiler so I followed the original recipe's tip to use a glass mixing bowl over a pot.  It worked perfectly.)


Once melted, add the whipped topping and 10 jumbo marshmallows (or 1/2 cup regular marshmallows.)  Stir until evenly combined.  (The marshmallows make this kind of difficult but it's doable.)


Pour onto prepared crust bottom.


While still hot, top with cut up marshmallows chunks.  Once cooled, top with chocolate chips.  Press down gently to ensure everything has stuck together into a bar.


Cover and refrigerate until firm.  Enjoy!