tomato cake & coriander buttercream
Before Toby and I opened our restaurant, Rail, I started a jam company called Preservation with the help of my mom, who taught me to make fruit preserves. One of my favorite recipes is our Tomato Jam. Since tomatoes are a fruit, they sweeten as they cook and take on a different flavor. Adding ground coriander to the jam gave it a unique taste while enhancing the tomatoes.
I was inspired by this combination and have been wanting to put it into cake form for awhile, even though it sounded weird. The result is a super moist cake, almost tasting like orange a little. The Coriander Buttercream with cream cheese is just tangy enough to balance everything beautifully. It’s a little bit more of an effort to make this recipe because it involves using the concassé method of taking off the skin and de-seeding the tomatoes, but it’s well worth the effort of this deliciously unique dessert.
Meet Our Executive Chef
The Recipe
Tomato Cake with Coriander Buttercream
Tomato Cake
- 1 cup Tomato puree (about 3 tomatoes)
- 1 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 1/4 # sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 # all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Ground Coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato deep enough to cut through the skin. Drop the tomatoes in the boiling water for 2 minutes. This will loosen the skin, making it easy to peel off.
- Remove the tomatoes from boiling water and place in a dish of ice water deep enough to cover the tomatoes for 5 minutes.
- Remove skins and seeds and discard. Place remaining fruit in a food processor and puree. (I like to pass mine through a sieve to get out any extra seeds or chunks). Set aside.
- In a mixer using a paddle attachment, mix canola oil and sugar for 2 minutes until mixed well and fluffier.
- While mixer is running, slowly add eggs one at a time until they are incorporated.
- Sift flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt together. Slowly add to batter until just mixed in (do not over mix or it will make the cake tougher and drier)
- While mixer is on low speed, slowly add buttermilk and vanilla to the batter.
- Add tomato puree and lemon juice and mix until batter is smooth without overmixing.
- Place parchment in bottom of two 9″ cake pans (or spray pans well) and divide batter between the two pans.
- Bake at 325ºF for 15 minutes. Rotate pans and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool.
Variation: I bake cakes in conventional oven because I think convection ovens dry cakes out more. If you only have a convection oven, make sure the fan is on low and bake the cakes at 300ºF instead.
Note: I place my cakes on a sheet pan with parchment while they are still warm and wrap them in film (plastic) wrap. This locks in the moisture, leading to a better end product, and also makes it easier to apply buttercream while they are still frozen. Buying restaurant grade film wrap from a store like GFS will change your life. It is so much easier to use and is more airtight.
Coriander Buttercream
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1# powdered sugar
- 2 ounces heavy cream (or buttermilk)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp ground Coriander
- In a mixer with a whisk attachment, mix softened butter and cream cheese for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- While the mixer is running on the lowest setting, gradually add in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- If the buttercream is too thick, add a little heavy cream or buttermilk to make it a better spreading consistency.
- Add vanilla and coriander.
- Apply buttercream to cakes, let the iced cake thaw for 30 minutes at room temperature (if you chose to freeze them) and enjoy!
Yield: One 9″ Two Layer Cake
