During the Great Depression, cooks had to get creative when ingredients were scarce. Out of that hardship came some unusual recipes. One was tomato soup cake. Introduced by Campbell’s in the 1930s, condensed tomato soup replaced butter and eggs, creating a surprisingly moist spice cake sometimes called “mystery cake.” Another was water pie—made from little more than water, sugar, flour and butter poured into a pie crust. These odd recipes remind us that when times were tough, kitchen ingenuity often replaced ingredients.
Growing Home - Great Depression Recipes
