The start of fall and cooler weather brings with it lots of green tomatoes that need to be picked before the first hard frost. In the case of cherry tomatoes, there are lots and LOTS of green tomatoes! We usually end up with hundreds of them, and while some of them eventually ripen indoors, most do not. What is a gardener to do with all these green tomatoes?
Although I love fried green tomatoes, it is only practical for the larger sized ones. One year we included a layer of green cherry tomatoes inside a lasagne, which was delish, but let’s face it, how often does anyone make lasagne? On the advice of a friend, we also tried pickling them, but bleah.
This cake is a great solution to the small green tomato problem! The green tomatoes add moisture to the cake without seriously changing the taste, somewhat like adding shredded zucchini to a cake batter. Feel free to supplement this cake with additives such as chopped prune plums (another fall favourite), chocolate chips, or cream cheese icing. The cake also freezes well, so what more could you ask for?
One tip: do not use the Cuisinart to chop up the green tomatoes – this will release too much moisture, making the batter too liquid, which will spill out of the pan during baking. I found this out the hard way, and had to do a serious oven clean after. Not something I want to repeat. Hand chopped tomatoes will release most of their liquid during baking (instead of before), so the raw batter is fairly stiff, but will behave nicely in the oven and will make the finished cake surprisingly moist.
What do you do with your green tomatoes? Do you have any suggestions or recipes to share?
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1¼ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups green tomatoes, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a bundt pan with spray oil.
- In a bowl, combine flour, soda, powder and salt.
- In another bowl, beat sugar, oil eggs and vanilla. Stir in chopped tomatoes.
- Mix in flour mixture until just combined, and pour into baking pan.
- Bake for 45-60 min, or until a toothpick comes clean.
- Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.