Tomato Juice, 7Up, Marshmallow Cake... Mistakes Were Made.

[@GlenAndFriendsCooking]

I can already see the margarine comments rolling in - When I quipped 'margarine makes it healthier' I was referring to the common belief in the 1970s that margarine was a healthier fat than butter. Butter in the 1970s was demonised as causing all sorts of health problems... we now know that this isn't the case.

[@annalockwood3021]

This is also a useful reminder that "today's good advice" will undergo some changes in the next 50 years, so keep some perspective on things. Also, be kind to others, keep your hands to yourself and leave other people's things alone. :)

[@mrbrick5907]

Possibly a cost consideration to use half & half as margarine was always the cheaper alternative? Also there certainly has to be some mileage in some of the horrors of 70's cookbooks.

[@patrickdurham8393]

I've used butter and lard since I was a kid. I only keep whipped margarine for a family member who loves it on biscuits.

[@CaroBbH]

Also, people miss lighthearted sarcasm because it's the internet, and they love correcting others.😂

[@prk55]

​@@mrbrick5907 At the time the rationale was that margarine has a higher water content than butter so it makes a cake lighter. (steam causes 'air' bubbles) But that ignores the other fluids in the recipe!

[@scottjacoby2594]

Would love to see a series where you “fix” bad recipes. This would make a good first episode!

[@noelwade]

I can hear it in his voice now: "Welcome Friends. Welcome back to Recipe Rescue..." [not that I want to see Glen in KZbinr grind/burnout mode trying to post a million videos a week]

[@dariusk97]

Applesauce as substitute for the tomato juice?

[@JG88983]

Hell yeah brother

[@scottjacoby2594]

@@noelwade agreed. Half the time I post suggestions in KZbin comments, I think whether or not I’m coming off like I’m telling the KZbinr what to do and contributing to potential burnout when I hope that that isn’t the case…and then I post anyways. Lol.

[@EmilyGOODEN0UGH]

Or pass the recipe on to Ann Reardon, she's the queen of saving cake fails.

[@BoSmith7045]

This is why my mom stuck to Betty Crocker mixes in the 70s. Not much variety but you knew exactly what you were getting.

[@MaShcode]

The British sitcom Vicar of Dibley had a character with a penchant for serving inedible desserts at church bake sales and gatherings. This recipe would be right up her alley. 😂❤

[@Jeffffrey0902]

You remind me of the trifle Rachel makes for Thanksgiving, which Ross says tastes like feet, in Friends.🤣

[@jeraldbaxter3532]

Oh, dear Leticia Cropley, aka "The Dibley Poisoner!" Remember when the Vicar manipulated Mr. Horton into eating a selection of Mrs. Cropley's creations? Ketchup on strawberry shortcake, anyone?

[@ivannabc]

I loved that show! Mrs. Cropley was amazing.

[@MaShcode]

@@ivannabc Played by one of the great British actors Liz Smith! May she RIP.

[@JCKay]

Mrs Cropley!!!

[@wendygervais8526]

Julie is my hero. She’s always willing to try. I absolutely loved her reaction to this one!!!!!!

[@357Addict]

Glen, are you planning a part 2? Making the recipe with the baking soda to compare the results. It would make an interesting series, do the broken recipe and then a follow-up with the recipe repaired.

[@larsen8059]

Yaas, I'm so curious now! Perhaps not enough to try it myself, however! 😆

[@ic_trab]

Probably cut back on the sugar too, that was a ridiculous amount, plus the 7up brings its own sweetness.

[@susanelainesanner]

And measure the tomato juice v-e-r-y carefully. As I watched the video, I thought the t.j. had surpassed the half-cup point on the glass measuring cup. Worth a try, at least.

[@TheScratchingKiwi]

Housemate and I sitting at dinner yelling at the screen: "PUT THE BAKING SODA IN!" In short, Glen has to make it again.

[@susanelainesanner]

@@TheScratchingKiwi You painted a clear picture. I laughed!

[@jrkorman]

I'm a person of the '70s, turned 20 in 1975. Never had anything like that "cake" passed my lips and based on the ingredients and Julie's reaction I think I'm glad for that.

[@lizcademy4809]

My parents went in the opposite direction in the 1970s (my teen years), getting into "health foods" with a very 1970s twist. I remember weekend pancakes with Bisquik, wheat germ, soy flour, lecithin, and who knows what else, served with Morningstar Farms "sausage". And tub margarine, of course!

[@davetarpley3740]

At no point did it seem likely that cake would be anything but achingly sweet. The fact you can taste the tomato is a hilarious bonus.

[@dianekassmann8821]

I’d love to try this with root beer! Also, baking soda would do more than just leavening. It would also neutralize the acid, which would likely change the overall texture. Brownies don’t have the acid this cake does, between the 7-up and the tomato juice, so don’t need to neutralize acid. I’d definitely add baking soda to this cake!

[@TamarLitvot]

That might also cut the overpowering tomato taste they complained about

[@garputhefork]

I grew up on margarine and "egg beaters." I think I'd rather die early than ever eat an "egg substitute" or margarine again.

[@SeasonedCitizen]

I have sad memories of when my parents switched from handmade butter from the local farmers wife to margarine. 😢 For Health Reasons!!!

[@amyeagleton697]

The 7up reminded me of Jeanne Robertson's story about sending her husband to the store for the ingredients for her 7up pound cake. It's hilarious 😂

[@cremebrulee4759]

Yes!! It is so funny!!!

[@marilyn1228]

Weren't the 70's creative and wild. Imagine....tomatoes and pop and chocolate all together, topped with marshmallows and icing. I was born in the 50's, and I have to say, our generation saw so many things that made our lives really interesting and quite fun. Plus, we had great music!

[@VeretenoVids]

🤣🤣 You're about the same age as my parents. I consider it a miracle that I (born in '70) survived my mother's midwestern 70s cooking.

[@marilyn1228]

😀@@VeretenoVids

[@martapinkston6913]

I was thinking this was a Texas Sheet cake variation, with the marshmallows and pecans giving a rocky road vibe. But the tomato juice component was just odd. I'd definitely add baking soda, swap buttermilk for tomato juice. Annnnndddd, now I want cake.😊

[@duchessduke7142]

I was going to say the exact same thing. Definitely buttermilk over tomato juice.

[@Januaryschild]

I was born in 1977, thanks for saying a recipe from the year I was born "isn't that old."

[@catherineteel4109]

Haven’t heard the term oleo in decades! Great blast to the past! So I’m a long time fan but first time posting today. I was watching and laughing at Glen’s expressions and it was just what I needed this morning! Was also remembering when President Reagan declared catsup a vegetable 😂 and thought maybe the tomato products were used in the recipe to make it healthy 😆. But Reagan didn’t declare that until the early ‘80s. So much sugar! Lol Great episode as it really is something that epitomizes the 70’s in different ways. Oleo, soda pop, tomato, sugar, and more sugar! 😅 Loved this! Thank you.

[@tammyfetzner5792]

There's enough sugar in that to keep a six year old kid spinning at 10,000 RPM for a week!

[@dianemac3768]

LOL LOL

[@traumajock]

We ate a lot of damn oleo in the 70's. "Everythings better with Bluebonnet on it."

[@cynthiamorton3583]

Oh, thanks Glen! I really did laugh out loud when you called it tomato aspic cake!

[@albinnibla]

I have never been so terrified of a recipe in my life, and I am a staunch defender of those mid-century jello salads! Call it the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Sheetcake! LOL😝

[@VeretenoVids]

HA! I was thinking as he was making it that it sounded like a seriously bastardized Texas Sheetcake!

[@gabrieleghut1344]

Thank you that I never seen this when I lived in Texas in the 1970's.

[@WickedGirl]

Jello salads are awesome! My mom made them every Christmas and Thanksgiving 😂

[@bonniefanning8302]

Oh the memories, I live in NW Arkansas ( Eureka Springs) and my Granny made this cake often.. Thanks for bringing that memory back to me.

[@AndrewKoebbe]

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the tomato juice was "I wonder if they mean V8 juice?" But, the 7up V8 cake naming would have been to good to pass up.

[@robviousobviously5757]

a seven eight cake.. sounds intriguing

[@winfr34k]

Oof, when you made it I really thought it'd work... Too bad it didn't! Glad you still put this up. Just as entertaining (if not even more).

[@ellefaye448]

Actually remember this from the 70's. At our house, tomato juice would have been from homemade canned tomatoes which more resembled canned strawberries. There would have been the tomatoes and juice, the juice was clearer and less like puréed tomatoes, and lighter in flavor. My mothers canned tomatoes would also have had a bit of sugar in them as we often ate them with bread and butter. Maybe that would have made a difference?

[@JamesPotts]

Back in the 70s, canned tomato juice was pretty popular at breakfast. We regularly had a 48oz or larger can in the fridge.

[@brockreynolds870]

@@JamesPotts But you know..... canned tomato juice back then was JUICE.... this stuff he's pouring looks much more like puree.

[@wyntersynergyundignified]

I was scanning the comments before I made one, wondering if the type/consistency of the juice was a factor? This does make perfect sense!

[@TamarLitvot]

@@brockreynolds870 As a person turning 75, I can tell you that tomato juice in the 70s in the U.S. was thick, just as it is now. I remember the consistency of tomato juice when I was even younger because my mother crushed my pills into tomato juice before I was old enough to swallow them whole. So it was memorable. Took me a while to get over that and learn to love tomato juice. I have some in my fridge right now!

[@LeoMidori]

@@TamarLitvot Indeed. My grandparents, who would've been in their 90's now, always had canned tomato juice in their house

[@darnstewart]

In patisserie class we were told that baking margarine makes a softer cake than butter, that's margarine that isn't hydrogenated fats. I'm from the UK. Also your tomato juice looked more like passata to me, tomato juice here looks a lot more watery, maybe a UK style watery tomato juice wouldn't come through quite so strongly in the finished product.

[@TamarLitvot]

@@pamelacrowell2007 But that's what tomato juice in North America looks like, so it's probably the type the recipe was calling for

[@darnstewart]

@@BrianBorges-ez3ls We have baking margarines and spreading margarines. They have different formulations depending on the end use. I can't be arsed going to the fridge to read the baking marg recipe but I'm pretty sure it has soy lecithin. It still contains oils that have been congealed somehow, just not hydrogenated. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be as bad as the trans fats are.

[@mwallace2628]

I grew up drinking my mom's home canned tomato juice and yes, it was more watery. It tasted like vine ripened tomatoes and was delicious too. I almost gagged when I tried commercially canned tomato juice. It felt like bland ketchup with a small amount of water added.

[@annies2416]

Funny episode Glen! The 70’s were indeed their own weird time. I loved that both of you put the cake down and weren’t finishing or going back for seconds.😂 Bright spot-you reminded me how delicious Coca Cola cake was.

[@saulcontreras313]

The retro cookbook show, there we go, new series!

[@kelpsie]

Well, this is certainly.. difficult to describe with polite language. I appreciate your dedication to (mad) science.

[@emma9sachi]

Thanks ❤😂 Won’t be trying this.

[@joanneentwistle7653]

I wonder if the originator of this recipe was invited to a potluck and did this so she wouldn't be asked again! I would do that just to see the looks on the snooty fancy cats' faces at a PTA meeting, but that's just me! Thanks for the upload!

[@martapinkston6913]

She got "demoted" to bringing cups and plates and it was her best day EVER!!😂😅

[@annaleegilbert2222]

My great grandma was from Georgia and she would purposely leave out the leavening agent from recipes as then no one would make the same thing better than she can. She was the reigning queen of the petty squad.

[@applegal3058]

​@@martapinkston6913haha, totally!

[@Reptiliomorph]

Tomato and chocolate can be a nice combo when done correctly.

[@JohnHartmanEsq]

These are kinds of weird old recipes I'm here for. More of this please!

[@donnaclinton5578]

This was great fun to watch! Thanks for lifting my spirits today. Between Glen’s comments and Julie’s expression, I laughed out loud. The margarine would give a different texture than butter, softer. We have a very liquid type tomato juice in the US. And we would have been calling it baking soda and not just soda by the 70’s. May have needed several teaspoons of that. Very interesting, I don’t remember ever seeing this as a kid in the 70’s.

[@kathygeisler6324]

Very telling that the two of them didn't finish their pieces of "cake". Yum! 😮

[@derderdo]

baking soda should have a major effect on both texture AND flavor! flavorwise, the baking soda would neutralize the acid from the tomatoes (like how you can add baking soda instead of sugar to pasta sauce to make the sauce sweeter/less acidic). and for texture, it would probably react with the soda to "superpuff" the cake. additionally, baking soda helps with browning, and just really effects the flavor overall.

[@kathyreston9933]

The look on Glen's face at 13:49 when the aspic cake dawned on him is priceless. Gave me a real chuckle.🤣

[@martitasez]

Possibly the tomato in the icing is what gives it the strong tomato flavor. Also, the lemonish flavor of 7up really might bring out the tomato.

[@DocMcGinnis]

" ... although, It could have been you ... ", Love it! ... great experiment! a happy fail.

[@revsharkie]

This reminds me of a recipe my mom got hold of in the mid-'70s. It became a favorite of my sister's. It was called "Moon Rocks," chocolate cupcakes with marshmallows mixed into the batter. When they were baked the marshmallows melted and left craters in the cupcakes. They were tasty but incredibly sticky. You almost couldn't get the paper cupcake cups off. These days you can get foil cups, and they might work better. I don't know.

[@jgood005]

Very interesting, I've seen black beans combined with chocolate for brownies, but never tomato juice!

[@RedKittieKat]

I have managed to avoid anything "aspic" my entire life ... I won't be starting now. Bless you for giving it a shot 🥰

[@laurajohnson2674]

Omg i laughed so hard. Its like every oddball thing that was ever used in 1970s baking HAD to be included in this. All my 70s era church cookbooks have tomato soup cake in them but none of them have gone quite this far. You made me feel better after my own baking debacle with a supposed pineapple cake recipe that wound up as woodchuck fodder...😂

[@nanascorner4586]

Glen my mother use to make a tomato soup cake that was delicious. I will look for the recipe on your site :)

[@JuBeeJuBeeJu]

Fwiw, in much of the southern US, all carbonated soft drinks are called "Coke." (In Texas, it's common to hear, "What kind of Coke do you want?" "Dr Pepper.") I doubt a recipe from Arkansas would refer to 7Up as "soda."

[@daveb-d4t]

Agree ... here in Iowa it was either 'pop' or 'soda' or even 'soda pop'. Coke was from the south, and even the east coast. I remember this with a can of tomato soup and ... it. was. not. good.

[@kenyattaclay7666]

I was born in the early 70’s so I only remember the last 4 years of that decade. One of the things I clearly remember were the battles I had with my mom over some new recipe she saw somewhere & I was the Guinea Pig and refused to eat most of it. The 70’s was a strange time for food (and fission). However like my mom used to say, “ o thing beats a failure but a try.” At least we know that this wasn’t that good.

[@andymadsen1514]

Chocolate mayonaise cake's are probably the only once that are killer from the 70s :D

[@bonniestingfellow734]

The tomato soup cake is good. A great spice cake and when I make it no one can taste the soup. It has a great texture.

[@Underestimated37]

Reminds me a bit of the lemonade scone recipe that we have in Australia, we use lemonade (Australian carbonated version, not the north American uncarbonated, essentially sprite/7up) as a component of the leavening agent.

[@joantrotter3005]

We have 7-UP biscuits here! Good, but not normal either.

[@damonroberts7372]

Julie: "...or maybe you've got a couple of other suggestions that might save it!" Nope... _nothing_ can save this 70s gastronomic atrocity. May as well run with it and top it off with lime Jell-O and fruit cocktail. Edit: ooooh and Cool Whip. Don't forget the Cool Whip.

[@Jacklynofalltrades]

If you replace the tomato juice with brewed coffee, and add the baking soda, this cake makes sense.

[@dianemac3768]

This video was hilarious I laughed so often......great fun Glenn ......don't tink I make it LOL

[@TheTransVictorian]

The instruction/recipe booklet for my 1970s Mixmaster uniformly refers to baking soda as just “soda,” so that seems to have been the standard terminology of the period. Definitely not ideal if the ingredients list accidentally omits it while also including 7Up soda!

[@lesliespann6420]

Hi Glen and Julie. Ah, the weird and wonderful 70's! Having spent my teens and very early adulthood in that decade, I remember (well, sort of... 😀). Using butter instead of margarine (basically oil) will produce a heavier crumb. I do think you're correct, however, that there was a typo in the ingredient list, which omitted the baking soda (which would have reacted with the tomato, causing a change in the texture). Having said that, it could just be that this recipe's result is a product of its time - a lot of people were pretty high in the 70s...

[@jamesellsworth9673]

I am reminded a bit of Red Velvet Cake, with BEETS (??). Here we have tomato...and too much tomato. Since this turned up in a Baptist Church Cookbook, I would call it SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S REVENGE.😇 I spent some of my best years in Arkansas: Southern Cooking did not seem to 'spare the sugar' or other sweetener. Adding marshmallows to EVERYTHING was not purely a Southern thing: lime jello, marshmallows and cottage cheese (plus nuts) made a common Church social offering in Western New York in my childhood.

[@lipstickzombie4981]

Yep beets were used. Disgusting when people try to make cakes healthy by adding vegetables. Zucchini and carrot bread is also an instant thumbs down to me. Save the vegetables for salads people, I have no plans eating like a rabbit when I'm having fun.

[@VeretenoVids]

@@lipstickzombie4981 Um... The original red velvet cake recipes used beet juice for the color and moisture, not to make the cake healthy! The cake was "invented" long before red dye no. 5 was a thing and so if your cocoa wasn't reddish enough, you added some grated beet or beet juice for the color. Likewise, spinach juice was used to tint food green (e.g., make a pistachio cake greener). (But, yes, I love carrot cake with a rich cream cheese icing!)

[@SeasonedCitizen]

You're so right about southerners using a lot of sugar in everything. Friends born north of the Mason Dixon line asked me if southerners knew the word savory. I said yes that's when we flavor food with onions, peppers, cheese... And sugar!😂

[@VeretenoVids]

@@SeasonedCitizen 😂 I nearly had a stroke the first time I ordered iced tea in the South. I was a teenager and had absolutely NO IDEA what I was getting into. I also grew up in a "low sugar" household because Dad was a dentist. That made the iced tea experience so much more shocking! Years later I politely declined some iced tea and, when pressed, just said that I didn't care for sweet beverages. The woman said to me "Oh, you'll like my iced tea just fine then! I only put two cups of sugar in for a gallon." My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

[@janetmoore1124]

This was interesting on a few levels. Having survived several forays into local cookbooks and recipes, this has a distinct feel of grab what is in the pantry and see what happens. It hearkens back to the old tomato soup cake recipes which may have been the inspiration. The 'soda' issue is a curiosity. Soda as in soda pop (7Up) or soda as in baking soda...? Considering you are already adding sugar and by boiling the 7Up you lose any leavening, what really is the point of using it? Any flavor would be lost under all that tomato and cocoa. . Tomato aspic indeed! :) Thank you for trying this so we don't have to!

[@susanmacdonald4288]

Fudge Jelly Brownie Cake...that would be a good new name for it.

[@davidmccleary5540]

Good looking eggs 🥚

[@deirdrelewis1454]

My mom always said margarine for cakes, butter for icing. She maintained that margarine gave a lighter cake. She also always replaced a couple of tablespoons of flour with cornstarch. Her cakes were always great.

[@rebeccaturner5503]

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!! This reminds me of a soup when you clean out the fridge and screw up and add the leftover sweet and sour chicken to it. lol

[@alyssarawlings4420]

"Leftover soup" was a weekly childhood meal at my house

[@Turtle_1976]

I’m from Michigan and I love you call it pop! 👍🏻

[@-MacCat-]

That was so funny! @14:32 was THE moment that said it all. Thanks to you both for yet another great kitchen moment.

[@janicescott9209]

Glen, that is absolutely crazy ingredients

[@justmutantjed]

You're braver than I am for trying this. You gave it a fair poke, but it looks like the recipe needs a few fixes here and there.

[@andrewfrodo2086]

Thanks for sharing all of it...its funny. You know.

[@ruthkirkparick3535]

That cake makes my teeth hurt... too much sweet! I like tomato aspic though :)

[@aclark5663]

This was a fun ride. I love 'experimental' cooking.

[@tucate3901]

Good stuff as always

[@Lutefisk_lover]

My wife remembers a family friend making this exact cake in the 1970s in New Mexico, when she was a kid. She suggested trying tomato soup instead of tomato juice. She recalls that it put her into a diabetic coma.

[@applegal3058]

I wonder why lol...sugar, marshmallows, icing sugar, tomato soup.. all sugar! I hope she's OK...

[@virginiaf.5764]

That's some thick tomato juice ... looks more like sauce.

[@sharonbargercarnes4414]

My thoughts, too. Tomato juice is a much thinner substance in the US.

[@mellisande638]

Ill try this With 7up and pineapple juice(sour) instead of tomato juice😋 Ill use my old corningware roasting dish too😊 I think kids would prefer peanuts on top😉 if allergic, slivered almonds go further.

[@anthonyenglish8625]

That’s they way the 70’s rolled. Kids loved that kind of dessert. Summer family reunion stuff; I remember.

[@Ottawa411]

As a child, I loved as much icing as possible. I now try to avoid excessive amounts of icing.

[@sophiarevel6952]

Butter is healthier but the Marg might keep it soft even in the fridge. Just a guess. Thanks for the recipe. ❤

[@beingkitschroeder2507]

Oleo was such a staple of the 70s.

[@johnlittle8975]

My grandmother would have really liked this.

[@rogerw5299]

I was in Scouts in the 90's, and the Canadian Scout Handbook from that time period has a recipie for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I remember making them back good, and them being REALLY good. They were soft and chewy enough that you could eat them right from the freezer. Thing is, I remember a problem that we ran into when we made it. I came across the book while doing some cleaning recently, and looked it up again to confirm. Like here, it had an ingredient that was mentioned in the method that was not mentioned in the ingredient list, and so even if you catch it, you do not really know how much to put in. Unfortunately, in this case, the missing ingredient was the Flour! I think that we had ended up doing was looking up another recipe trying to use that for a guide. Regretfully, we did not make a note on the recipe for future reference. I have actually been considering making them again. I think that this time I would just use the "add a spoonfull at a time until it looks right" method.

[@anthonydolio8118]

Good try. Thanks.

[@ElijsDima]

Well, tomato is a fruit. It would be fun to see cakes or other fruit-including sweets replace the fruit with tomato specifically, and maybe something would actually work out well?

[@lowbrowfancy]

Oooh do Ambrosia Salad next! I want to see more disaster ‘70s recipes, please! 😂😂😂

[@desmondhughes9143]

Woohoo!!! Arkansas!!!

[@susandickerson2663]

I think the tomato juice in the icing threw it into the tomato overload category. Curious about how the cake without the icing tasted.

[@AfterDark33]

I think what would really help this recipe would be to cut back on both the tomato juice and the sugar, potentially adding a little more flour to take up the slack and then adding the leavening agent as you say. I get the sense that this is trying to be a lot of things at once, as much of 70s cooking tried to be.

[@laris2328]

In USA, soda pops are now made with corn syrup, not sugar as it was in the 70s. That will affect the taste as well.

[@GlenAndFriendsCooking]

Luckily we live where cane sugar is still used.

[@CR0SBO]

Curious as to if mixing the coco powder in with the flour would alleviate any clumping issues, and mix up just as well. I can't see why it wouldn't

[@merbelle]

I'm going to try it this week with baking soda, but I cannot sign onto the marshmallow addition. Or the pecans. What I'm actually wondering is if the tomato soup cake and the 7-Up cake can be better merged into one thing, so I'm going to mull that over as well.

[@gretchenmorones5383]

Being that this recipe is from the 70's, maybe the person who wrote it, had to much to smoke in his or her pipe. This was really fun to watch! 🤣🤣❤

[@elizabethjaneda2456]

I really love your channel and some of the recipes are truly great. This one from the beginning was one I didn’t think I would like. Anyway I love coming here from the states and that I have learned so much from you. Many thanks for sharing your videos with us.👍😀

[@ancient1350]

Over the next couple months, on weekends, gonna slide you some recipes in the same vein as this, to use or disregard at your discretion. I grew up in the West Indies, and the Ol' Lady grew up in small town U.S. - between us quite a few of these type of cookbooks and recipes, with funky 50s-90s recipes.

[@rubyirene2500]

First, I want to say, I love your videos. I've made your no churn ice cream, different flavors, and the only one I didn't care for was the cookie butter. But only because it tasted a little oily to me. No one else seemed to notice it. Anyway, this is an interesting cake. I would probably try it, with the baking soda, and maybe omit the tomato juice in the frosting, so maybe it wouldn't have such a tomato-y taste. I also wonder, if you could use something like Crisco shortening, in the cake, instead of butter. And then use the butter in the frosting. Anyway, I'm glad you show the flubs, and talk about them. It kind of helps me, to know what not to do. Thanks for the time it takes to make these videos for us.

[@stretch1151]

My problem with this recipe is with the instructions and the lack of leavening agent(s). From a baking chemistry stand point you have an ingredient that would add to the crumb size (texture) but the explained process eliminates that. The 7Up is gassing off in the saucepan instead of the oven. If you had used the margarine the extra water would also have been lost pre-oven. I would have melted the margarine on very low heat, added the cocoa powder to the flour, added a 1 to 1 ratio of baking powder and baking soda and added the 7Up last. The leavening agents aren't to neutralize the acid but to react with the acid and gas off in the oven leaving voids improving crumb size. Also I would leave out the tomato juice from the glaze it might remove the tomato taste. Just my two cents from the peanut gallery!

[@ivannabc]

I think that's the church my grandmother's sister went to. I bet her name is in there somewhere. If I had an extra copy of the Thornton Baptist Church cookbook, I would send it to you. It has some great recipes in it. Also, I love that y'all come vacation in Arkansas. We have some beautiful scenery down here!

[@catastrfy]

this recipe sounds very similar to chocolate coke cake (which has buttermilk vs tomato juice and does have baking soda). it’s a sheetcake with the same added mini mallows and hot frosting.

[@nycbearff]

In high school I made a cookie recipe from the local newspaper. I had no experience, and no mentor, I was just trying out the recipe after school. Luckily the baking sheet had four sides - the mixture spread out on the bottom of the sheet as it got hot, and produced sweet goo, not cookies. They'd left the flour out of the recipe.

[@ethanheyne]

I was immediately put off by the tomato juice idea, and waited in suspense to see your reactions to the finished "product." I was not disappointed.

[@EveryBlossomMatters]

I'm from Arkansas and I too lived through the 70's as a child. This recipe reminds me of the "Heavenly Hash Cake" that had a wave of popularity during the mid/late 70's. No tomato juice, but was a chocolate cake but after it was baked and while warm the marshmallows and nuts were sprinkled on top then the frosting was put on top. Often the marshmallows were the multi colored ones but not always. And I do believe the recipe you used did have a typo bc soda was used in the Heavenly Hash Cake bc I've read many old cookbook here in the South and they do use levening. I never made the cake myself bc I was a child but my mom, mamaw and all the church ladies did.

[@robviousobviously5757]

my minimal OCD wants me to rearrange the marshmallows more evenly.. lol

[@virginiaf.5764]

I'm not OCD, but I wanted to do that too!

[@patrickdurham8393]

I must say this is the first recipe I can definitively say I will never try.

[@lehewitt]

This was hilarious. As a child of the 70’s, I see where the craziness came from 😅

[@Maniseesbothsides]

As soon as he said he wasn't going to use a leavening agent I knew that was a bad idea When the product is thick and fudgy that concentrates the flavor The leavening would have provided air, thus changing the way the product coats the tongue and thus how you taste it l. Just my theory. Very entertaining video😂

[@kellybryson7754]

Glen,the Indy of the youtube cooking world. "I'm making this up as I go!"

[@carolnavan4137]

Graduated in 77. Thats how I feel! Kinda old, but not really old! 😂

[@evasokolek4616]

Gather some friends, pass around plenty of beer and share that cake. The conversation would have to be hilarious.