The Thunder Cake Challenge!

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Did you know that yesterday was International Children´s Book Day? I am so grateful that my parents instilled a love of books in me which I carry to this day. In honor of the day, I decided to host a challenge  called, ¨The Thunder Cake Challenge¨which is based upon Patricia Polacco´s book, ¨Thunder Cake¨. It is a beautiful story with lovely illustrations. It is about how a grandmother helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunder as they gather the ingredients to make a Thunder Cake. The recipe is included in the book too! The recipe includes an unusual ingredient:pureed tomatoes!

I made the cake and made one substitution. I substituted the shortening for sunflower oil. The result of this ingredient was that it was super moist!

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My mother and sister in law were visitng and spotted the cake. They were quite keen on trying it and they adored it. They could not believe it!  I made an olive oil and chocolate frosting (it was more like a thick glaze) that complemented the cake perfectly. The addition of the strawberries just made it look so beautiful!

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I love the story and to discover and EASY and delicious cake to enjoy it with is even better!

If you have made the cake or want to try it, do let me know! I will share your goodies in a separate post!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

xxxx Natascha

 

 

 

54 thoughts on “The Thunder Cake Challenge!”

  4. Your cake looks lovely Natascha.
    I have my mom’s old cookbooks and noticed shortening is used so often, and wondered what a good substitute would be. Nice to know the recipe was a success with using all oil, but then again, oil always makes a moist cake, doesn’t it. Happy Sunday to you 🙂

    1. Hi Thank you so much! I really prefer the sunflower oil! Shortening can’t be found here in Spain. The closest thing to it is pork lard and I don’t go near that! I was really surprised by how moist it was! Have a great day too! Xxxx

  5. What a fascinating cake Natascha! The use of tomatoes is so interesting, I imagine it must have helped keep the cake moist. I’m also curious though, were you able to taste it in the cake? I also love how you made an olive oil frosting to carry the savoury sort of theme throughout the cake. One of my favourite blogs is Little Library Cafe, she makes a lot of food inspired by literature. This reminded me of that–you might find her blog interesting as well!
    And happy FF 🙂

    1. Thank you so much! I neglected to mention that you would never know that there were tomatoes in it! I should have! It was chocolatey without being too sweet! I have to check out that blog! Thank you for recommending it to me and hope you have had a great weekend! 😙😙😙😙😙😙

  10. This looks incredibly moist and delicious, Natascha, and what a sweet story to accompany the cake! 😀 Lovely!!

  12. Natascha, the moment I read about the cake in your blog, I wanted to try it out. What intrigues me is the use of pureed tomatoes in the cake!

  14. Oh I still didn’t make this Natascha! Looking at your cake I feel I’ve missed a lot! Btw I’m done with the stuffed dates fr the Roman Challenge..when is it?

    1. I love cooking something old as well! Tomatoes seemed odd but it added to its smooth consistency and there was no trace of a tomato flavour! It was wonderful! Thank you so much xxxxx

  17. How wonderful that you tied the two, children’s literature and a recipe, together! And who doesn’t love chocolate and strawberries? (Another winning combination 😉 )

    1. Thank you so much! I was lucky to come across the book and when I saw there was a recipe I knew I had to try it! No tomato flavour but a super smooth texture. Fantastic!! Your little ones would like the story too 😊😊😊😊😊

  18. Your cake looks fantastic! I’ve seen cakes with tomatoes in them before and have always been curious about trying them. Maybe I’ve been procrastinating because I was worried it would taste weird. Good to know it won’t! 🙂 … I don’t suppose you’ll be posting that frosting anytime soon? Sounds intriguing!

    1. Hi! Thank you so much! don´t worry about trying the tomatoes. I think that if the result was pretty crappy then the recipe would never have survived haha! I will definitely post the frosting recipe! Thanks for reminding me to do it! Have a super weekend!! xxxx

  19. The story sounds lovely Natascha and the cake looks so yummy – very intrigued by the tomato purée of course! 🙂

  20. That chocolate and tomato cake looks pretty yummy! Yes, the love of reading is so essential! I worry that many of today’s young ones probably have much less exposure to real books with all of the technology to take its place. I’m glad to hear of it’s importance to you! I did a lot of reading of children’s books to my 15 month old grandson on my Portland trip. Believe it or not, he likes to pick out his night time story book!!!

    1. Thank you so much! You are right to worry because children have too much exposure to phones, tablets, computers etc. I still have some of my books from when I was a child and I treasure them. Honestly, even the books I buy now, I love them! It is great that you read to your grandson. A love of reading is reading is started through example. My niece is 6 years old and her mother was informed that she had difficutly reading. I was hardly surprised but her mother was astonished. Bombarding a child with countless toys does not foster a love of reading and it is important to take the time to read with a child. You rock, my friend! xxxxx

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