HELOISE: Recipe for Chocolate Tomato Cake repeated

Dear Heloise: Years ago, there was a recipe for Chocolate Tomato Cake that was wonderful. I lost the recipe that was published in The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger in one of your columns. Could you repeat this? Thank you in advance.

Ruthann, via e-mail

Ruthann, this is an old family recipe, and really is yummy. Place one 18-ounce box of dry chocolate cake mix in a large bowl, along with one 103/4-ounce can of undiluted condensed tomato soup, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and two eggs, and nothing else. Mix well, and bake according to the cake-mix directions. Frost with your favorite icing, or carefully pop some marshmallows on the top at the very end of baking. It’s like marshmallow cream! If you would enjoy more Heloise cake recipes, including the Multi “Rainbow” Poke Cake and Red Velvet Cake, just send $5 and a long, stamped (61 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Heloise/Cake, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Speaking of cakes, to cut your cake neatly, use a long piece of plain dental floss.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: A reader mentioned putting a “smile” on hard-cooked eggs to tell them apart from raw ones.

Since my husband and I are now seniors, we use fewer eggs. When I buy a carton of eggs, I remove the date from the carton and tuck it in with the raw eggs, or I write, in pencil, the date on the top of each egg. Then I can tell how long I have had it. If I hard-cook eggs, I change the date to the date the eggs were boiled, and I add an X or put “hard cooked.”

J.D., via e-mail

Speaking of easy egg ID, here’s another hint, from Linda in Ohio. She says: “After Easter is over, egg-coloring kits are on sale for half-price or less. I purchase several and keep the dye tablets handy. Whenever I boil eggs during the year, I dissolve a dye tablet in a little vinegar and pour it into the water when they are almost done. Rinse the eggs as usual. The family never gets confused about whether they are picking up a hard-cooked egg or a raw one!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: With the high price of cheese, there is a way to avoid mold for long periods of time. When I buy block cheese, I bring it home and immediately cut it up into smaller pieces. Then I double-wrap the smaller pieces in paper towels so that the moisture buildup is quickly wicked away from the cheese. I place it into resealable plastic bags, taking out as much air as possible before sealing.

Every time the cheese is taken out, I simply put on new paper-towel wraps and put it back into the same plastic sandwich bag.

John Encinio, Las Vegas

King Features Syndicate