Since 1910, Iannelli’s Bakery in Philadelphia has been selling tomato pies. In Philadelphia, tomato pie is still widely consumed and is frequently served in the form of pizza strips, red bread, party pizza, strip pizza, or bakery pizza. Oregano or Romano cheese may be used as garnish. Usually, it is allowed to cool and then eaten at room temperature or reheated rather than being served hot out of the oven. Tomato pie is baked in a huge rectangular pan, much like Sicilian pizza, and is cut into square slices for serving. It is similar to the sfincione in Italian.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 1 10-inch tube cake |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 egg yolks
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup egg whites
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¾ cup flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add egg yolks, water, oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat until smooth.
- Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Pour egg yolk mixture gradually over beaten egg whites and fold until just blended. Fold in flaked coconut. Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Top will spring back when touched lightly. Turn the pan upside down until cake is cool before removing from the pan. Remove cooled cake from pan and frost if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 273 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 38 g |
| Cholesterol | 102 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 315 mg |
| Sugars | 23 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was my first ever attempt at a chiffon cake, and it came out perfectly! A few tips to help out– 1: Follow the recipe, and do NOT grease the pan! The cake is supposed to stick (that’s how it rises so high), and you simply loosen it from the pan using a knife run along the edges, center, and bottom when it’s completely cooled. 2: Use cake flour and super fine sugar if you can. Sift your dry ingredients together twice. 3: Pulse the coconut shreds in a food processor a few times to get a finer consistency. This makes the cake a little more even in texture. 4: It took 8 egg whites for me to make 1 cup. I simply added the extra yolk to the other ingredients as directed (so I used a total of 8 egg yolks instead of 7). 5: I baked my cake for a total of 70-75 minutes at 325, and never raised the oven temp–still came out great! 6: Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk/flour mixture. I found this to work better, and kept more lift in the cake. …I also used 2 tsps vanilla instead of vanilla/almond, and sweetened shredded coconut, so I reduced the total sugar amount to 1 1/4 cups. With these tips/modifications, I had a perfectly light, sweet, beautiful chiffon cake, that was enjoyed by everyone who tried it! I topped with a simple vanilla glaze and toasted coconut. Thank you for the recipe!
I used sugar in the raw instead of white sugar, used EVOO instead of vegetable oil… very moist and delicious… definitely will spray pan next time!!!!
first time making a cake in a long time, looks amazing on the inside and crust was perfect.. only once I removed it from the oven it fell, lost about 2″. disappointing but will try it again and figure out why it did that. sigh used extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil.
Very easy to make. Came out great. Used coconut extract as other suggested.
My first time making a chiffon cake. Followed the recipe as written except I did lightly oil the sides of the tube pan (the cake still baked on well stuck!) and let the cake cool upside down in the pan over a cooling rack. The cake was spongy but not terribly light. Served the cake with some strawberry sauce to make it more refreshing and light tasting. This recipe would make a good strawberry (or pther fruit) and cream layer cake the next time I try this recipe!
good, yummy, but preferred with extra added flavor
This cake was absolutely superb. The only change i made was to use cake flour(for each cup of flour remove 2Tbs. and replace with 2Tbs. of cornstarch)and to sift the dry ingredients. I make alot of cakes and this one was fantastic!!!
This cake came out not only beautiful but great tasting and moist. I only added more coconut flavor changed nothing esle. Well worth the time. Its only time conconsuming beating the egg whites the rest is easy, will certainly make it again.
We are making this now as cupcakes. I will update once they come out of the oven. we baked them at 325* for 45mins. I also subbed coconut extract instead of almond. Looks and smells good!
A pretty good cake overall, although mine initially came out a little dry- disappointing, after all the fussing and labor this cake takes. I iced my cake, covered it, and left it in the fridge overnight, and the texture was greatly improved. Also, I added a splash of coconut-flavored syrup to the batter before baking to kick up the flavor.
AMAZING!! I didn’t change a thing. Thank you for a great recipe.
I made this for Easter and it was a big hit. I added some coconut extract to the batter, baked it and froze the cake. After defrosting, I added a vanilla buttercream and sprinkled it all with coconut.
Came out really good, but could have used more of a coconut flavor. I felt like the shredded coconut was not enough. Maybe adding a dash of coconut extract would suffice. The texture was really nice. I will make it again!
Since the recipe looks like a chiffon-like type of cake, suggest that you use cake flour instead of all purpose flour. The coconut can also be mixed into the egg yolk batter.
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday yesterday. His birthday is today, April Fool’s Day. The cake is sensational and looks just beautiful. I e-mailed pictures of it to my kids in Texas and they thought it looked great. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe. It deserves six stars!! Doris
This cake was very good-I frosted it with white frosting and sprinkled flaked coconut over it. However, next time I will lightly grease the pan and remove the cake after cooling for 10 minutes.