Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°. Butter a 9-inch square cake pan. Dust it over with fine dry bread crumbs, then invert the pan over paper and tap lightly to shake out excess crumbs; set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cocoa and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until it is soft. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated after each addition. On low speed add half of the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl and beating until incorporated. Then beat in the tomato soup. Finally add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the dates and nuts. Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven . Either let the cake cool completely in the pan (if you are going to ice it in the pan - see Note) or let stand for about 20 minutes, then cover with rack over, remove the pan, cover with a serving plate or a board and turn again, leaving the cake right side up to cool completely. Then prepare the Bittersweet Chocolate Icing.

such a symbolic bit of Americana that prints of it hang in the country's best museums. But who ever thought of putting it into a cake? This is a date and nut spice cake baked in a square pan, covered with a sensational new bittersweet chocolate icing. If you don't tell what's in the cake no one will guess. They will think it is gingerbread even though it has no ginger or molasses. You could call it a soup-to-nuts cake. Note: This can be baked and iced in the pan and served directly from the pan.