It's a Piece of Cake!

[LPBeier]

Literally! And many of them!

Okay, I have a fun one (I hope). Most of you know I am a cake decorator by trade. One of the things I constantly run into with carved cake is I end up with tons of scraps. I have to be careful around sugar and chocolate, DH is gluten and lactose intolerant and Dad is a diabetic. I usually end up throwing out the scraps, but I was wondering if we could come up with some ideas for using them.

I am talking about large but very thin pieces and small scraps about 2 x 3 x 1.

Now, I know about trifles and dirt cake, etc. But does anyone have any unique ways I can use this cake and give it away? Let's have fun with this one, if I end up throwing it out (minus the two trifles I will make over the holidays), that is cool, but I thought I would ask.

 

[Andy M.]

When SO trims a cake, I help by eating the scraps as she trims them off. We believe in cleaning up as you go.

Sorry I can't be of any real help.

 

[LPBeier]

When SO trims a cake, I help by eating the scraps as she trims them off. We believe in cleaning up as you go.

Sorry I can't be of any real help.

Believe me, the two men in my life would love to take on the job of cleaning up; however, as it would make them both sick, I throw trimmings into freezer bags and drop them in my work freezer (they don't go in there) asap.

So, maybe I can just send these bags to you then? Just because you seem sorry that you can't help.

 

[Andy M.]

Toss in some of your leftover frosting too. I'll find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of them.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Go to the Post Office...get a big box....fill it up with your scraps....mail it to Uncle Bob...I have many braves, with many arrows to feed!!

 

[CharlieD]

Dry the cake leftovers. Crumbel 0.5 kg of cake, add some rum or cogniac, just for flavor. Add some butter and milk till you are bale to mix and make a ball or is it boll, or bowl, why can't you people have different words for some balls .

Like about a half a stick of butter and maybe a cup of milk. Or you can use sweetened condenced milk instead. The roll them things (whatever they are called in propar English ) in dark cocoa powder, chill in refrigerator for an hour sprinkle with some powder sugar serve. Yum. The imprtant thing is the proportion of crumbs and liquid. And tha I never know, because some times I use plain bread crumbs for this no-bake sweet thing, in Russian we call it potato, becasue that is what it looks like. Depending on the consistency of your crumbs you will have to figure out amount of liquid, which works as a glue, so to speak.

 

[Barbara L]

Put them in the freezer. When you go to a function where you are supposed to bring dessert, put them in a pretty dish. Make your favorite flavor of Jello and pour over the cake bits (Right before the Jello, you could add canned pineapple chunks, fruit cocktail, sliced bananas, etc.). Spread whipped cream or Cool Whip over the top, after the Jello has set, then head to the potluck. I did this with frozen Twinkies once (just for the family).

Barbara

 

[taxlady]

Use the thicker ones for trifle.

Let the thinner ones dry and use the crumbs for crusts for pie or cheese cake.

 

[DaveSoMD]

Stack the layers with some frosting or ganach between the layers to be about 1" tall. Cut them using those open metal cookie cutters, then frost or decorate.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Frost, stack, decorate and present to a chosen classroom at the nearest elementary school for their morning treat!

 

[LPBeier]

Those are all great ideas and I thank everyone. Now I want to explain the "fun" part. The first pictures are of the cake I made and the ones below that are how much "leftover cake" I am actually talking about! I made the vanilla sheet cake because that is what they first wanted and then changed to chocolate. The extra chocolate sheet was because I wasn't sure what I needed to make the "cubes" and it needed to be a certain height. You learn to always make too much when doing specialty cakes.....it beats baking a new one two hours before it is due (and I have done this).

The cake with the white in it is from the one I used for the booties. Because I could use a tall biscuit cutter for the rounds, it was easier to fill and stack, then cut (like you were mentioning Dave and PF).

All the icing will definitely get used with Christmas coming (I have seven cupcake orders coming up).

So, Andy, Uncle Bob, you can expect your parcels shortly!

 

[Zhizara]

Can you use the leftover cake pieces to make a sort of bread pudding?

Any of your creations would make a lovely donation to a soup kitchen.

 

[DaveSoMD]

Wow!!!!!

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

I use mine for apple charlotte, summer pudding, tiramisu,I let the pieces go stale for a few days.

 

[LPBeier]

Wow!!!!!

Is that for the finished work or the amount of cake left?

 

[DaveSoMD]

Is that for the finished work or the amount of cake left?

Both!!?!!?!?!?


It was for the work. But that is a lot of leftover cake too...

 

[LPBeier]

While it was a real challenge to get those blocks done, I think this is one of my favourite projects - the bright colours and the fact it is for a baby shower, you can help but get inspired!

 

[leighbakes]

Wow, you came up with a great solution! Those blocks look really cute.

I'm a cake decorator, too, and from what I can tell, cake balls are becoming a huge fad. Have you seen this book?

It's full of cute designs, and they're all about using up cake crumbs. It's a lot like your cake blocks.

I'll have to give it a try myself someday!