Cake scrap uses

[miladyinsanity]

If you have Flo Braker's Sweet Miniatures, there's a recipe for a cake that uses cake scraps. I think it's the Punsch torte, but I don't have the book and can't be sure.

[ludja]

If you have Flo Braker's Sweet Miniatures, there's a recipe for a cake that uses cake scraps. I think it's the Punsch torte, but I don't have the book and can't be sure.

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Punschtorte does indeed use cake scraps. It's a delcious, traditional Viennese torte with flavorings of rum, orange and lemon. It typicallly has a pink covering--marzipan, fondant or icing. Some recipes also incorporate ground walnuts.

There is also a recipe for this in Rick Rodger's Kaffehaus. Here is a link to a photo: click

[GTO]

I have no idea how it would work but I'm seeing "cake milkshakes"

Possibly by grinding leftovers down into something really fine and gradually blending with milk.

Failing that, how about cake ice-cream? I mean, brown bread ice cream is quite popular.

[ludja]

At Mom's bakery, they would put all cake trimmings into a bucket, pour rum or other such liquid flavoring on top of it all to make it damp enough to hold together into a ball when rolled.  Then the balls get dipped in chocolate and sometimes rolled in nuts.

Kind of like hush puppies ... toss them into people's mouths to hush them up.  Us kids got them when we visited.

They would often vary in flavor- raspberry's sometimes used as the liquid, coffee, etc.

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Interesting to think about riffs on traditional rum balls-- ground almonds and limoncello, ground almonds and triple sec, bourbon and pecans, hazelnuts and chocolate. coated or non-coated. If coating one could use different ideas here as well--caramel frosting for pecan balls, lemon icing, white chocolate. One could tuck a piece of fruit like a cherry or a piece of pineapple inside or a piece of marzipan or ganache. Spice flavors... A nice holiday 'cake truffle' could be to add chopped dried fruit to the cake crumbs and make a type of fruitcake ball; fill with a button of marzipan, soak or not soak in rum or bourbon.

[DanaG]

I have about two cups of chocolate cake crumbs leftover from a baking project. Any ideas for what I should do with them?

[jende]

I have about two cups of chocolate cake crumbs leftover from a baking project.  Any ideas for what I should do with them?

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Mix them into ice cream. A swirl of leftover frosting would seal the deal.

[Badiane]

Rum Balls...or bourbon balls...or scotch balls...

Just put them in the mixer and add enough booze to bind. Or a combo of booze and simple syrup if you don't like them too strong. Roll them in Jimmies or whatever and you have a dandy snack!

[DanaG]

I've heard that Sherry Yard has a recipe for "pastry cream cookies," which uses up leftover cake crumbs. Does anyone have this recipe? Would it work with chocolate cake crumbs?

[ludja]

I thought of this thread when reading a post from BettyK today. She pointed out a recipe for an Austrian cake called Burgtheatertorte in a thread we've been having about cooking out of Rick Rodgers' Kaffehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

See the link for a more detailed description of thie chocolate almond cake flavored with orange and cinnamon.

Rodger's also has a recipe for the Austrian Punschtorte that Sweetside mentioned above. In addition to rum, the cake crumbs/cubes are flavored with lemon and orange juice. It's a distinctive flavor combination and the recipe yields a nice moist cake. Rodger's version is the more traditional baked version but version that Sweetside linked to from Sally's Place looks like it would be nice as an alternative as well.

edited to add: Another classic Austrian cake that uses cakecrumbs (or breadcrumbs) rather than flour is the Rehrucken. It's an unfrosted chocolate-almond cake. Rodger's has a recipe for this as well in Kaffeehaus

Edited March 31, 2007 by ludja (log)

[paulraphael]

Pierre Hermé says the secret to crisp bottoms of tart shells (especially when you have soggy contents, like fruit) is to lay down a thin layer of crumbs inside the shell. He always keeps crumbs from stale genoise, ladyfingers, or sugar cookies around. I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to.

[AnnaC]

Toba Garrett has an interesting use for cake crumbs in The Well-Decorated Cake - CAKE SPACKLE! She apparently uses a crumb-based mixture post-crumb coating to even out flaws, create a perfect base for fondant, etc - I haven't tested this yet but am planning to do so this weekend. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm certainly intrigued.

[chromedome]

If you make strudels or other phyllo-based items regularly, you can use up some of your crumbs by sprinkling them between the layers of buttered phyllo. The crumbs keep the layers separate, making the finished product flakier and crispier.

[reenicake]

Dry crumbs also make a great layer to prevent the cakes' cardboards sticking to the one below it when you tier soft-iced cakes.

In a restaurant setting, fried ice cream breading.

Also, grind fine and sift, then mix with cream fondant for a great modelling material that is not too sweet. Good for rose centers that will be eaten.

I also seem to remember using coarser crumbs in something like a rice crispie treat (mixed with melted marshmallow) with a bit more weight/character.

[ohmyganache]

We have cake scraps at the bakery, and although we're finding uses for them, we still have a surplus. We dry them out and use them in the crumb cake topping, in the almond cinnamon swril filling... we're tried mixing them with leftover bits of buttercream and pastry cream, but they haven't been selling fast enough to make up the difference. We make rum balls. None of these actually use a lot of scrap, so I just don't know what to do and I HAVE throwing cake out! HELP!

[etalanian]

You can make a pudding cake. Pack the cake into a baking dish and cover it with custard. Bake. Very delicious.

Eileen

[Stewart H]

Russian slices!!! Basically, left over bits of cake (any and every kind) chucked together with jam and rum flavouring to make a sticky, gooey, dense delicious mess, generally on top of a thin sponge, with icing on top.

Something like this.

God those things are good.... I may have to make some cake now, just so I can let it get stale.

Edited December 6, 2007 by Stewart H (log)

[janeer]

I'm sure there's another thread out there somewhere, but I couldn't find it...

We have cake scraps at the bakery, and although we're finding uses for them, we still have a surplus.  We dry them out and use them in the crumb cake topping, in the almond cinnamon swril filling... we're tried mixing them with leftover bits of buttercream and pastry cream, but they haven't been selling fast enough to make up the difference.  We make rum balls.  None of these actually use a lot of scrap, so I just don't know what to do and I HAVE throwing cake out!  HELP!

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At this time of year, steamed puddings, using relatively fresh cake crumbs. Also, see Rick Rodgers' book, Kaffehaus, which contains many recipes calling for cake crumbs.

[JeanneCake]

We use the tops from leveling the cake in trifles; we make individual servings in plastic cups with lids for take-away and in big hotel pans for buffets.

If you google "dirt cake" you'll get a bunch of recipes along the lines of the trifle if you want to play around with it. But still, there's only so much trifle you can make. I've got an entire bus pan filled with cake tops in the freezer right now....

[theabroma]

Mix with liqueur-flavored simple syrup - and any other flavors an odds and ends that add to the texture a/o flavor. Make little cups of tempered chocolate and scoop the crumb mixture into them with a 100 scoop. Garnish. These make a very nice boxed by the dozen bonbon arrangement. Good for gift giving, after dinner w-coffee, or just a couple of sweet holiday treats.

Also consider Austro-Hungarian style tortes where things like nut or crumb 'flours' are used instead of wheat flour in the cake.

Regards,

Theabroma

[SuzySushi]

I agree on the trifles. La Palme d'Or, a Japanese-owned French patisserie in Honolulu, makes "parfaits" (individual trifles) with its cake scraps. They're served in elegant clear footed plastic glasses and sell for IIRC $3.50 apiece.

[gfron1]

I recently dried some and used it like panko - rolled a ganache ball in it and fried that sucker! Probably not what you need in a bakery however.

[Darienne]

Spice Cookies , (http://www.earlenescakes.com/CakeCrumbRecipes.htm) posted by Shaloop up above. (Still can't do the new URL link properly).

Took some uninteresting dry Peanut Butter Banana muffins made a few days ago and made the above cookies. Turned out very well. Especially loved them with Jalapeno Jack cheese.

[SylviaLovegren]

Nanaimo Bars with cake crumbs in the bottom layer. Any excuse to make Nanaimo Bars is a good one... Your customers may not be familiar with N.B.s but there's always room for new fans!

[Lisa Shock]

By popular request:

Spice Cake with Crumbs (possibly the basis for A&P's Spanish Spice Cake)

from Baker's Weekly, 1936

12oz Sugar

8-12oz Shortening

5 Eggs

1.5 oz Soda

1qt Water

1 qt Light Molasses

.5 oz Salt

.25 dry ground Ginger

.13 ground Cinnamon

3.25 lbs soft Wheat Flour, sifted (cake flour)

1 lb Cake Crumbs, dry

My instructions: Cream Sugar & Shortening, beat in Eggs. In a separate bowl add Soda to Water, then stir in Molasses, Salt and Spices. Mix Flour and Crumbs. Add liquid mix in small quantities to creamed sugar/shortening mix, alternating with the dry mix. Mix just until smooth, pour into greased pans and bake immediately. (no temp given, I'd say 350° conventional, 325° convection) You can add raisins, currants or sultanas to it.

[Lisa Shock]

Kerry, I have gone through my commercial cookbooks and found several possible formulas. None say they are from A&P, but, they are from widely used professional sources from the 1920's and 1930's. I am posting them here:

It will take me a while to get them all up, so, please be patient -one book has at least five things of interest. I looked around online and all the so-called A&P recipes I saw had no crumbs and use volumetric measure for dry ingredients, so, IMO, they are fake.

Also note that any sort of stale crumb product will have variations from batch to batch.