How to use leftover cakes and cupcakes

Here i will explain 8 ways to use leftover cakes and cupcakes

One thing about baking is that sometimes, you bake something and not everyone loves it. Even if everybody likes it, when you have a dessert spread or buffet, you are going to have a little dessert left over.
The question is 'what can you do with your cake leftovers or dessert leftovers?'
Below are a few fantastic ways to use leftover desserts.

Make a trifle

I am referring to those beautiful jars you see with layers of cake, cream, fruit or chocolate. You can cut out cake rounds or cubes of leftover cake to fit into your trifle glass or serving bowl. Pair the leftover cake with complementary flavors and textures.

trifle



- For a trifle that is a bit more risque, pair unique but complementary flavors together.

- To make sure your cake remains moist and to infuse some more flavor, lightly brush on a drink of your choice. It could be simple syrup, juice, wine, liquor, chocolate sauce. Go for what you enjoy.

- If you are adding fruit to your trifle, do not make it too far in advance.

- If you will be adding Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream and wish to chill the trifle for a bit before serving, defrost the trifle first before you serve it.

- To add a bit of interest, use contrasting colors when assembling your trifle.

- If you feel prefer individual servings of a trifle, assemble your trifle in smaller glasses. This assembly looks a bit more elegant than the large trifle that you have to scoop out to serve.

I made the individual trifle pictured using a Guinness chocolate cake, almond buttercream, and some chocolate cookie crumbs and shavings.

Make crumbs


cake crumbs

If you have a cake that has dried out or is no longer appealing, you can make cake crumbs. These crumbs can be used to decorate a cake, make buttercream or make a crust.

If you want to make crumbs out of a cake,
- Cut the cake into thick but even slices
- put the cake in the oven at a low temperature
- Leave it in the oven for up to 30 minutes
- Leave the cake to cool for a little while.
-Once, the cake is cold and hard, blend the cake until it breaks down into crumbs.
- Sift the crumbs using a large sieve and discard any big or soft pieces
- Pour the crumbs into an airtight container and put in the fridge/ freezer. I recommend using this almost immediately.

Make speckled buttercream

speckled buttercream

If you have made some cake crumbs, you can make a speckled buttercream; this merely is buttercream with a different color of spots. Mix chocolate cake crumbs with vanilla buttercream for the spotted effected.

If all you have is vanilla cake crumbs, mix your crumbs with a tiny bit of food color paste and dry out the colored crumbs in the oven for a short while.
When you add the colored cake crumbs to the buttercream of your choice, work quickly and fold gently to prevent the color from bleeding into your buttercream.

Make Cake pops

 Cake pops

Cake pops are small round bites of cake coated in chocolate or candy melts. These cake balls can be left plain, or you can decorate them with chocolate or sprinkles.
If you would like to use up leftover cake or cupcakes, cake pops are a lovely option.

To make cake pops with cake or cupcakes, you will need some buttercream, cake and melted chocolate or candy melts.
Making cake pops are relatively easy if you have the necessary ingredients listed above. The process of making these treats involves:

- Crumble your cake or cupcakes into a bowl. Do not leave large chunks of cake, try to crumble everything evenly.
- Scoop some buttercream into your cake crumbs. Fold the buttercream into the crumbs till it is well mixed. Your cake pop mixture should be moist enough to hold together but should not be wet.
- Using an ice cream scoop, and portion out even scoops of your cake pop mixture onto a lined cookie sheet.
- Roll your cake scoops into round balls and put your tray of round cake balls in the fridge briefly.
- Using a fork or lollipop stick, immerse your chilled cake balls into melted chocolate. After dipping your cake pops, tap off the excess chocolate and place the ball on a parchment sheet.
- After the chocolate hardens, you can apply other decorations or piping.
-If you wish to use sprinkles to decorate your cake pops, apply the sprinkles before the chocolate shell on the cake pops harden.

If you would like to infuse a bit of flavor into your cake pops, you can:

-Reduce the amount of buttercream cream and add a juice reduction or liquor of your choice to the cake crumb.
- Replace buttercream with ganache or melted chocolate to make intense chocolate cake pops instead.

Here is a basic recipe for cake pops.
How To Make Cake Pops ….EASILY!!

Make cake french toast

If you have some dried out cake, preferably cake that was baked in a loaf tin, you can make some super decadent french toast.

The key to making french toast with cake is to use a drier cake.  If your cake is still moist, cut it into thick slices, place the slices on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the oven until the cake has lost some of its moisture.

Also, do not dunk the cake in the egg mixture for a prolonged period. A quick dip on each side of your cake be enough to coat the cake slice thoroughly.

Lastly, be careful when you want to flip the cake so that the slice does not break up. Turning the cake slice will be easier if you use a non-stick pan or griddle.

Overall, Cake french toast is a beautiful play on ‘dessert for breakfast.’
You can get a pound cake french toast recipe here.

Make bread pudding

If you enjoy breakfast for dessert crossovers, this is the next best way that you can use your leftover cakes and cupcakes.

I recommend using a sponge cake or genoise cake for this because they tend to be on the drier side. The texture of a sponge cake will allow the cake to soak up the custard or egg mixture without turning to total mush.
Furthermore, sponge cakes tend to be a little less sweet than ordinary butter and pound cakes; This reduced sweetness will ensure that your bread pudding is not overly sweet when baked.

I recommend using half the amount of liquid you would use in a regular bread pudding if you will be using cake instead.

To add some texture or interest to your pudding, add on some nuts, grated coconut, and even a little chocolate.

Make a cheesecake crust

When trying to use up leftover cake and cupcakes, many people do not think of cheesecake.
Skip the graham crackers or crushed up cookies the next time you want to make a no-bake cheesecake.

For a No-bake cheesecake that will blow people away,
- Crumble up leftover cake or cupcakes
- Dry the crumbs in the oven for about 20- 30 minutes if you want to use a very moist cake.
- Allow the crumbs cool and afterward, mix it with some melted butter. The crumbs should resemble wet sand.
- Use this crust mixture the same way you would use your graham cracker or cookie crumb crust.

Using cake crumbs for your cheesecake crust will produce a softer, moister and more flavorful crust.

Make Tiramisu

With some strong coffee/espresso, cream, and cocoa powder, you can use some leftover cake to make a fantastic tiramisu.

No one will be able to tell that you used leftover vanilla cake to make this delicious dessert.
To make this dessert, you can assemble your tiramisu as usual. Instead of using lady's fingers, you can use slices of leftover sponge cake or plain vanilla cake.

For the best outcome, use a cake that is slightly dry.

I hope you enjoyed reading about ways to use your leftover desserts.
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Bisous




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