Salvage Your Cracked Cake Disaster Into A Sweet, Portable Treat
Accidents happen — especially in the kitchen! Even the most experienced bakers make cake-baking mistakes sometimes. If you've recently tried a new recipe and the cake you baked didn't come out right, there's no need to throw it away. Instead, turn it into a sweet, portable treat with a few embellishments, additions, and creativity.
One way to salvage a cracked cake includes breaking it apart, putting it in a mixer, adding some buttercream, and mixing it into a paste. Once a thick paste-like batter forms, you can scoop ball-shaped pieces of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, freeze for a few minutes, and make cake pops. While this is the most popular way to salvage a cracked cake, it's not the only way to turn a baking disaster into edible fun treats. The best part is these portable, individual-size cake treats are often the ones that go the quickest!
Other ways to repurpose failed cakes
There are many ways to use cake scraps. You can make themed truffle-like cake treats by coating a silicone mold with chocolate or candy melts — colorful discs that come in various flavors and can be melted and used for confections. Then add some crumbled cake into the mold, fill the top with more melted chocolate or candy melts, and create unique cakey candy treats that you can then decorate with sprinkles or royal icing. Best of all, there are molds in seemingly endless shapes for every holiday and occasion!
Another great way to use cake scraps is to make a trifle – where essentially you layer small or large cake cubes and crumbs between layers of whipped cream, and you can add in fruit, sauces, nuts, and whatever else suits your taste. There are trifles for nearly every occasion, they come together in minutes but look very impressive. Using cake scraps is especially important if you run a for-profit baking business, as trying to save product is essential, even if that cake cracked or didn't come out how you wanted it to.
How to save a whole cracked cake
While you always have the option to crumble cake and repurpose it into individual desserts, sometimes you do not have to scrap a whole cake even if it has cracked. Buttercream can act a lot like glue and can be used to repair cracks and even to fill holes. The trick to making a cracked cake look fantastic is to try and level it the best you can, and then add a crumb coat (a thin base layer of frosting) to cover any cracks. Don't be afraid to use a piping bag to fill gaps and 'glue' cakes together.
Once you have patched cracks and covered your cake in a crumb coat, pop your cake into the freezer for a few hours to ensure those cracks remain repaired. When you remove the cake from the freezer, it should be solid and secure. Then, add your decorative layer of buttercream to the cake and repeat the freezing process. Remove your cake and place it on a counter to defrost at room temperature before serving. If your cake is beyond buttercream repair, just make a fun cake scrap treat — or three — because beyond these ideas, you never know what you might come up with!