The Great Bake 
The cake is often the centerpiece of every great event. Whether you’re throwing a birthday party or celebrating a wedding, you can’t do it without a great cake.
But when the party’s over, and all the guests have gone home, you’re often left with half a cake and no idea what to do with it. Throwing it away is certainly a waste, so what’s the next best thing? If you’re wondering what to do with leftover cake, check out a few of these ideas below for inspiration.
Give It Away
Perhaps one of the easiest and most popular ways of getting rid of leftover cake is to send your guests home with some. It’s likely that your guests already had a slice at the party but be prepared to dish out some slices and wrap them up to hand off to people as they leave.
Your guests probably won’t do this for themselves, but no one will say no if the slices are already set to go. As you walk guests out, grab a wrapped-up slice and use it to thank them for coming.
Freezing leftover cake
You can freeze even the fanciest of cakes to save for a later date. It’s a popular tradition for newlyweds to freeze their leftover wedding cake to save for their first anniversary. If your cake was so good that you have to save it, you might try freezing it.
Freezing an unfrosted cake is super simple. Once your cake is completely cool, you can wrap it in plastic wrap. Some people prefer to do two layers just to be safe. You can also store it in resealable plastic freezer bags. Stick it in the freezer, and it will be good for up to two months.
You can also freeze frosted cakes. Let’s be honest: if you had cake at a party, it was likely frosted.
Your first step is to place the cake ― uncovered ― in the freezer for one hour. Doing so will help set the frosting so that it stays intact in the process.
Once the frosting is firm or even completely frozen, wrap the cake in two layers of plastic wrap. Follow those layers up with one layer of aluminum foil. You can do this with a whole cake or leftover slices.
When you want to enjoy the cake again, take it out and let it sit at room temperature to defrost. Depending on the size of the leftovers, you may need to let them sit overnight.
Repurpose It in Another Recipe
If your guests don’t take all the cake and you have no desire to save it for later, you can always try using it in another recipe. Not many people are aware of this, but there are tons of different ways that you can use cake to make other tasty desserts.
Below are a few different recipes that use leftover cake. Trust me ― they’re delicious.
Make Cake Pops
If you’ve never tried cake pops, you’re truly missing out. Cake pops are little balls of cake mixed with frosting to form cake lollipops. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness stuck onto a convenient stick.
While every recipe will be different, each cake pop uses the same premise. Take the dry cake and crumble it into a bowl. Mix in your favorite frosting to create a moist batter. Roll the batter into 1-inch balls of cake and stick them on lollipop sticks. Put them in the fridge to harden.
From there, you can decorate the cake pops however you’d like. Most people prefer to dip them in chocolate. You can choose from dark, milk, or white chocolate. You can also add sprinkles or drizzles of fudge.
There are many ways to decorate your cake pops and make them fun. You can use these for an upcoming party or event or keep them around for a small treat to perk up your day.
Cake Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a very popular dish that usually consists of bread with various ingredients like milk, eggs, fruit, and sugar. It can also involve some kind of custard. This dish has stood the test of time, partly due to its versatility and ability to jump between sweet and savory.
Now picture bread pudding, but with cake. Sound good? We thought so too.
Cake bread pudding is a variation on the traditional dish, and it’s so easy to make. Like regular bread pudding, cake bread pudding is so versatile that you can serve it warm with ice cream as a dessert or eat it cold for breakfast. It’s a unique dish that everyone will want.
One of the best parts about cake bread pudding is that it will taste as good as your cake did ― if not better. The flavor of your cake determines the flavor of the pudding, so you’re guaranteed a delicious result.
Plus, after you mix your ingredients and bake the dish, you can add whatever toppings you want to it. If you make it with a double chocolate cake, you might add a chocolate drizzle with some fresh raspberries or strawberries. A simple yellow cake would be great with a streusel topping or a cream cheese frosting.
Birthday Cake Milkshake
We’ve all seen it on those fancy ice cream parlor menus: the birthday cake ice cream. The fun colors and sweet taste always sound so great, right? Well, if you have a little bit of leftover birthday cake, you can make a similar treat in your own home ― and you’ll probably save a little bit of money too.
The birthday cake milkshake is such a fun way to use leftover cake. It’s so simple: a milkshake that uses leftover cake blended right into it.
Whether you have a chocolate cake or a white cake, you can make this idea work. Match your ice cream of choice to the cake and get blending.
To make this milkshake, crumble up your leftover cake into a bowl. You can keep it in chunks; it doesn’t have to be tiny crumbs. Pack the cake loosely into your blender, add your ice cream, and pour a little bit of milk into it to make your desired thickness.
To make things a little more festive, try adding some rainbow sprinkles. Blend it completely, pour it into a tall glass, and top with some extra cake crumbles, sprinkles, and any other toppings you prefer. Make sure you drink this with a thick straw and maybe even a long spoon because you’re going to want to make sure you catch all those tasty cake bits.
