Have you ever made cake using not-so-fresh bread? We recently learnt about a traditional Italian recipe where stale and dry bread was a key ingredient to make a tasty cake. So, using a slightly updated version, we decided to try it out ourselves and loved it! Next time you have stale bread, a stash of bread crusts in the freezer or too much bread, give this recipe a go.
As a nation, bread is our most wasted food — about 29 million loaves or more than 15,000 tonnes of bread is wasted each year. Bread can go mouldy or stale because of our humid climate. The best place to store your bread is in the freezer and take out slices as you need it. This stops it going mouldy and ensures you have no waste.
If you find that your slices of bread stick together after placing a loaf in the freezer, gently bang the loaf on the bench to loosen the slices. If it is still stuck together, find a gap between the two slices and carefully slide a butter knife in, then move from side to side to separate the slices.
In Aotearoa, we also throw out a lot of crusts and the ends of the loaves because we, or our children, don’t like to eat them. These parts are perfectly good and there are many things we can do with them, so save them in a freezer bag to make into something delicious at a later date. You can turn it into chocky bread muffins, garlic bread chips, cinnamon sugar bread chips, use it as a topping for fruit crumble and more!
Find the additional recipes mentioned on our website at www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz and check out what else we are up to on our social media pages at @lovefoodhatewastenz on Facebook and Instagram.
Bread cake
Ingredients
3 stale buns (or about 125g or 3½ cups stale bread) made into fine breadcrumbs
25g cocoa powder
80g brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
350ml non-dairy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Method
1. Heat oven to 175degC bake or 155degC fan bake and prepare an 8’’ cake tin by greasing it.
2. Mix dry ingredients (first five ingredients) together in a large bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine, using a spoon or a hand mixer.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until set and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.
5. Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring on to a wire rack.
6. Serve as is or with your favourite icing if desired.
Cooking Tips
If you have a large enough blender, place all the ingredients into the blender and blitz until combined and smooth.
This recipe can also be made with dairy milk.
For a sweeter cake, add more sugar, chopped chocolates or chocolate chips into the mixture.
