Learn how to make bird seed cakes for your backyard birds. They're also excellent holiday hostess and teacher gifts that the kids can help with!
One of my favorite things to do once the weather starts cooling down and the birds have fewer natural things to eat in the yard (berries and worms) is to make suet bird seed cakes.
Birds can benefit from suet because it's high in fat and protein and gives them much-needed energy during the cooler months when they don't have access to as much fat out in the wild.
You can make them in traditional square shapes, but why limit it to that when you can make them in fun shapes too!
For instance, I recently found this heart-shaped jello mold at a thrift store.
I didn't make jello with it because that would just be too obvious. And who wants to hear about making jello anyhow? Snoozefest!
I made suet cakes for birds with it!!!
That uses gelatin. So, come to think of it, I sort of made jello for you after all.
Come along as I take you through the journey of how to make something you can probably buy in the store for $1. It's so much more fun to make it yourself though!
Homemade Birdseed Cakes
Ingredients:
- 3 cups wild bird food
- ½ cup boiling water
- 3 tablespoons Karo syrup
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin powder (Knox or a generic version)
- ¾ cup flour
- non-stick cooking spray - I prefer Pam, for obvious reasons 🙂
- a mold of some sort - jello mold, bundt pan, cookie cutters, etc
- string, twine, ribbon or yarn
- a straw if your mold doesn't have a hole for easy hanging
Directions:
Spray your mold with cooking spray
Mix the gelatin packet into the boiled water until it is dissolved.
Add flour and syrup until it is mixed well. It's going to look like a thick cake batter.
Add birdseed into the mixture and mix well.
Spoon ½ the mixture into your mold.
Push straw through the seed mixture to the bottom of the mold.
Add a bit of string (this is going to act like a piece of rebar in cement and add extra stability).
Spoon the remaining seed mixture into the mold and compress it down as much as humanly possible.
Put the mold into the fridge or freezer overnight to harden up and allow the gelatin to set.
In the morning remove your cake from the mold. If your seed cake doesn't slide out of the mold easily when you turn it upside down, sit the bottom of the mold in a shallow pan of warm water for a few minutes and the cake should pop out.
Gently remove the straw and thread a piece of string through the hole for hanging.
I figure the birds can steal the "rebar" string to make their nests with when they're done eating through the cake.
I added an extra step of putting a twig in the hole as a little perch for the birdies.
I did not put that in the official directions, because so far none of the birds are using the darn twig. They'd prefer to just stand precariously on the top and eat the seed.
So much for my plan of a quaint photo of a cardinal sitting on the twig, eating the birdseed cake and smiling at the camera.
Tips For Making Your Suet Cakes:
This recipe is for a medium-sized jello mold. If you were going to use a large bundt pan as your mold, you may want to double the recipe.
Do not dilly-dally when making this. Once the mixture starts to cool, you don't have a lot of time to work with it in the molds before it starts setting up.
If you plan to give these as gifts, please keep them refrigerated or in a cool place until you gift them.
If you're looking for a low-melt suet recipe that holds up better on warmer days, I have a recipe with peanuts and berries that the birds LOVE → No Melt Suet Cakes For Birds.
I also use suet when I show you how to make a rustic Log Bird Feeder.
This Explains So Much:
About Karo syrup - My mom used to use Karo syrup for pancakes and waffles and such. The first time I ever had maple syrup was in college and I about gagged. It's funny that Karo syrup is what I thought syrup was supposed to taste like.
Needless to say, my Mom was not the best cook 🙂 I won't get into what she used for spaghetti sauce.
Now get out of here and feed the little birdies! They need to gain their winter five ten pounds like the rest of us.
Some "Repurposed" Bird-Related Content:
DIY Bird Bath
Vintage Snack Set Bird Feeder
Vintage Tin Dollhouse Repurposed Into Birdhouse
Bird Feeder From Repurposed Cookie Tins
Pat
Could corn meal be used as a substitute for the flour?
Sylvia Mann
Thanks Pam! I got chuckle out of the fact that of course you use *Pam* 🙂
Sylvia
Blacksburg, VA
Elizabeth
DON'T GIVE KARO SYRUP TO BIRDS!!!!
Michelle G
This was what I was coming here to say. After researching this recipe ingredients, because I couldn't find my recipe anywhere, I read that the karo syrup is harmful to them. So I made the recipe exactly the same just minus the karo. Came out beautifully! And I'm reusing my old suet cake plastic containers, so they fit in my suet feeders perfectly! Thanks for the recipe; I would offer a suggestion to remove the karo syrup, if you're so inclined. Thanks!
Michelle G
oh oh and to use organic oil spray too 🙂 I found mine at Walmart.
John
Curious, how necessary is the flour to this recipe?...
My veterinarian says flour is harmful to a birds digestive system and that most birds cannot digest flour at all.. I assume she would know best being a veterinarian..
Pam Kessler
You could substitute uncooked oats for the flour (the old-fashioned rolled oats or steel-cut, not the instant kind). I've actually been making my No-Melt Suet more often the last few years since it holds up much nicer in the warmer weather (not as warm as it's been lately, but it's a good one for fall through spring where temps in the Midwest are all over the place during the day). Plus it uses all natural ingredients.
Lisa
Thank you for the great recipe…used it to make small heart shaped ones for a bridal shower! They were loved by all❣️
I would definitely suggest freezing them at least 24 hours…longer is better.
Enjoy 🐦
Heather
Pam I tried out your recipe and wrote about it on by birding blog.
I think it came out okay, although I didn't have a jello mold, so mine didn't turn out as cute as yours did!
Pam Kessler
Those are cute! I like how easily they fit into your suet basket!
JPM
Birdseed Suet cakes don't use gelatin to bind it together... it uses Suet, which is the fat from livestock (like when you brown ground beef and save the grease). True suet cakes are bound together with that type of left over fat...the birds love it and it helps them to survive the winter. Otherwise it's just a birdseed cake. Sometimes the grocery store meat dept. will give you left over fat to make birdseed suet cakes. They just toss it in the trash otherwise.
sharon Laverentz
I totally agree about the suet although I use lard instead. It's easy to get and cheap. Next time I will ask my butcher for the real suet and see how that works.
Carolyn Churchey
I live in PA. Can't wait to try it.Love the heart shape cute.
Tom
Hello,
What's the flour for in this recipe? Is it a binding agent?
Thanks!
Lanna Seuret
Thank you for this thoughtful and easy recipe! I'm going to try making a woodpecker square cake .
As a long time birder, I believe you may have better luck with the "Landing Twig" if you break off all the smaller branches. Birds need a safe landing space and easy escape route in danger.
Darling heart picture though, and thanks for such clear snaps!
David K.
For those wanting to make seed blocks that hold up during the summer (95°- 115° where I live)- Use agar agar.
Most Westerners haven't heard of it but it's used in some Asian sauces and for desserts. In every way I've found it superior to gelatin (except for availability and cost- about $1/packet but varies).
If you don't have any good Asian markets close by purchase online, it comes sometimes in small packs of powder or sometimes in large pkgs of long solid strips (similar to kelp).
Below about 125° it will gel, and when used for birdseed blocks very little agar is actually needed. Out in the sun & heat it will simply dehydrate after a while but not go bad or get soft. Add karo or molasses if you like, and whatever else pleases you.
*HOT!
USE DISHWASING GLOVES, or mix and press with kitchen implements, etc.
Work quickly.
Pam
Thanks for the info!!! I will look for it at the store!
Tanya
I plan on making these as a way to raise money for shelter pets; I work in a pet food store. I am wondering, will these melt in warm weather? I don't know if using gelatin, they can only be used for cold weather.
Pam
They work well for winter, spring and fall, but I've found they tend to get too soft in the hot summer months. So warmer weather is ok, but not typical summer heat and sun. Good luck with your shelter fundraiser! I hope you raise lots and lots of money for the animals!
Nancy Young
Well, my favorite sandwich is tuna and peanut butter. Everybody I know thinks it sounds gross but for some strange reason I love it! Of course you have to add mayonaise to the tuna first...........
Linda aka Crafty Gardener
Thanks for adding a link to my all season suet recipe Pam.
I love the idea of using a jello mold to form your bird cakes. And the addition of a little twig is a great idea. I'll remember that for another time.
Kim
I was wondering, I live in Arizona just outside of Phoenix, will this hold up during warmer days? I used to have a bird feeder when we lived in Tennessee and don't have it anymore, plus this looked a lot more fun to do than just filling something up.
Pam
I really don't think it would. It does fine here in Ohio, but once it gets past 75 degrees or so it starts to get soft. And I'm assuming it gets much hotter than that in Arizona 🙂
Cate
Hi Pam! I love your recipe! I came across it here over a month ago and have since spent every Saturday morning making a batch or two! I use large cookie cutters as my "mold" and even have used styrofoam cups filled halfway! The birds love these treats!! As an extra bonus, I sometimes spread peanut butter on one side of the seed ornament after it has hardened and then press the peanut butter side into loose sunflower seeds! We have quite the variety of birds flocking to our house to feast on these treats!! Thanks for a fun, easy recipe!!
Pam
Oh, I like the peanut butter idea!