Bird Cakes
"For our feathered friends who need our help in the winter!
If possible use flexible molds or muffin pans lined with paper cups. If you don't have flexible molds, immerse the molds in hot water for several seconds before removing the cakes.
They also make a nice gift for our human friends who like to look after the birds.
It is nice to make this in one large mold and display the cake in your garden (in a safe place away from other animals!)
Don't take notice of the yield because that will depend on the size of molds you use.
You can also be somewhat flexible with the amounts given in the recipe, they will still turn out well and much better than any store bought cakes for the birds. They love them and my 'garden restauant' is always full of satisfied customers!
If you have some netting to put them in you can hang them from a tree branch."
photo by PetsRus
- Ready In:
- 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Yields:
-
12 pies
ingredients
- 2 2 lbs lard or 2 lbs suet
- 3 cups bird seed (I buy the winter mix)
- 2 cups peanut butter
- 1 cup cornmeal (millet, quinoa or semolina can be substituted)
- 1 cup oats
- 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup currants (or other dried fruits)
- 1 cup cracked corn (optional)
directions
- In a large pan start melting the fat.
- When almost melted, take off the heat, add the rest of the listed ingredients and mix well.
- Let the mix cool enough for the seeds to be evenly distributed and not sink to the bottom.
- Fill your molds, cool until set and un-mold.
- IMPORTANT: Do not use old and used fat from your deep fryer because that is not good for the birds.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
-
Made these in muffin cups and got 26. Birds and squirrels love them, however next time I'll use more grain/seed/oats etc. The lard/pb mixture could hold a lot more goodies. Thanks a lot PetsRus! -
What a wonderful treat for the animals, the birds and squirrels, as well as my cats who had a great day of bird watching in store when I put these bird cakes up. Thanks for the recipe! -
Made this. It took the birds about a day and a half to try it. And then, it was gone. Will make it again! -
Wish I'd found this great sounding recipe last fall instead of spring! I will try it next year. But please don't use vegetable fat, such as Crisco. Being hydrogenated, it is very unhealthy for humans, so I imagine it's just as bad for birds and those sweetly pesky rodents. Lard and suet are much better choices. -
My feathered friends give this birdy treat a a five cheep rating...and so do the racoons and the squirrels. Knowing that some furry critters would raid the seed cakes, I foiled the thieves by stuffing the mixture into all the crevices of some large pinecones and then hanging them from the trees. Those clever racoons even got some of those that were on the ends of the branches! I halved the recipe and had a great time with my two grandaughters getting all messy as we created delicious treats for our backyard pets. This will be an annual tradition, Pets...thank you so much!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
PetsRus
Leiden, Zuid Holland
Hello, my name is Bonnie and I am a very beautiful cat as you can see if you look at the picture at the top of this page.... What??.. I am supposed to talk about you??? But it says here: About Me!! Well all right then ......
My mom is Dutch and has moved to England in October 2007, after living 15 years in the Netherlands with my English dad. They don’t have any human children and “created” their own family, which means I have to share them with Hannah, she is a 6 years old tortie cat, Abby the dog, she is a 9 year old Beagle, and a one year old black Miniature Pincher named Poppy, I refuse to tell you my age but I am a georgious lilac British Shorthair cat!!
It is obvious she adores pets just by looking at her name she uses on Zaar (many on Zaar call her Pets or Petsie Poo), her name in real life is Annelies and that is a common Dutch name.
My mom always liked to cook, but since she joined Zaar it got out of control, and it doesn’t help that she is disorganized. Printed recipes everywhere in the house, the recipe binders have got bigger and just between you and me, her hips too!!!
I have lived in Holland all of my life until now, but they lived in several different countries/places:- desert and coastal Oman, up North and West in Holland, Vancouver-Canada, Aberdeen- Scotland and in Norway they lived in Bergen and Oslo. We have all moved together to England, as you can see I’ve already learnt the language!
I heard her say to Dad that this is the last time she moved to another country...she's had it with moving from one place to another! ( its her age...she's getting grumpy)
Mom is 55 years old but I always hear her say that the date of her birthday does not mean that much to her, the date of her cancer anniversary is more important, because so far she is a survivor.
Besides cooking she has other interests too, crafts, gardening and soap making.
She likes Zaar and is one of the hosts on the German-Benelux Forum here on RecipeZaar.
She would like to thank everybody who tries and comments on the recipes she has posted on Recipezaar, your feedback is very much appreciated.
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