Has this ever happened to you?
You put the cake in the oven, you don’t set the timer because your oven is a bit iffy, the baby needs a diaper change, after changing the baby you wash your hands in the bathroom and notice someone’s aim was a little off, when getting the cleaner from the laundry room you notice the laundry is ready to go in the dryer, when you open the dryer you realize there is a load of dry laundry waiting to be folded, while folding the laundry you call your sister because you haven’t chatted in a while, when hanging up the phone you notice the garbage is overflowing and needs to go out, when taking the garbage out you trip over a sled in the garage which reminds you that someone left one boot on the back porch, while searching the house for the boot bandit you notice a picture is hanging slightly crooked, you fix the picture and a huge pile of dust flies off and starts choking you, you go to get paper towels to dust the picture frame and realize you are out, you call down to the basement to ask one of the kids to bring up the paper towels – and while they are getting paper goods they can restock the toilet paper too… toilet paper? Weren’t you supposed to be cleaning the bathroom? You go back into the bathroom and remember you put something in the oven over 45 minutes ago… THE CAKE!
You race back to the oven and pull out the cake. The top is dark golden brown and the edges are crisp. You start thinking about how much frosting would be required to overpower the hardened edges. You realize that no amount of frosting can make a brick taste like a cake so you contemplate baking another cake, but you really don’t want to use 3 more eggs, another mix, and your last bit of oil.
There is only one thing to do, sharpen your best knife and carefully cut away all the burned edges of your cake wreck.
But how do you frost the crumbly edges of your now manicured cake wreck? 
This is the easy part. Place the cake in the freezer for about 45 minutes, and if you forget and leave it in the freezer a little longer, nothing burns!
Take the cake out and frost. The crumbs are frozen solid and you get a nice clean edge.
This post is linking to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays and Works for Me Wednesday.
Chalena from the Life and Times of the Harley Family says
I am amazed at how many cakes I have thrown away due to burning! What a clever solution. Thanks for the tip!
Christy says
Did you submit this to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy’s Recipes? You should!
Cherrill Hartsfield says
Awesome tip Toni, you could make cake balls with them those are pretty darn good to. I offered to do my daughters teachers wedding cake for her this April. Making some cupcakes for DD this afternoon with all the FCat testing this week trying to do something special each day.
Jenn @ Beautiful Calling says
Toni, I think you may be one of the smartest people alive! (or close to it LOL)
Great idea, would never have thought of it. Thanks for sharing.
Jenn @ Beautiful Calling says
I just sent this off to my sister…no doubt she will echo my thoughts!
Marsha says
I think that’s a great idea. I have so been there, done that… except my problem is usually burnt tea!
The Pursuit of Mommyness says
Great tip! That has totally happened to me only a nightmare usually ensues instead of a crafty last minute save and great blog post material resulting! I will try to remember this one…thanks lady!
Jennifer Young says
Great idea! I always end up making a trifle when I ruin a cake. I had a particularly bad bundt cake run once. Nothing cool whip and cookies or fruit can’t solve:)
Laura says
This tip works with chocolate cakes too, which I always find difficult to ice since the crumbs go everywhere. But they crumb a lot less if they are frozen first.
Jo Ann says
Thanks for the tip, I will definitely be giving this a try. Not necessarily because I burn a lot of cakes :), but I have a couple that I want to try for birthdays but have avoided because of those tricky edges.
Mary Ann says
I love it. Bet your family loved the heart-shaped cake! I knew about freezing the cake for easier icing but had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder.
A lady we used to know had regular cake disasters. Her solution was to crumble them up and mix with cool whip and ice cream and freeze. Nobody cared then what they looked like!
Kirsty says
Ah the freezer! What a great tip!
Christy says
Great post, makes me want to read “If you give a pig a pancake” for some strange reason.
Michelle says
Hooray for saving your cake wreck! Icing is a heck of a cake saver 🙂 Another option is to do a “crumb coat” — seal in the edges of the cake with the first batch of frosting. It will be a bit messy but when you put in the fridge for a bit, it will be ready for another coat. Extra frosting that way, too 😉
mandy says
I never thought about cutting away the hard edges. Great tip!
Julie Bagamary says
What a great idea.
jeanne says
Can totally relate!!!! I would also put the hard edges in a freezer bag and freeze.
Then the following week or when the cake is gone — make up a patch of pudding and cube up the hard cake and layer as a parfait with bananas and you have another dessert!
Kelly says
Love it! Hasn’t every mom done this at some time…such a creative solution. Hope it’s okay, I’m sharing this on my FB. Too many ‘mom’ friends of mine will relate. Thanks for sharing the failures and fixes.
Debbie says
That’s a great tip!
I’m here from WFMW 🙂
Melissa says
Fantastic tip! Thanks!!
Brandi @ Frugal Farmhouse says
Awesome tip! Thank you 🙂
Robyn says
Oh I needed this tip last week. Very badly. Thanks so much for sharing, I’m sure I’ll need it again.
Jamie says
Oh I do this more often than I should admit!! But, like others, it always turns out just fine once I whip it up into a trifle using either whipped cream and fruit, or pudding and bananas. The wonderful thing about trifles is that they are so versatile, and no one ever has to know the cake started out as a flop! Oh, and as another poster said- Cake Balls are wonderful, too!
Cae says
I love this idea! I’ve burnt so many things, it isn’t funny!! Does this work with brownies???
I’ll hopefully never have to try this, but if I do. . .Then thanks a bunch!
~Cae