Suet Cakes Tutorial

Recently I was telling someone about how I make my own birdie cakes.
I though everyone might like to know as well.

I retain any meat drippings from cooking and keep them in a tupper type container in the back of the fridge until I have what looks to be enough. How much is that? Well, that depends on how many cakes you want to make. After all I don't have to eat this, so I pretty much wing my measurements. But I'll try to keep track so you have something to go by.So when I think I have the amount I wish to do, I dump that in a big pot and heat it back up to liquid form, and then turn off the heat. We don't need to cook this just make the fat into the binding agent. (This is 1 1/2 cups of fat.)
Then I add some bird seed. I feed strait black oil sunflower seed because this is what attracts the largest variety of birds. Sun flower seeds float in grease so we have to use more than just that. (3 cups of black oil seed)


Right about now I add about a cup of peanut butter, creamy, crunchy it doesn't matter they love the stuff, and my PB is always the cheapest I can find.


I will also add a corn type of product either corn meal or grits, which ever you have in the house, I have a heart from the south so I ALWAYS have grits in the house. mix this in. This time I used both, about a cup of each.


Here comes the creative part... look in the cupboards... what do you find that is stale (non sugary) bread ends, oyster crackers, Cheerios. don't use a lot of this, birds break down carbs really fast, but it will make it press better. NEVER USE RICE! IT WILL MAKE YOUR BIRDIES SICK!
This is a half a sleeve of stale saltines.


This should be the constancy of your suet, if it isn't resist putting any more flour based items in, add some more corn meal or more grits or even a cheaper grade seed. (more PB will just make it runnier). It wont hold together to make a ball or anything. It is very greasy and crumbly.

Find containers that are about the size of your suet cages. I use Chinese take out boxes.. not the paper ones they are a tupper kind we have locally.

If you do not have anything, you can simply press it into a 9x13 pan the amount I ended up with would have fit in a 9x13 pan nicely. I would probably line my pan with waxed paper first though.


Refrigerate overnight or freeze. After frozen cut to desired size. If you have crumbs from cutting them, sprinkle it on the ground when you put out your cakes, it wont be there tomorrow. You can wrap your cakes in plastic wrap (yes, my plastic wrap is purple! Did you expect anything less?) and store them in the freezer. I make these year round but only feed them in the months that it is cold... they don't stand up well in 80+ deg weather
These are some I simply set in an old cookie sheet on a window flower box.