Reduce, reuse, recycle

Sustainability is the topic of the day in our house - particularly with a nearly-nine-year-old who is an aspiring rhino doctor and saver of orangutans.

Of course, cake is pretty much fully recyclable. You pop it in your mouth, and voila, it's recycled! I'm also working hard to minimise the use of single use, disposable items; and to look for ethical products to use in my cakes.

But how can I help you to help reduce waste? I have five top tips for today which might go a little way to helping the sustainability cause:

1) Clean and store your cake board and box. There's always a use for them - even if it is just for your kids to store their creations. Or return them to me as I've always got a use for them - they're great for temporarily storing models in - or to put your next cake in/on!

2) If you have the odd slice of uneaten cake (not sure who does, but anyway....) and it's going to go to waste, you can turn it into cake pops or cake truffles. Remove the fondant and then mash up until you have a soft, mouldable mixture. Roll into golf-ball sized balls and dip in melted chocolate before placing on a greaseproof-lined tray to set hard. This will extend the life of the inside cake for a week or so.

3) Most cake can be frozen. Wrap uneaten slices carefully in two layers of foil or clingfilm and then pop in a resealable freezer bag. Make sure to expel the air and then freeze for up to a month. Defrost overnight in the fridge before carefully unwrapping. This shouldn't affect the taste or texture - and many cakes are moister after freezing due to the water dispersing back into the crumb during the defrosting process.

4) If your cake sinks after baking, remove the centre with pastry cutter and fill with fresh fruit and cream and serve as a dessert. If you can, use the centre piece in the same way but a mini-version.

5) My favourite recipe for using food leftovers is Dan Lepard's bare banana cakes. The dark banana ginger cake is outstanding. I often replace the crystallised ginger with stem ginger and add a spoon or two of the ginger syrup for a lovely sticky cake. If you're not a ginger fan, swap it out for chocolate chunks. You can find the recipes here. Containing one of your five a day and at only 180 calories per piece, what's not to like.

Throwback to a picture from my blog in 2012 (click to read the blog)

Caking regards,

Rebecca xo