Decorate Your Cake With Leftover Crumbs For Added Texture

There are many different ways to creatively decorate a cake. Piping is a skill that stands out yet takes time to master — but a technique like adding cake crumbs to the top or sides of your cake can be achieved quickly, no matter your skill level. Where do you get extra crumbs from? Once your cakes are baked, let them cool and level the tops of each cake layer with a knife so all tops are even, then keep the scraps!

Once you have a pile of scraps, you can turn those bits into crumbs by gently pulsing them in a food processor or crumbling the pieces carefully with your hands. Once you have your cake crumbs, you can give them a quick toasting in a pan or in the oven to dry them out a bit. Then simply add the cooled, crunchy cake crumbs to the top of your cake in a ring around the edge, place them inside a piped design, and even add some to the bottom of the cake for added decoration. The best thing about using cake crumbs to decorate a cake is that it levels up your dessert with added texture. 

When you bake a cake or cupcake, you can also freeze the leftover unfrosted bits in a sealed plastic bag. Eventually, you'll have several pieces of cakes and cupcakes that can be turned into various other products, including cake crumbs to add texture to a baked cake. While you can use the same flavor crumbs as the cake you're decorating, you can also mix things up by using different flavors — try adding chocolate crumbs to a vanilla cake or lemon crumbs to a chocolate cake. A contrast in cake crumb colors is also an excellent decorative touch for finishing a cake. 

When covering the sides of an entire cake with crumbs after frosting it, just ensure your cake is very cold; otherwise, the crumbs may be absorbed by the frosting. To make the crumbs stick, gently press the crumbs into the sides of the cake. 

There are other ways to simply decorate a cake and add a crunchy bite besides using cake crumbs, including covering the sides with sprinkles, hard candy, and even strategically placing candy bar bits on the top and sides of the cake. When shopping for potential cake decor, think about candy that works well for decorating a cake, and that you can break or smash to add texture and color to a cake. Chocolate bars can be easily broken up, and hard candies can be cracked and placed along the sides of a cake. Another fun trick is adding lollipops to the top of a cake — just gently insert the stick end into the top of a cake for eye-catching contrast. 

You can also try crushing cookies and adding those broken pieces to the sides of a cake. Add the larger whole cookies to the top of the same cake to tie the look together too. While cakes seem difficult to decorate, these simple ideas can be more appealing and take far less time to create. The trick is to use your imagination when it comes to creating a show-stopping cake with added crunchy texture.