Over the weekend I made some treats for the birds. We’d almost run out of fat cake and it’s quite expensive to buy if you don’t have space to store in bulk, so I thought I’d make my own. I found a simple recipe on Gardeners’ World and I had everything I needed to make it apart from the lard.
Ingredients
- Lard or suet
- Meal worms (optional)
- Oats (optional)
- Bird seed
- String
- Mould – yogurt pots are ideal
Makes enough for 2 large yogurt pot fat cakes.
How I did it
I used approx double the amount of seed to lard (e.g. 1/2 cup lard, 1 cup of seed) and added oats to pad the mixture out.
I used to put meal worms out on the grass for the blackbirds at our old house. I haven’t seen any here and our garden is paved so they’ve just sat in the shed. The RSPB fat cake I normally buy has them in and the birds love them so I added a few to my dry mixture.
I didn’t have any yogurt pots so I lined a small tea cup with cling film.
Melting the lard was my least favourite part. I can’t stand the stuff! Partly because it has a horrible smell which seems to get so much stronger when heated. I might use beef suet next time.
I tied a couple of knots at the bottom of the string and left a loop at the top for hanging on the branch.
Then poured the mixture into the mould to set overnight in the fridge.
Ta-dah! The tastiest fat cake in the village (if you’re a hungry bird who loves pork fat of course).
Bird fat cake recipes
If you want to make your own fat cake check out some of these recipes:
I was just thinking of making one of these the other day! it looks really good! well done!
That is a great fat cake
hi Gemma, found your blog by chance. I sell hand made fat feasties from nut meal and fruit. Specifically for people who want to know exactly what they are feeding their birds. Great blog, how long do your fat balls last and what species go for them. Regards Clive
That size lasted for about a week and a half. Most of the birds eating this fatcake were house sparrows and blue tits (that I saw anyway). Thanks for your comment Clive, I’ll check out your website!
how long will they keep for?
I had spare fat cake and kept it in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Ours got eaten quite quickly so I’m not sure what the maximum life would be. I think suet would keep for longer than lard because it’s harder and not as moist. Hope that helps!