I made a terrible cake.. how to keep it from going to waste?

[tinnywatty]

Last night I had a craving for cake, and since I didn't have any eggs I used the "Wacky Cake" recipe posted in this thread http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/506749 by Sarah Galvin and subbed flour for chocolate, as suggested in that thread. It smelled great in the oven, came out and tasted okay, if a little off. Somehow, though, by the time it cooled it started to taste disgusting- it's way too oily, and it has an off, vinegary taste. To make matters worse, I tried out a new roux-and-whipped butter/sugar recipe for frosting that also came out badly- it separated and looks lumpy and unappetizing, not fluffy and glorious as it should.
So. Is there anything I can make a bad cake into so that all the ingredients aren't wasted? I have a 9x13 pan of it and I doubt even my boyfriend will be willing to eat it (the dog loves it but he only weighs 8 pounds). It has a great warm brown color but a coarse crumb, and it's just very oily and not flavorful.

[Isolda]

Whenever I've made something really nasty, I just tell myself it's not really food anyway, and thus I am not wasting food when I toss it in the trash.

[tinnywatty]

Thanks for the laughs, everyone! I'm going to toss it. Hopefully its funky taste doesn't make it a biohazard.

[bobbert]

Place it on the table in my office breakroom. My co-workers will eat anything.

[tinnywatty]

I work at home! Even the boyfriend doesn't like it.

[hawkeyeui93]

Shame on him ....LOL

[ipsedixit]

I was told that "bad" cake has more calories -- ounce per ounce -- than "good" cake.

Just something to keep in mind ...

[sandylc]

Now, that sounds like solid science! ; - ]

[hawkeyeui93]

I found that the local urban wildlife always enjoy my mistakes, especially in Winter. I have the fattest squirrels on the block at times ....

[sunshine842]

Mental image of the neighborhood squirrels gathered around the pile of crumbs:

"Does this taste funny to you?"
"Yeh - kinda vinegary and funky"
"Stoopid hyoomun -- always thinkin' we're gonna eat their crappy cakes"

"Bleh -- what can we swipe that'll take that taste out of my mouth?"

[tinnywatty]

This made me laugh out loud. Unfortunately, I live in an LA suburb and we don't exactly want to encourage the wildlife to jump into our fenced yards. Wish I was at my parents' house in MN!

[hawkeyeui93]

I live in Iowa and about a half mile from the campus of Iowa State, so we are fortunate not to have a raccoon problem, but chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels run amok in my fenced in back yard ..... and in the dead of Winter, they would appreciate even a funny tasting cake!

[sunshine842]

my sister has a bear in her backyard who raids the trash and strips her fruit trees...she'd probably be happy to give him bad cake.

[pine time]

I'm being pedantic, but my bird store guy says birds don't really have tastebuds. Squirrels do, though, which is why they sell "red pepper bird food" when is fine for the birds, but ticks off the squirrels.

[freia]

Life is too short for bad cake.
I think if a recipe tastes terrible there isn't much you can do to salvage it. It will still taste bad. Pitch it. Start again. Its what, 2 bucks worth of ingredients? Pitch it. Your dog doesn't need to eat it, either.

[KarenDW]

"life is too short..."
my new facebook status :)

[tinnywatty]

I love it! Good motto to live by.

[sandylc]

Don't want to throw good food after bad....you might end up wasting more food trying to save this mistake! Minimize the loss by tossing and moving on1

[dave_c]

If it's that bad, I would toss it.

Yes, you can cut it up and freeze for the dog, but I'd rather just save the freezer space for something tastier.

[INDIANRIVERFL]

All for trying not to waste food. On the other hand, there is a reason why I have a garbage can.

[lyndak]

Cut it into bite size pcs, freeze it and give the dog a treat once in awhile. At least it will make someone happy.

The last bad cake I made the dog wouldn't even touch, consider yourself lucky!

[melpy]

Please don't give your dog chocolate.

[sandylc]

Thanks. That was bothering me, too.

[tinnywatty]

Yep, of course I would never give my dog any if it had been a chocolate cake. (I wish it had been too.. I think the chocolate might have made the flavor a bit better).

[hotoynoodle]

or flour or sugar.

[acgold7]

The OP specifically says she didn't use chocolate.

[melpy]

Oops, I read it as subbed chocolate for flour!

[sandylc]

If it tastes bad, it will taste bad regardless. I think you have to count this as a loss and learn from it!

[corneygirl]

Cut into cubes, dry in a low oven and make bourbon or rum balls? But if it tastes really bad I think it will still taste bad...

[thimes]

I have to agree with the "if it tastes bad - it will still taste bad" sentiment. There are things you can do with a dry cake or a heavy cake or a poorly risen cake, etc but tasting bad is hard to fix.

Using it to make rum balls is a great idea, you can also use it mixed with chocolate to make truffles, etc (again tasting bad might be rough).

You can use thin slices in a trifle dessert - layered with pastry cream/whipped cream/berries/fruit/nuts/etc. Thousands of combinations there.

Cakes generally freeze well so you can always save some to use in one of these applications later as well.

But sometimes mistakes are just mistakes and you have to let them go.