bread pudding with cake instead of bread?

[squirrelman]

Hi, at my old job we used to use up out leftover danishes and croissants by adding it to the bread pudding. and imo they tasted great in the bread pudding. I have some leftover cake layers that I didnt use and would like to use it for bread pudding because the cake is very flavorful. question is should I make any changes to the bread pudding recipe I plan on using? (below) one recipe I read excluded the sugar when using cake instead of bread, but my old job just used the original recipe when we added danishes and croissants to the bread pudding, so should I just leave the recipe as is and use cake (yellow cake by the way) instead of bread? or are their any changes you would recommend? thanks in advance.

recipe from another site(not sure if I'm allowed to post links to other recipe sites):
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Ingredients

• 6 slices day-old bread
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

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[amazingrace]

Bread keeps its form and simply soaks up the liquid. But cake typically goes all to mush when it gets wet, so when you bake it, everything will bake as a kind of strangely textured custard. I'd consider a different use for the cake...trifle, perhaps. Sponge cake might work but that would be a lot of egg in the finished dish...anyone have thoughts on that?

 

[dillonsmimi]

Agree with AG...stick to bread. They point behind Bread Pudding is to use up day old bread, which is stale and chewy. Leftover cake can be used to make cake balls or truffles. Very yummy and so cheap to do!

 

[squirrelman]

hmm, I see your point, but I seem to remember our chef making a chocolate bread pudding using our chocolate blackout cake. although I never tried the chocolate bread pudding so don't know how it came out.

 

[amazingrace]

I simply cannot imagine having leftover chocolate cake !!

 

[squirrelman]

heh true. but this was actually just how he made his chocolate bread pudding. I don't even think it was old cake. I don't remember ever using bread for our chocolate bread pudding. although my memory might be off, I haven't worked there for over a year and a half.

 

[kcz]

Would you believe that Paula Deen uses Krispy Kreme donuts in her bread pudding? :roll:

 

[dillonsmimi]

Alas no more KK stores in the Houston area...but I digress...PD food reminds me of all the Garden Club parties my mom would drag me to. Still have the official cookbook they sold one year. Every recipe had at least one can of cream of mushroom soup in the ingredient list.

 

[ishbel]

I've made what we call bread and butter pudding (it may be different from a US bread pudding) using pannetone or brioche - and they always come out fine. I spread the pannetone with home-made marmalade before putting the slices in a dish... Yummmmm:smiles:

 

[dillonsmimi]

Ok, I'll bite. Post your chocolate cake "bread" pudding recipe along with the sauce recipe. I can't stand there being a form of chocolate out there that I have not yet tasted!

 

[chefrobin]

The bread has a higher amount of gluten in the flour so it will be stable and hold its form even when it has soaked up the egg mixture for the bread pudding. I used to make bread pudding every day for the club and now make it for the medical center. Remember to cut back on some of the sugar in the egg mix or it can really get super sweet, and have a tendency to get syrupy too. We would add chocolate chips, coconut and even buterscotch chips as well. Commanders Palace in New Orleans has a great bread pudding recipe and the whiskey sauce is oohhh soooo good. Make truffles or trifles with the left over cake and leave the bread pudding to the bread. I made a bread pudding souffle once and it turned out very well and was alot more stable than a standard souffle. It held for almost 30 minutes before service. :thumb::thumb:

 

[oldschool1982]

Ditto on the cake for Trifle or something.....maybe a parfait too..... other than the "bread" pudding. Pudding such as "Bread" pudding is what it is because of the properties of leavened bread. Using cake would be.......umm, err, uhhhhh...... not very appealing if I think about it.

Way to go thinking creatively about alternative uses for left-overs and scraps though. :thumb:

 

[dc sunshine]

Croissants (sp?) would probably work well. perhaps if the cake were to be sliced then under the griller(broiler) for a short time, this would help it dry out and not go to mush in the pudding?

Just a thought...

 

[ed buchanan]

With cake make an apple brown betty, or fruit crumble, with vanilla bourbon sauce.

 

[missyjean]

I never made a bread pudding but my husband loves it. I never even tasted one.

Can I use a quick bread for the bread pudding? I just started baking and quick breads are all I have made so far

 

[boar_d_laze]

Alas, fair lady, no. You need the structure the bread gets from yeast and kneading. Quick breads are more like cakes. Use store bought yeast breads, until you decide to start baking them.

Enjoy,
BDL

 

[ed buchanan]

I have thrown crousants in and did not like final results . I believe they are a bit to greasy.
You need dry older yeast raised breads.

 

[dillonsmimi]

No. Quick breads are like cake. Way too tender for all the custard used to make the "pudding". If you want to make it you can pick up a loaf of french bread, cut into chunks and dry out in the oven (don't toast) and proceed from there. I have a freezer container that I throw all my stale bread in and when there is enough, we have bread pudding. Raisin bread makes a particularly yummy one.

 

[kcz]

Raisin bread is really, really good with a vanilla custard and a whiskey sauce. Yum, making myself hungry here.

One bread that I have not cared for in bread pudding is sourdough...it doesn't go well with the sweeter custard, IMO.

 

[lovelove77]

Thanks for the info