Suet cakes for wild birds

Lorraine Julien | Jan 12, 2011

by Lorraine Julien

Photo of two Jays bickering by Heather Bashow.

Making suet cakes for wild birds is actually quite easy and you can use a wide range of ingredients, most of which can be found in your kitchen cupboards. Birds require the high energy available in fats, seeds and nuts and suet cakes can provide these nutrients.

Pure suet is raw beef fat from around the cow’s kidney area. Rendering the suet can be a stinky and time-consuming chore but you can substitute lard, shortening and even leftover fat from cooking beef or bacon. Simply melt the fat until it reaches an easy-to-pour consistency; then mix in a few ingredients and pour the mixture into a mold.

In addition to fat, you can use ingredients such as: black oil sunflower seeds, millet seeds, oatmeal, cornmeal, raisins, apples, peanut butter. Depending on the type of feeder you have, the suet cakes can be molded into various sizes and shapes.

Many ordinary items can be used for molds; these are just a few ideas:

• Re-use the plastic container when you buy a ready-made cake

• Mini bread loaf pans

• Muffin tins

• Pine cones

• Birch log (with drilled holes to contain suet mixture)

• Baking pan (8x8 size works well)

You can also make suet cakes into round balls, by hand, once the mixture has cooled, and hang them in mesh onion bags. These make great Christmas gifts for a bird lover.

Birds love peanut butter but it is so sticky it could cause problems for the birds if fed on its own. Stickiness can be reduced though by mixing with cornmeal, rolled oats and/or cracked corn.

As long as you stick to a certain ratio of fat to other ingredients such as seeds, fruit, etc., you can use various combinations to make a cake. A basic recipe calls for equal amounts of shortening or suet and commercial bird seed. (It’s preferable to use black oil sunflower seeds as they are higher in nutritional value and fat content)

On my first attempt, I got carried away by probably adding too many goodies to the fat. The result was very crumbly but still usable in an onion bag. Birds are not that picky! I didn’t have raisins on hand but chopped up apple pieces are a welcome treat. I don’t know whether it is much cheaper to make your own “suet” cakes but it is really gratifying when the birds like it as much, or more, than the ones you’ve bought.

There are loads of recipes on the internet if you have access to a computer. The following peanut butter “suet” cake follows another basic ratio, i.e. one part of fat to one part peanut butter, one part flour, three parts cornmeal and one part other ingredients such as nuts, seeds, berries and fruit.

Peanut Butter “Suet” Cake

1 cup shortening or lard or leftover fat from cooking

1 cup peanut butter (some recipes call for “crunchy”)

3 cups cornmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup bread crumbs

1 cup peanut pieces (or substitute raisins, chopped apple or bird seed)

Line an 8x8 pan with wax paper. (Crinkle up the wax paper first so that it will conform to the shape of the pan more easily). Melt shortening in a saucepan over low heat. Meantime, crush or chop your peanuts or fruit.

Once the shortening has completely melted, stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Then mix in the flour and cornmeal and remove from heat. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and pour mixture into the pan, smoothing the surface with the back of a spoon. Place in the refrigerator to set.

When the cake has solidified, pull it out of the pan and flip it over on a plate wax paper side up. Peel off the paper, cut the cake into quarters and wrap each piece in wax paper. Store in the freezer or refrigerator until you are ready to pop them into your suet feeder.

When I first made my own “suet” cakes, I watched to see if the birds would sample the goodies. In only a few minutes, all of my regulars were taking turns.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we usually have various critters roaming around at night here at the lake so we take the suet feeders in each evening and put them out again in the morning. Two of the feeders are near the back door so this only takes a few seconds.

Once warm weather arrives, do not put out suet cakes as the fat will begin to melt and turn rancid. The softened fat will also attract unwanted visitors. If you have any leftover cakes just store them in the freezer until fall. At the rate my cakes are being eaten, I won’t have to worry about leftovers.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.