Is it frustrating to see your homemade bird seed cakes melting in the summer sun? Gelatin turns out to be a major culprit because it melts too easily in the heat. So I asked myself “How To Make Bird Seed Cakes Without Gelatin?. I hunted for new gelatin-free bird seed cake recipes and discovered a few choice options that I’ll share with you today.
Combine a ½ cup peanut butter, 3 T melted coconut oil, ¾ cup flour, and 3 cups mixed seeds in a mixing bowl. Spray your molds with cooking spray. On a baking sheet, add the mixture to your favorite cookie molds. Refrigerate the molds overnight. Remove cakes from the molds and share with the birds!
Pretty simple, right?
Guess what? I have a few more modest recipes that I think your favorite backyard birds will love.
The recipes include:
- Cranberry peanut bird seed cakes
- Gelatin-free cornmeal raisin bird seed cakes
- Sunflower seed & golden raisin gelatin-free bird seed cakes
And the best part?
None of these recipes contain gelatin, so they aren’t going to melt and crumble in the heat.
Keep reading to discover these complete recipes and instructions.
Related article: Find The Best Bird Seed For Your Backyard Birds
Cranberry Peanut Bird Seed Cakes: A Delightfully Tart & Tasty Treat
This recipe is a nice change of pace because you’ll rarely find many with dried cranberries in the ingredients. After testing them out, I can confidently say that finches, chickadees, cardinals, and blue jays love this tart yet sweet cake, among others.
Even better, it’s an easy-to-follow recipe as you’ll soon see.
The ingredients list consists of:
- ½ cup of dried cranberries
- ¾ cup of wheat flour
- ½ cup of peanut pieces
- 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup
- 3 cups of mixed bird seeds
- 1 cup of melted lard
The kitchen materials needed to complete the recipe include:
- 8 x 8 cake pan
- Large spoon
- Large mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Large knife
- Twine
- Straws
- Spatula
And we’ll keep moving along…
Step #1: Begin By Mixing The Wet & Dry Ingredients
First, grab your large mixing bowl and large spoon and keep them readily available.
Now: take your dry ingredients including the wheat flour, peanut pieces, dried cranberries, and mixed bird seeds and add them to the bowl and thoroughly mix them well with the spoon.
Afterward, pour the 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup and the cup of melted lard over the mixture and carefully mix it up.
Step #2: Fill The Cake Pan With The Seed Mixture
It’s now time to grab your spoon and cake pan. You can begin spooning the seed mixture into the pan. Fill it up right to the very top if you have enough.
If you intend to hang these seeds up with twine, you can take a straw and poke a hole near each of the four corners of the cake pan.
Step #3: Drying The Bird Seed Mixture
You can either leave the mixture on the counter overnight, or if you prefer playing it safe you can place the pan in your refrigerator overnight.
Refrigerating the seed mixture guarantees that it will be dry by morning.
Step #4: Cutting And Removing The Cakes
After you remove the cake pan from the refrigerator, take a large knife and cut the bird seed cakes into four squares.
Next, use your knife or spatula to remove the individual cakes from the cake pan. Sometimes the pan is too cold and it makes it difficult to remove the cakes. If this is the case, let your cake pan sit on the counter for a little while until it warms up.
Step #5: Adding Twine To Hang The Cakes (Optional)
This step isn’t necessary if you plan on using a wire cake feeder. On the other hand, you can take an 8-inch piece of twine and thread it through the hole that you made with the straw.
Tie both ends of the twine tightly together at the top making a large loop. You can then use the loop to hang the cakes up from a tree branch, shrubs or bushes, or a convenient hook already located in your backyard.
Great recipe, right?
Don’t worry! There’s more…
Gelatin-Free Cornmeal Raisin Bird Seed Cakes: A Healthy Treat That Sticks Together In The Heat
Backyard birds really love to eat raisins. I’ve noticed bluebirds, waxwings, mockingbirds, and robins tend to gravitate toward my feeders when I put out this delicious treat.
Besides attracting some of my favorite birds, this simple six ingredient recipe is very easy to make.
You’ll need the following ingredients on hand:
- ½ cup of raisins
- ½ cup of cornmeal
- 2 cups of wild bird seed
- 1 cup of lard
- ¼ cup of peanut butter
- 1 cup of black oil sunflower seeds
And the utensils you’ll need include:
- Spoon
- Mixing bowl
- 8 x 8 square pan
- Glass measuring cup
- Microwave
And so, it begins…
Step #1: Preparing And Mixing The Ingredients
First, measure 1 cup of lard in your glass measuring cup and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. This should provide more than enough time to fully melt the lard, but put it in a little longer if it isn’t enough.
Next, combine the wild bird seeds, raisins, cornmeal, black oil sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and melted lard in a large mixing bowl. Take your spoon and mix it up completely so that all of the ingredients are properly combined, thick, and nice and stuck together.
Step #2: Fill Up Your Square Pan
At this point, it’s time to begin scooping the mixture out of your mixing bowl with your spoon and spreading it through the square baking pan. Make sure to spray the baking pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
Step #3: Freezing The Bird Seed Cakes
Now that the mixture is prepared and it’s in the square pan, you should place it in your freezer for 3-4 hours or more. Ultimately, the goal is to allow the mixture to harden. So, check the mixture periodically during the third or fourth hour timetable to see if it has become completely hardened.
Step #4: Removing The Bird Seed Cakes
Instead of spraying the pan, you could also have added parchment paper as an alternative. This makes it easier to lift the bird seed cakes out of the pan after it’s done freezing.
Either way, remember to cut the cakes into four even squares before removing them from the pan because it’s a little bit easier this way but not 100% necessary. You could always cut them after you’ve removed them from the pan too.
I’ll leave that up to you.
Next recipe on the list…
Sunflower Seed & Golden Raisin Gelatin-Free Bird Seed Cakes: A Delicious Meal That Doesn’t Melt In The Sun
Backyard birds loved dried fruit. No one can deny this fact. I decided to mix things up a bit and added golden raisins to this recipe instead of the traditional black raisins.
And the best part?
The birds seem to love the golden raisins even more!
So, a little bit of added variety goes a long way sometimes.
This recipe is easy as you’ll soon see. The main ingredients needed to create these wonderful seed cakes include:
- 1 cup of golden raisins
- 1 cup of cornmeal
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 2 cups of wild bird seed
- 2 cups of black oil sunflower seeds
- 3 cups of melted lard
And the best kitchen utensils and appliances for the job include:
- Large bowl
- Large wooden spoon
- Microwave
- Parchment paper
- Glass measuring cup
- Large knife
- 9 x 13 square pan
Ready to begin?
Step #1: Ingredient Preparation & Mixing
I always start out by melting the lard. It’s easy enough to do in your microwave.
Take your glass measuring cup and measure out 3 cups of lard. Add them to your mixing bowl and pop it in the microwave. I’d suggest putting it in for 1 minute to start, and add an additional 30 seconds per try until it’s totally melted.
To give you an idea, my microwave takes 2 ½ minutes to melt this much lard.
Next, begin adding the other ingredients to the mixing bowl containing the melted lard. Add the raisins, cornmeal, wild bird seed, black oil sunflower seeds, and cornmeal and mix it up very well so it’s completely combined.
Step #2: Preparing The Pan & Adding The Mixture
Next, cut a large piece of parchment paper big enough to cover the entirety of the 9 x 13 square pan. You want excess paper sticking up from the sides so it’s easy to grab and remove from the pan.
Now: add the mixture to the pan and spread it out evenly. Make sure it covers the edges of the pan as well. This ensures that your individual seed cakes will be the same size after you cut them into squares and take them out of the pan.
Step #3: Refrigerate The Bird Seed Mixture
Take the baking pan and place it in your refrigerator. Leave it there for 6-8 hours to make sure it is completely cool and hardened.
Step #4: Cut, Remove, And Serve
Finally, take your large knife and cut the bird seed cakes into four even squares. Afterward, pull the edges of the parchment paper up and remove them from the cake pan.
Once this is finished, you should separate the individual cakes and serve them to your favorite wild birds.
My Final Thoughts On How To Make Bird Seed Cakes Without Gelatin
Right now, you’re undoubtedly ready to test one or more of these recipes. I recommend starting right away if you have the ingredients on hand. If not, head to the store and pick up whatever is missing from the recipe.
You have my word that the wild outdoor birds near your house will love these tasty seed cakes.
Remember, I shared some potent recipes that include:
- Cranberry peanut bird seed cakes
- Gelatin-free cornmeal raisin bird seed cakes
- Sunflower seed & golden raisin gelatin-free bird seed cakes
These recipes are healthy, they taste great – I know by watching how hungrily the birds react to them – and they’re relatively easy to make.
And the best part?
I intentionally made these recipes without gelatin because I got sick and tired of watching my bird seed cakes melt in the sun.
Now I don’t have to worry about this problem at all, because these cakes stick together like glue in the warm weather. Now don’t hesitate to try these recipes. Your fine feathered friends will thank you!
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