4 Great Things to Do with Leftover Frosting

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 learns to eat on $6/day.

This week I've been trying to post more vegetable and main dish recipes for those out there who don't believe in eating desserts and breads and breakfast cookies all the live long day. In keeping with this commitment I began a post today entitled 'spinach quiche.'

You may notice that I've changed that title.

I mean, the spinach quiche is ridiculously awesome and I promise to post it next week. But today it's Saturday and if you've made a cake in the last couple of weeks (or even month) you may well have some leftover frosting languishing in your fridge. I started thinking about that poor frosting and feeling sorry for it alone there in some dark cold corner of modern refrigeration.

I thought, too, that you (or yourn) might be feeling what my daughter expressed when I made the spinach quiche a few days ago. It went something like this, "You know I don't like this and you haven't made anything I like all week." (Please imagine as much whininess as you can muster.) I retorted with something strong and motherly like, "Well, if I always made what you guys liked we wouldn't ever be able to eat anything because there is not one single meal that every member of this family likes." And then the next day I made homemade potato chips for them to eat with their leftovers per her request. Because it turns out I'm not a tiger mother after all. I'm a big old softie and a pushover to boot. And so, today I pass a few results of my weak-handedness on to you. (I hope you like them.)

Now dig out your shivering frosting and make something sweet. (Should you not have some frosting in your fridge, but wish to make one of these anyway, I'd go with Kip's fudge frosting, this orange frosting, white mint frosting, or this peanut butter frosting or this peanut butter filling.)

1. Graham Cracker, er, Sandwiches

2. As a filling for chocolates. The filling for these peanut butter cups was made from a frosting that I thickened up. And I'm planning to do a similar thing with the orange frosting I used on my orange cake.

3. On a muffin so healthy you feel it your moral obligation to save it from it's own nutritiousness (and/or to get your kids to give it a shot). I'll be posting this recipe next week too.

4. Cake balls. Admittedly, these require some cake as well, but maybe you've got some cake hanging out in your freezer or even some old muffins or stale something else sweet. They're nice because they can redeem even a dry or stale cake. The gist is that you take cake and frosting and mix and mash it together. Then you cover it with chocolate and let the chocolate harden. (A recipe, should you desire it--I didn't use this one. I used the edges of Mark's cub scout cake that were cut too thin so that they fell over into the frosting on the platter. It's rough being a cub scout mom.)