Birthday cake in my compost pile?

I'm new to composting. Just started this year.

We bought way too much birthday cake from the store for the 6 year old's birthday. Now we have cake that needs to be thrown out, and I'm wondering if birthday cake is OK for my compost pile. Will all that sweet frosting hurt the pile, or is it all good?

That shouldn't be a problem to an active compost pile. You might give the bacteria some atherosclorosis and higher cholesterol ; ) Seriously, if you are at all worried, just add some browns (dried leaves, straw, shredded paper, etc.) and stir it all in. The wee beasties should love all that fat and sugar. If you keep your pile hot by regular aeration (stirring) you can add almost anything other than more than bits of meat or anything with chemicals intended to harm bugs and bacteria (like pet feces which have de-worming chemicals from heartworm pills, etc.). Just remember to try to balance greens and brown. Most food qualifies as greens, as do plant clippings and recently pulled weeds. Browns are sources of carbon to balance the more nitrogen and sugar heavy greens. When we don't have lots of leaves to add, I like straw because it is hollow and therefore adds some aeration even when you don't stir the pile as often as you should.

If you haven't already, have your kid help with the disposal of their cake and teach them about all the yucky stuff that will happen to it in the pile and what it will become and why that is good. Kids love the yucky stuff (they sometimes seem to not, but then you find them telling all their friends about it with great joy in grossing them out).

I always go by the rule for my compost, if it has been cooked in any way, dont add to the compost as you will attract mice etc, the smell of the cake will be enough to send them back to the nests to inform the whole family, but I live in the countryside so I would be more aware of foxes etc also, why not crumble it up and let the birds feed off the cake, attracting them into your garden is just as important as your compost in that by doing so, the birds will also feed off the pest /insects, slugs, snails etc so you are creating an Eco friendly system for a healthier garden which means you will use less chemicals to kill off any bugs and diseases, you and your kids will enjoy watching the birds and learning which ones are which and the garden will benefit too. good luck. WeeNel.

Never had a problem with mice, and we compost a lot of cooked food. Maybe depends on your location and what kind of compost bin you use. We have a leaf bin for fall leaves that is open, but a black plastic container type bin for composting food, garden clippings, etc. While the latter is open on the bottom (we used to use a screen on the bottom, but left it out when we moved several years ago), we haven't had anything get into the pile that we've detected. Anyway, your mileage may vary depending on your bin and local mouse population I guess.