Who doesn't love a slice of cake or a flaky pastry?

Yet behind every tempting treat lies a hidden cost-and too often, it ends up untasted, unsold, and eventually discarded.

Every year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food - around one-third of all food produced globally - goes to waste. In Malaysia alone, an estimated 17,000 tonnes of food waste are generated every day. Shockingly, nearly a quarter of that is still edible.

Cakes, pastries and desserts are not exempt from this problem.

In fact, they're often among the first to go to waste due to their short life and the unpredictability of daily demand. For bakeries, cake houses and cafes, this means more than just unsold goods - it means wasted ingredients, wasted energy and lost time.

Ingredient Footprint

To understand the full impact, consider the core ingredients of a simple cake: flour, sugar, butter, eggs and leavening agents. Each of these components carries its own timeline and resource demand before it ever reaches the kitchen.

But let's be real: no baker or chef pours their heart into baking only to toss it all in the bin. Yet sometimes, they're forced to.

Imagine this:

  • A bulk cake order gets cancelled last minute.

  • A rainy weekend ruins plans for an outdoor bake sale.

  • A small pop-up bakery can't operate due to power outage, and trays of freshly baked croissants now sit unsold.

These aren't careless choices-they're tough ones made in tough moments. But here's the good news: it doesn't have to end with the bin.

If you're a baker, cafe owner, or home baker caught with extra slices, there are ways to turn things around.

  • Donate to a local charity - someone out there would treasure what's about to be trashed.

  • Promote on social media -- a quick "Flash Sale" story can work wonders.

  • Host a spontaneous tea party - your friends might grumble at the surprise, but mention "free cake" and they'll show up early.

  • Join a food surplus platform - apps like ReMeal help you sell unsold bakes at a discount, letting you recoup losses while preventing waste.

The truth is that every slice matters. From the soil where the wheat first grew, to the oven where a baker stands, sweating over the final touch - desserts deserve better than the landfill. It's time we rethink what happens to what doesn't sell. Because behind every discarded cake is a story of time, skill, and care wasted.