5 Dessert Recipes in Jars

1. Neopolitan Cakes In Jars

Growing up, my mom always loaded the fridge full of Neapolitan ice cream. It was her flavor of choice, and even my chocolate-hating sister did not complain. The perfect summer pastime for us was a gallon bucket of ice cream and a few spoons, standing in the kitchen with the windows open, scooping the melty vanilla, chocolate and strawberry into our mouths.

In honor of those summer afternoon memories, I stuck that classic ice cream flavor into a cake and packaged it up in a jar with a similarly-flavored swirl of buttercream right up on top.

Neapolitan Cakes in a Jar
24 8-ounce canning jars
chocolate cake batterstrawberry cake batter (I used a pink lady cake)
vanilla cake batter
chocolate buttercreamvanilla buttercream
strawberry buttercream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the inside of the canning jars with canola oil. Scoop 2 tablespoons of each flavor cake batter into the jars one at a time to create layers. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until center of the cake springs back when touched. Remove from oven and top with rings and lids. The jars will pop and seal as the cakes cool. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

To frost I used Katie’s technique for two-tone frosting, place all three frostings in three different piping bags. Cut the tips off and then place the three bags into one larger bag fitted with a large-sized tip. Then pipe frosting onto cakes before serving.

Makes 24 cupcakes when you use approximately 1/2 the cake batter for each of the 3 cakes flavors.

2. Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes

It doesn’t take much to draw my daughter to a cupcake. She’ll eat just about any kind of cake with icing on it. When we were making these together the other day I was trying to think of fun ways to decorate them and she pulled out a jar of sprinkles. All of sudden we were inspired to top our favorite creamy chocolate cupcakes with a large swirl of frosting to look like whipped cream, sprinkles and a small drizzle of hot fudge sauce. We had such a blast making them look like hot fudge sundaes. Her favorite part was presenting one to her Dad when got home from work to see if he could be tricked into thinking it was ice cream instead of a cupcake. Of course he could, but he didn’t let on. He let her have her fun, and eat it too.

Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch kosher salt

¾ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

1/3 cup brewed coffee

1 batch homemade buttercream frosting OR Frozen Whipped Topping

Toppings:

Sprinkles

Hot fudge sauce

5 large cherries

5 8-ounce Ball Jars

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place 5 jars on a cookie sheet with space between each one and place a cupcake liner in each one.

2. Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Then, add the vanilla, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and mix everything well. Add the flour and the yogurt in two parts until smooth. Carefully stir in the coffee and stir the mixture until smooth.

3. Pour the batter into the jar until they are each about 2/3 rds full and bake them for 25 minutes, or until their tops are firm to the touch.

4. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. Place the buttercream frosting in a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Twirl a large dollop of frosting on each cupcake to make it look like whipped cream. Top them with some sprinkles, a drizzle of hot fudge sauce and a cherry on top!

3. Raspberry Cupcakes

Looking for a dessert that looks nice when you set it out on the table and has a little bit of zing to it? Look no further than these yellow cupcakes with raspberry frosting in a jar. The yellow cake is moist, sweet, and buttery and the frosting has a wonderful tanginess. The jar, apart from making them last a little longer and easier to transport, also provides a nice presentation.

And the really nice thing is that making these cupcakes from scratch isn’t significantly harder than using a mix, but yields much better results. Everybody is going to love these cupcakes. Including you. And isn’t that the most important thing since you’re going to do all the work to make them?
Classic Yellow Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frostingmakes 12 pint jars of cupcakes

for the cupcakes
4 eggs, separated and at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter, slightly soft
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup room temperature milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two muffin tins liberally.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, or with regular beaters, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Carefully spoon the egg whites into a small bowl and set aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

In the same bowl used to beat the eggs whites, and using the paddle attachment if your mixer has one, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, and then add the vanilla.

Turn mixer to low and alternate and add half the milk and half the flour mixture, and then add the other half of each. Finally, add half the eggs whites mixing just until combined, and then fold in the second half and mix gently with a spoon or spatula.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 – 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are a light golden color and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes, remove from cupcake tin, and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

for the raspberry buttercream frosting
1/3 cup raspberries, pureed
12 tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 – 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using a mixer on high speed, pulverize the raspberries and remove to a small bowl. Next, cream the butter until light and fluffy, and gradually add in the sugar. When the butter and sugar are fluffy and smooth, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, the raspberry puree, and then the vanilla extract. Check the consistency and flavor and add more lemon juice or confectioners sugar as needed.

to assemble the cupcakes
Place 1 cupcake in the bottom of a pint jar, add a layer of frosting, add a second cupcake, frost, and top with sprinkles and a raspberry. Seal if desired. Sealed cupcakes will keep for several days at room temperature (omit the raspberry garnish if planning to keep these for more than a day).

4. Chocolate Pudding Cake

Pudding cake is cake unlike any other – as it bakes, it creates a rich puddingy sauce underneath the batter, which bakes up all soft and cakey on top. You eat it in a bowl, with a spoon, which makes it a perfect candidate for baking in little glass jars. Cakes baked in jars are all the rage right now, but I find it awkward to eat plain old cake from a jar. When it’s pudding cake it makes perfect sense, and takes all the mess out of serving it up. Everyone gets their own, with the same amount of sauciness. Perfect.

Bonus: chocolate pudding cake is one of the fastest (in terms of actual work time) and simplest recipes I know, and everyone goes mad for it. Serve yours up warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or big dollop of whipped cream.

Chocolate Pudding Cake in a Jar

Cake:
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar
1/4 cup (60 mL) cocoa
2 tsp. (10 mL) baking powder
1/4 tsp. (1 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk
1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil or melted butter
1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup (125 mL) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (60 mL) cocoa

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 6 jars or ramekins with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the milk, oil and vanilla and stir until smooth. Divide the batter between the jars or ramekins, spreading it into the bottom.

To make the topping, stir together the sugar and cocoa and sprinkle it over the batter, dividing it between the jars. Pour about 3 Tbsp. of boiling water over each (I find this easiest by pouring boiling water from a kettle into a 1/4 cup measure, filling it about 3/4 full, then pouring it overtop of each cake), but don’t stir them! Place the pudding cakes on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes, until they appear done and the sauce is bubbly. Serve warm, preferably with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Serves 6.

5. Pink Lemonade with Lemon Curd Filling Cake in a Jar

I am a pink girl, I love anything and everything pink. I have a hot pink laptop, a pink cell phone cover, I wear pink lip gloss and I sip on pink lemonade. It was only natural that I would gravitate to pink lemonade cake.

My mother-in-law made a pink lemonade cake this weekend and I couldn’t believe I had never done this. I went home and the wheels were turning. I had such fun baking MONKEY BREAD IN A JAR I thought why not make individual pink lemonade cakes baked in jars ; ) And what if we added LEMON CURD to them…and what if we topped them with a light whipped topping…

Well the what IF was wonderful…

I think these would be completely wonderful for an Easter party, a child’s party, Mother’s Day celebration, oh the possibilities when it’s pretty in pink!

Pink Lemonade with Lemon Curd Filling Cake in a Jar
What you’ll need: Makes 6 individual servings
1 box of white cake mix {+ ingredients to make cake}
1 tablespoon pink lemonade mix {I used Crystal Light}
6 tablespoons lemon curd – divided
zest of 2 lemons – divided
8 ounces whipped topping

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 6 – 8 ounce mason jars with cooking spray and place them into a deep sided baking dish.

2. Into your mixer add ingredients per cake box instructions, plus the pink lemonade mix. Mix well to combine.

3. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter into each mason jar. Top with 1 tablespoon of lemon curd. Top with additional  1/2 cup of batter. And a sprinkle of lemon zest to each.

4. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes OR until it passes the toothpick test.

5. After removing from oven, allow cakes to cool completely. Once cooled, top with whipped topping and lemon zest.

Stay Tuned...I have more to come!

                                                                                                                                                    If you need a few extra jars you can check out Amzon where you can find some pretty decent prices on various sizes

Thanks to Sara at Plaid Punch for finding these