I’ve always been wowed by cake in jar. There’s just something about taking a spoon and digging in that makes it feel special.  Add fun multi-colored layers on top of that and you’re in for one amazing tasting and looking treat! This particular layered cake in a jar was surprisingly easy to make. The trick to making the layers is to use a cupcake pan and make cupcakes and then put them upside down in the jar, add frosting, then add another cupcake, add frosting and repeat 2 more times. Easy, right?

The one thing I was surprised by was how much red food coloring was needed between each layer when making the batter-I’m talking 10-15 drops per layer! I was so caught up in how pretty the batter was that I forgot to be careful when making the cupcakes and ended up getting red food coloring on my hands so it looked like I was mildly diseased-but it was A-OK because I was just so happy at how these turned out. The recipe makes 6 jars, so I made them and put them in the fridge…fast forward a day and I asked my husband if he wanted one for dessert, he said yes, and I said ‘ok I’ll just take a bite and give it to you.’ Well, I ate the whole jar and he goes ‘hey, I thought you were going to have just one bite haha’ It was just SO good I couldn’t resist! Luckily there were more in the fridge otherwise there would have been a problem lol! Even when I was showing him how the photos came out he said ‘it looks really good, but not as good as they tasted’ so there you have it…these are a NEED TO MAKE item!

Yield: 6

Cake in a Jar

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Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 20 minutes

Inactive Time 1 hour 39 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

• 6 mason jars
• For the cake:
• 1 box Yellow Cake Mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix)
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Canola oil
• Red Food coloring
• 24 cupcake liners
• For the Frosting:
• 1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 1 8oz package cream cheese, reduced fat
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2, 12-each cupcake pans with liners.

In a bowl make the cake mix according to directions. Add about 10 drops of red coloring so that it is a very light pink. fill 6 cupcake liners 1/4 of the way with batter.

Next add 15 more drops red food coloring to the batter and fill the next 6 liners 1/4 way up with batter. Do this again, twice, adding 15 drops at a time darken the color and fill the remaining liners.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean (12-15 min). Remove from oven and transfer to a rack and let cool completely.

For the frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer cream the powdered sugar and cream cheese and vanilla extract for about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Change the attachment to the whisk attachment and add the heavy cream and beat until the soft peaks form.

For assembly:

Make sure your jars are clean and dry. Remove the cupcake liners.

Start with the darkest cupcake and turn it upside down and push it to the bottom of the jar. Spoon a few spoonfuls of the frosting on top of the cupcake and then put the next darkest one in the jar, make sure to press down so that there is room for all of the cupcakes. Repeat this process and top with frosting then enjoy!