Red Velvet Cupcakes in a Jar

This week, I'm visiting my family in Florida.

Yesterday was my uncle Joey's birthday, and Wednesday is my brother's birthday.  Uncle Joey actually lives in Virginia, but he just came back from a posting in Bahrain with the Navy and is visiting his parents (my grandparents) here in Okaloosa County.  In honor of both their birthdays, we had a big family dinner out at their house tonight.  My brother, who is (or will be ) 17, opted for a cookie cake, but Uncle Joey's favorite cake is red velvet.

I had pinned this several months ago, which was crafted by the lovely Rubyellen of cakies, and all credit goes to her.  Having never gotten around to actually sending them to him while he was stationed overseas, I decided tonight was the perfect opportunity to test them out.

Here we go!



First, I assembled my cast of characters.

Meet Mr. Duncan Hines and Mr. Doughboy

Now, if you followed that link up there, you may have noticed that Rubyellen made hers from scratch.  Normally, I would be all over that, but seeing as how I got into town after midnight Sunday and these needed to be ready before dinner at 6:30 Monday, I went for convenience.  Don't worry; they turned out just as well!

Once I had all my players together, I dumped 'em all in a bowl.

Right about here, I realized this bowl would not work on my mother's stand mixer . . .

 . . . so I dumped everything into this one!

I bet you can guess what came next . . .

Mixed it up!

Alright, now we're getting somewhere!

I may have licked the beaters after I took this photo.

Let me tell you something about making cupcakes in a jar.  If you don't have silicone muffin tins, you need some.  These puppies don't have to be greased or floured or lined, and your cupcakes pop right out ready to be transformed into tiny, cute, glass-encased desserts.

Anyhow, if you're gonna try these too, fill up those muffin tins, whatever kind you've got.  Two-thirds of the way will do, and yes, mine are a little too full.  No matter! They tasted the same!

Can you still call them muffin"tins" if they're made out of silicone?

Another note, when using silicone bakeware of any kind, be sure to support it with a cookie sheet, unless you prefer to do your baking on the floor of your oven.  That may or may not be the voice of experience speaking. . .

So, now I was ready to put 'em in the oven.  My box called for 19 to 22 minutes at 350 degrees, but check yours and remember to adjust for altitude or the color of your muffin tin.

At this point I was asking myself, what do I do while I wait on my cupcakes to bake?  Prep my jars of course!

24 8-oz. Mason jars and lids

Although these are pictured in the dishwasher, I had actually soaked them in hot, soapy water, then just used our dishwasher as an extra-large drying rack.  Don't judge me.

Air-drying will only get you so far.

Another cautionary note:  My cupcakes would not fit side-by-side in our oven, so I placed one on the bottom rack and one on the top.  I would suggest carefully switching them halfway through the cooking time to prevent the bottom rack from burning if you need to do the same.

My mother would kill me if she knew I posted this picture of her oven.

Why, yes, I am missing a cupcake.  Told you I filled mine too full.

My friends, do not forget to check your cupcakes for doneness.  Is that even a word?  If it is, you should check them with a toothpick, rather than leave unsightly holes from a butter knife.  But, hey, it's what we had.

They kind of look like eyes. . .

At this point, I found myself with some more time on my hands while I waited for the cupcakes to cool.  I had two options: 1) Go to the store to get some decorating supplies, or 2) Sit around the house and try not to eat warm, fresh cupcakes.  After some deliberation, I chose option 1.

Because, really?  Who could resist this?

I needed several yards of ribbon, plastic spoons, and paper labels for the jar lids.  I used some round Avery labels I found at Walmart, which fit perfectly and were easy to customize on my computer. 

Now's a good time to show you what I mean about the silicone muffin tins.

See how clean?

A crumb coating in some, but no big chunks of cake.  And I didn't have to grease or flour or do anything but put the batter in the pan.  I love science.

On to assembly!

First step was to cut the cupcakes in half.

Ignore my holey cupcake top.

Any ol' knife will probably do the trick, but a bread knife made quick, neat work of it. 

Next, I simply dropped one bottom of a cupcake in each jar. 

Like so.

And so.

This is where I started getting really excited.  Up until now, I was just making cupcakes.  Suddenly they became infinitely cuter and more delicious!

Tops and bottoms, bottoms and tops.

Folks, I read somewhere that if you whip store-bought frosting, it will help it go further.  While the general principal behind it makes sense (incorporate air - fluff it up - more volume), I'm not really sure it did anything.  But I'm not really sure it didn't.  So go ahead and try it if it sounds good to you too.

Good ol' Pillsbury.

After I whipped the frosting, I filled up a pastry bag with an extra large star tip.  If you want to try, and you don't have a pastry bag, disposable or otherwise, a sandwich baggie will work just fine.  Or you could dollop the frosting on with a spoon; it matters not.  Make it your own!

Using whatever manner you choose, add a layer of frosting on top of the cupcake bottom.

I like pastry tips.  They're fancy.

If you thought this was fun before, you're in for a treat now.  The next step is to take one top and squish it down into the jar.  Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!  I had to crumble mine somewhat to get them to fit well.  You do want to actually squish them down so you have room for the final layer of frosting.

Starting to look pretty good, now, eh?

If your hands don't look like this when you're done, you didn't do it right.

Either that, or you're exceptionally neat.

Now we're in the home stretch, my dears.  It's time to pipe/dollop/scoop some more frosting onto these darlings.

How sweet!

You can also add sprinkles or colored sugar, if you're so inclined.  Me?  I'm always inclined to add sprinkles.

Be sure to make enough to feed a small army while you're at it.

It's also important to get crumbs on the counter.

Lastly, add your lids and decorations.  I, unfortunately, forgot to take photos of this step.  At this point, my mother was rushing me somewhat because we needed to get out to my grandparents to start frying birthday chicken.  I do have some lovely shots of the finished product, however.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Joey!

Ready for transport!

So now you have proof that the things you've seen on Pinterest can be done AND they can be cute!

P.S. Some miscellaneous thoughts on these lovely cupcakes:

1) How perfect would they be for a bake sale fundraiser?  Label different flavors or add your organization's logo or slogan!

2) Why is everything so much cuter/better/more delightful when packaged in jars?  And then even more so when packaged in TINY jars?

3) You can bake these in the jars if you prefer.  I think they're cuter when they're layered, but see Rubyellen's original post for details. 

P.P.S. I have some bonus photos of me cutting my first chicken for frying.  Have a look:

Grandma was giving me instructions.