Cake in a Jar Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Cake in a Jar or Mason Jar Cakes are a fun, portable, and customizable dessert, perfect for gifts, parties, and holidays!

Prep Time40

Cook Time15

Assembling Time45

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 824kcal

Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease a 9x13 or 7x11 inch jelly roll pan with butter or vegetable shortening and line with parchment. Then re-grease and flour the parchment lined pan. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
Using the beater attachment of a standing mixer, or using a hand held mixer with a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar 3-4 minutes. It should be light and fluffy and pale yellow.
Add egg whites one at a time, fully incorporating between each egg white. Then, mix in the oil and vanilla.
With the mixer on low, alternate adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
Mix until the flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix or the cake can get dry/tough.
Using a spatula, gently fold in the sprinkles.
Pour the cake into the prepared pan and bake for 8-12 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when piercing the center of the cake. Let cool completely.

Using a standing mixer or a hand held mixer in a large bowl, whip the butter 3-4 minutes until creamy and pale yellow.
Add powdered sugar and vanilla mix on low until it looks crumbly.
Turn up the speed and mix another 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
Mix in milk or cream until desired consistency is reached. Add to a piping bag fitted with a large tip.

Once the cake has cooled, use circle cookie cutters to cut out circles that fit the size of your jars. Be sure to check for tapering or jars that are smaller or wider at the top and cut out circles accordingly.
Alternatively, you can just break off pieces of cake and place in layers in the jar for a more rustic look. This also a great way to use the extra cake from cutting out circles.
Then, add your first layer of cake to the jar. Carefully pipe a layer of frosting on top of the cake. You can also spoon the frosting into the jars. Be sure to keep the inside of the jars clean by whipping off any excess frosting or cake crumbs from the insides of the jars with a paper towel or cloth after each layer.
Add a layer of optional sprinkles, crushed cookies, caramel or whatever else you want to use. Then, repeat the process of layering cake, frosting, sprinkles, etc. until you get to the top of your jar.
That’s it! Add any optional sprinkles, etc. to the last layer and close up your jar and they’re ready to serve, gifted, or stored!

This recipe makes 5 to 6 twelve ounce jar cakes. The amount of jar cakes you’ll get will depend on the cake recipe, the size of pan you bake it in, and the size of your jars. The recipe can easily be double and baked in two pans.
These are totally customizable and you can also use your favorite cake or frosting recipes. Typically a half batch of most cake recipes works perfectly for a 7 x 11 or 9 x 13 inch cake or jelly roll pan.
I’ve found wide mouth jars work best (like these) but you can make these in most mason jars.
Be sure to test the size of your cookie cutters to the size of the openings and if the jars taper. My mason jars tapered at the bottom so I had to use a smaller size for the bottom layer.
These jar cakes can last up to a day at room temperature (provided there are no perishable fillings such as fruit, whipped cream, etc.). They’ll last 5-7 days in the fridge or can be frozen up to a month.