mason jar cakes?

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Last year on CS, someone wrote about making cakes in mason jars. Well, I bought the mason jars andnow cannot find the receipe that I printed and cannot find it in the Archives. Does anyone remember how the baking instructions went? Do you have to grease the jars first? Thanks

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Answers

Oops, silly me, I was looking under crafts and found it under (of all things) baking. Thanks anyway.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Dee, I made a batch of applesauce spice cakes in jars this weekend and they turned out great. You do grease the jars first, but I've noticed that as the cakes cool they seem to pull away from the sides a bit. Here's the recipe I used.

Canned Apple Cake Jar Cake Yield: 8 Servings

2/3 c shortening
1/2 ts baking powder
3 1/3 c sugar
2 ts baking soda
4 eggs
1 1/2 ts salt
2 c applesauce
1 ts cinnamon (ground)
3 1/3 c flour
1 ts cloves (ground)
1 c raisins
1/2 c pecans (chopped)

Grease 8 WIDE-MOUTH pint canning jars with melted shortening. Use a brush and avoid getting grease on the jar rims. Cream shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs and applesauce. Sift together the dry ingredients and blend them into the applesauce mixture. Add the raisins and nuts and divide the batter evenly between 8 widemouth pint jars. The jars will be more than half full. Bake open jars about 60 minutes in an oven at 325 degrees. When done, quickly remove one hot jar at a time and clean its sealing edge. Immediately apply and firmly tighten a two-piece wide-mouth canning lid. The lid will form a vacuum seal as the jar cools. Jars of cooled bread may be stored on the pantry shelf with other canned foods or may be placed in a freezer.

Here's a smaller batch recipe that sounds good, I haven't tried it yet.

Brownie Cakes in a Jar

2 canning jars, wide mouth
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/2 ts baking soda
1/4 ts ground cinnamon (optional)
1/3 c butter or margarine
1/4 c water
3 tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1/4 c walnuts, finely chopped

Here's one you can start out with, it makes 2 jars. Every recipe technique is the same, just different ingredients.. Sterilize, two 1-pint straight-sided wide-mouth canning jars (specifically made for canning jams and jellies) lids and rings by boiling for 10 minutes (keep the lids and rings in the hot water until ready to use), set aside. In a small bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon, if desired. Set aside. In a medium saucepan combine butter or margarine, water and cocoa powder, heat and stir until butter or margarine is melted and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat, stir in flour mixture. Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla, beat by hand until smooth. Stir in nuts. Pour mixture into the prepared canning jars, place jars onto a cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a pick inserted deep into each cake comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven, one at a time. Place a lid, then a ring onto the jars and screw down tightly. USE HEAVY-DUTY MITTS, the jars ARE HOT!!

Place jars onto your counter to cool. You'll hear a "plinking" sound. If you miss the sound, wait until the cakes are cool and press on the lids, they shouldn't move at all, that means they've sealed.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001


Sherri, how long will these keep on the pantry shelf? I thought I read somewhere (can't find it, of course) that storing them for any length of time was not safe. I'd like to make up some as gifts and put a little note on if the cakes need to be devoured within a certain time limit...

thanks much for your help. =)

-- Anonymous, December 21, 2001


The "official" recommendation is not to keep them for more than a month, but I've read were people have kept them for up to a year and they've still been fine. This was my first attempt at making them. I had one jar that didn't seal so I kept it in the fridge and we ate it Thusday night, it was still good. I haven't opened any of the sealed ones yet.

-- Anonymous, December 22, 2001

I have some black bananas in the freezer and a box of gingerbread mix so I'm gonna try both of those. I didn't think about needing to sterilize the jars. I'll put them in the dishwasher for that. (Never use it anyway, hope it works) Bought some Christmas material to put under the ring for decoration. Wish me luck

-- Anonymous, December 22, 2001


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