Yummy Mason Jar Cakes (more frosting goodness!) with Template for Labels

When I saw the cake in a jar idea, I fell in love. I am usually known for my cupcakes (well my kids love them anyway), but this year I wanted to do something different. I figured with the cake in a jar, even if the cake crumbles or the frosting gets sloppy, the overall cuteness of it would conceal it. I loved that this could be done ahead of time, which makes it taste even better by the way, and then handed out at the party quickly or sent home for guests who want it later. It tasted almost like an ice cream cake served cold with all the creamy goodness. Thankfully for my hips The only sad part was that it was gobbled up and I couldn’t have a second one after the guests left.

Everyone raved about it and thought the idea was so fun. We still put candles in one for the birthday boy since his main concern when I told him the idea was if we would still be able to sing Happy Birthday and if he would be able to make a wish. I love eight year old problems, so to the point!

Here is what you need to make a cake in a jar with the links to the items used (and happily consumed) for this post:

• Any cake of your choice or this basic Chocolate Chip Vanilla Cake
• Frosting – Magnolia’s Vanilla Buttercream recipe is my favorite
• 8 oz mason jars – these were purchased at Target
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (optional)- Trader Joe’s Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips are so good!
• Sprinkles (we used dye free ones from Whole Foods similar to these Dye Free Sprinkles)*
• Non-stick Jar Labels – free downloadable template below
• Ribbon -2 rolls from Michaels for 50 cents
• Spoons

For the jar labels:

Download the template below and save it to your computer. Open it in Photoshop to edit it the words or print it “as is” as a pdf file.

Template: Non-Stick Mason Jar Labels for 8 oz jars.

I had red card stock on hand so I printed the labels right on to it. I then used white and silver paint pens to stick with the movie theme we had for this party and added stripes and polka dots. I made the labels ahead of time, washed the jars and put them together days before–much easier!

To assemble:

I really went with easy on this instead of “Martha Stewarty.” I baked the cake the day before so that in the morning I could quickly put things together. I cut the cake into small squares, and then cut the squares horizontally in the middle so that I had pieces from the bottom and from the top.

I started with bottom pieces in each jar, spooned a dollop of frosting, threw in a few chocolate chips and put on the top layer. Lastly, I added the top layer of frosting with a Wilton tip. It helps to refrigerate the frosting a little before use and in between filling up the frosting bag to keep it firm. I topped it with some chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips. For those avoiding dyes, we purchased chocolate sprinkles at Whole Foods and I saw these multicolored, dye free sprinkles online but procrastinated too long couldn’t find them in stores in time.

The final touch was tying the spoon to the side with the ribbon. It made it a “piece of cake,” (ha ha) to hand out at the end of the party.

I took a picture of how my jars really looked, which was cute but not meticulous, and guests seemed really impressed! However, there are many examples of more patient people who delicately put their cakes in a jar. Here are two of my favorites:

Red Velvet Cake in a Jar from My Baking Addiction

And this one from Glorious Treats:

The possibilities are endless for this jar idea. Like brownies with a label for a cute teacher gift–need I say more?

*For those of you who may be new to this site, we try to follow Michael Pollan’s “real food rules” for eating when we can (and because my eight year old is super sensitive to dyes). For this cake we went with Pollan’s philosophy, “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” I could see not everyone would want to make a cake from scratch and I do think if you had the store leave it unfrosted you could quickly put this together with a store bought cake (or cupcakes), or use a box cake. But since I rarely eat cake (or gluten for that matter) this was such a treat!

So let them eat cake, in a jar that is.

Note: Some posts contain affiliate links, which means if you click on the product links, and purchase any of them, at no additional cost to you Mind Over Messy will receive a small commission. If you do purchase through these links, your support of this site is greatly appreciated!