Shipping Cupcakes in a Jar
I have been wanting to make these for MONTHS now. Cupcakes in a jar seem like the perfect gift to send someone. More than half of our immediate family members have birthdays in October, November, or December, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try this out on some of them.
I decided to make two flavors of cupcakes and send one of each to the lucky family members. I wanted to go with relatively ordinary flavors, so I went with yellow funfetti cupcakes with chocolate frosting, and chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I also threw in some add-ins with the cupcake and frosting. In the yellow cupcake jars, I added sprinkles and in the chocolate cupcake jars, I added crushed up Oreos.
For the girls, I used my hot glue gun to attach some ribbon to the ring of the jar. I didn’t figure the boys would like ribbon on their jars. Once I got the cupcakes made, I froze them. Then I put them in the jars with their frosting and froze them overnight. I shipped them the next day so they would defrost as they made their way to different parts of the country.
The yellow cupcakes were split in half (down the middle) and frosting was piped down in between the two halves of the cupcake. Then more frosting was piped on top of the cupcake with more sprinkles. With the chocolate cupcakes, the tops were pulled off and a layer of frosting and crushed Oreos was added. Then more frosting and Oreos were layered on top of the cupcake top.
Based on what I heard from the lucky birthday boys and girls, the shipping cupcakes in a jar is a good way to go. The cupcake to frosting ratio will have to be perfected. Fellow cupcake lover, Clara, did recommend that shipping cupcakes this time of year is better than in the summer. If you’re shipping to locations where the temperature is hot, you want to be careful with your ingredients – cream cheese frosting could be a bad idea in that case…
My sister (Happy Birthday Brooke-i-poo) sent me a picture of her cupcake just before taking a bite. She did say it was a bit dry. But in my defense, the box did sit in her apartment office for four days! Also, the top part of the cupcake did stick to the top part of the lid because of the frosting. Maybe I shouldn’t fill them so full next time… Or put them upside down so the frosting isn’t on the top? I’ll have to think about that for next time…
For the chocolate cupcakes, I used my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe and a standard cream cheese frosting. The yellow funfetti cupcake and chocolate frosting recipes are shown below.
Not-So-Yellow cake, from Confections of a Foodie Bride – I made a half batch and got about 15 cupcakes
3 cups cake flour – I used AP
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350. Butter and line with parchment paper two 8×2-inch pans (These cakes rose over the top of my 2-inch pans – you could very well have a mess on your hands if you try 1.5 inch pans). Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for 3 minutes on MEDIUM-HIGH speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.
Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl before each addition. Add the eggs one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer. Stir in sprinkles.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a knife or off-set spatula. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top a couple of times to burst any air bubbles and allowing the batter to settle. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool completely in the pans before removing the cakes and frosting.
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Frosting
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar – I used 2 1/2 cups
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
What an awesome way to feature goat cheese in a dessert! I never thought of turning it into a chocolate mousse – sounds like I need to try this soon. 🙂
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:51 am
You definitely should. I know goat cheese isn’t for everyone, but we really enjoyed the subtle flavor in the mousse.
Jen, I love everything about this tart – from the chocolate crust to the mousse and the pretty strawberries on top. Yum! Enjoy your birthday month 🙂
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:52 am
Thanks for humoring me on the whole birthday month thing 🙂
Ohhh lalalalala, I totally dig this dessert even more because it has goat cheese and strawberries…some of my fave foods!! Happy Birthday month…you better party and eat like it’s your birthday!!
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
Oh I’m definitely going to party like it’s my birthday! All month long 🙂
oh yes to the goat cheese in this tart! fabulous. happy birthday month 🙂 you might need to make this a few more times to celebrate?!
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
Oh I have been baking plenty of deliciousness this month to celebrate 🙂 You know how hard it is to repeat recipes…
Love the idea of incorporating goat cheese in a dessert- I have never seen it down with chocolate before. I will definitely be trying this soon as I have some goat cheese in my fridge waiting to be used 🙂
beantownbaker — June 11th, 2013 @ 7:20 am
Oh yea, goat cheese and chocolate go really well together.
Oh my, the use of goat cheese in this is phenomenal! I would love to try it!
beantownbaker — June 11th, 2013 @ 8:46 am
Definitely do! And you could top it with any fruit you like. I think raspberries would be good too.
Chocolate must work great with goat cheese since they’re both utterly delicious!! This recipe looks magnificent omg I think I would be able to eat the whole tart by myself *-*
Goat cheese is one of my favorite ingredients to use in desserts, and your tart looks soooo delicious! Thanks for sharing =) Definitely a must try this summer.
Oh wow this is gorgeous! I love this recipe, I bet it tastes heavenly!
I just finished making my second one for this week…we love it…it is so smooth and rich and well D E L I C I O U S!!!…my grandson requested the second one but truth be told I was gonna make it anyway…the bittersweet chocolate and the cocoa in the crust are what make it….if anyone out there hasn’t tried it do so you will be in love….
beantownbaker — June 25th, 2013 @ 5:38 pm
So glad you’ve enjoyed it! I definitely need to make this again. I have already made it with raspberries but want to try blackberries next.
you wont believe it but I made this AGAIN yesterday…I did a play on bananas foster on the top…it was a hit with my company…and good recipes for sweets for the 4th?..lol….
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:02 pm
Wow – bananas foster on top. I would never have thought of that! I am making this tart and this strawberry shortcake for the 4th.
So sinful and delicious looking 🙂
Holy yumminess. I never thought of putting goat cheese in. My mouth is watering at the thought. Strawberries are my absolute favorite berry of all time. I will have to for sure try this recipe, Got it saved to my personal file. thank you.
I love chocolate mousse and I love goat cheese, so clearly I need to make this!
Also, there is strawberry picking (not sure it is organic though if that matters) up here near Oxford. I can get you the info for next year if driving up here is not a problem (I imagine it depends on what side of Cinci you live 🙂 ).
beantownbaker — August 4th, 2013 @ 6:44 pm
I definitely don’t mind driving for freshly picked strawberries!!
I love absolutely EVERYTHING about this recipe! It’s hard to beat mixing tangy goat cheese with chocolate and berries. What a unique recipe!
beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
It tastes as good as it sounds! I hope you try it.
WOW! What a wonderful recipe! Definitely one of my new favorites! Happy birthday month!
Does this go in the fridge covered or uncovered and how long does it last? Thanks!
The idea of roasting cherries to develop a deeper, more sophisticated flavor really resonates — it’s a lot like the nuance needed when generating animation videos on AI Kissing Generator, where small details make all the difference. That combination of brownie, cheesecake, and roasted cherry sounds absolutely incredible.