At first I wasn’t sure why anyone would bake pound cake in a jar, but after reading this feature in The Austin Statesman, pound cake in a jar seemed like a good idea (Update: It’s not). Or at least (Not even) if you need to ship cake to someone in Quatar.
I didn’t need to ship cake, and to be honest I have safety concerns about keeping any cake around for a year. However, I do like the idea of making cake in small jars and serving it with berries and cream or making cake in large jars then popping it out and cutting it in circles. So making pound cake in a jar was this morning’s project. Looks like we’ll be having cake for dessert!
Update: Making cake in a jar was fun, but after doing more reading on the subject I definitely would not try canning it or preserving it as the book suggests. Here are two good links with more info.
Is Cake in a Jar Safe?
Is Oven Canning Safe?
I wondered about the lids too Anna. It seems like boiling the lids is the only way it would be safe to store long term. Lisa It’s really good to hear that this worked and your son enjoyed it. Was it difficult to ship since the jars are glass and breakable?
Lisa, did you boil the lids in water or did you just put the lids on the hot cake and wait for the middle top pop? This recipe doesn’t say anything about sterilizing the lids, but others do.
when my son was stationed in Afghanistan this cake in a jar was one of his favorite things in the care package
The next time I make these I plan on using butter. While this cake was fine, I’d like to test the jar method using this recipe
http://www.cookiemadness.net/2013/03/elvis-presleys-favorite-pound-cake/
Or maybe this one.
http://www.cookiemadness.net/2013/02/perfect-cream-cheese-pound-cake/
Or this one
http://www.cookiemadness.net/2008/07/best-pound-cake-ever/
I’m sure there are a lot of good butter based recipes that would be amenable to the jar method of baking. So far this is the only one I’ve tried.
Hi Susan
These look lovely and would make great gifts. What do you think about substituting butter for the shortening. I live in Hong Kong and shortening is not always available. Would I need to make any other changes?,
Hmmm. I’m not going to be trying this. It’s interesting to think about though.