I wanted to have favors to give our guests at our party this past weekend and this cute little idea I found online was perfect for it. Or maybe it was that I found the idea and just wanted an excuse to try it. Either way, I love how they turned out. I found the idea and recipe here.
Now, I'm not a big fan of red velvet cake, but you know how I like to go all out with a theme, and red cake would match so I went with it. I doubled the recipe from the link above to make two batches. And I must say that the red velvet cake from scratch with the homemade icing may have won me over.
First step is obviously to make the cupcakes. My bowl was barely big enough.
Here's a tip: when making a double batch of red velvet cupcakes, trust me when I say you do not have enough red food coloring. Even if you have the big bottle, it won't be enough. Buy more than you think you need, or else you'll end up sending your husband to the grocery store at 9:30 to get more.
Next, fill your cupcakes 2/3 full. The first batch I did not use cupcake papers and even though I sprayed the pan really well, they stuck like crazy. The next set I used the papers and it was much, much better. Use them.
Pop 'em in the oven and let those suckers bake!
While the first batch was cooling and the second batch was baking, we made the icing.
Here's another tip: when making two batches of homemade icing, you will not have enough powdered sugar. Even if you have two boxes, it will not be enough. Buy more than you need, otherwise you'll be sending your sweet husband back to the store.
Oh, and we got to use our new sifter for this!
Once the cupcakes are completely cool, cut them in half. (Sorry, bad pic here.)
Place the bottom half of the cupcake in the bottom of the jar.
Next up, squirt some icing in!
After the icing, you want to take the remaining half of the cupcake (the top half) and smoosh it down on top.
And now another shot of icing is needed.
This time, the icing won't be getting smooshed, so make it a cute dollop.
And now they just have to be packaged up. We put the lids on and then topped them with a cute label. (Shout out to our friend Matt for printing the labels. Thanks, Matt!)
What's the point of a cupcake in a jar if it doesn't come with a spoon? The next morning I tied a ribbon and spoon around each jar.
And finally, they were done! Just in time too...we only had a few hours to spare before our guests arrived.
I won't tell you exactly how many of these I've eaten, but it's somewhere between 5 and 10...