Cupcake in a Jar~

Today I thought I'd share with you all how to make cupcakes in a jar. This clever little creation is a perfect gift. I made the ones I am going to share with you today as hostess gifts a couple of months back, but I think they'd make perfect Valentine's gifts as well.




Here's what you do...

• First up, make some red velvet cupcakes - do not use cupcake papers, just bake them directly in a greased and floured muffin pan. (Because I am not much of baker, I used a boxed red velvet mix, but you can make them whichever way is best suited to your baking style.)
  
  

• After the cupcakes have cooled, remove them from the pan and cut each one in half crosswise.

Now comes the fun part!

• Find some small mason jars (I found mine at Michael's craft). Then layer the bottom half of one cupcake,
  
  

with a mound of piped cream cheese frosting,

the second half of one cupcake and another large mound of piped frosting. And there you have it. No seriously, that's all.

• Decorate each jar to make it look festive. Since I made mine as hostess gifts for a holiday party, I wanted them to look wintry. I covered the lid of the mason jar with black damask scrapbook paper and tied a thank you card and a snowflake ornament to the lid with matching ribbon.

• For Valentine's gifts, they'd look equally as cute, with pink and red paper and ribbons and a pretty heart dangling on the side. The possibilities are endless.

EDITED TO ADD: I've had a couple of people ask...the best way to eat these is with a parfait spoon...perhaps you could tie one to the jar. ;-)

Have a great day~