Rainbow Cake in a Jar

Even though Miss C is uber grown up and mature now, she loves anything "in a jar".  Pies. Cookies. Cakes. You name it. She has excellent taste.

For her birthday this year I though that I would try something a little different. Rainbow cake in a jar. WHOOHOO. I know some of your minds just exploded. Rainbows and cakes and mason jars. Together. Wow.


"How can average everyday out of the box cooks make this?," you might ask.
 Don't let on, but it is really easy.

AND

REALLY messy.....especially if you are impatient and like to "taste test" the batter as I do to ensure my family received only the finest tastes.

Here is what you'll need:

• Box of white (your best choice) or yellow cake mix
• Can of frosting, or your own. I prefer a homemade cream cheese frosting, click for recipe.
• 6 mason jars size 12 oz washed and dried
• package of food coloring
• cake pan 
• water
• hand mixer
• 4 separate smaller bowls
• small ice cream scoop or tablespoon 
• cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 350. While the oven pre-heats make your cake mix according to the directions on the back of the box. (In my picture you may see milk, I always substitute milk for water in cake mixes, I think it gives them a fluffier and richer texture)

 

  Spray the inside of each mason jar well with non-stick cooking spray 

 
Separate the cake mix into each of the four bowls equally. Add food coloring. A lot. The more you add the more vibrant the color, and saturation is the key here. I used some cheap-o stuff from the Dollar Tree, and I ended up using the entire bottle of each color to get the tint I wanted.

Using your ice cream scoop or tablespoon carefully scoop the mixes into your jars. It work best to start with the darker color and work your way up to the lightest. Doing one color at a time in each jar, washing your spoon or scoop as you go from one to the next, is the easiest way to keep the colors from running together and ensuring you have the same amount in each jar.

Grab your cake pan and fill it with around 1/2 an inch or so of water. Add mason jars and place in over. Bake for 25-45 minutes. Mine took 45, but ovens vary so just keep an eye on them.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Take a spatula or butter knife and carefully take off the rounded tops of the cakes if you are a perfectionist. If not, just go ahead and slop from frosting in there. I usually fall into the latter category, but since this is for Miss C, I was careful.

You can put the lids on these and store in the fridge, or just eat them as soon as you are done frosting them like a normal person.

Green Eggs and No Ham

            
              
                    Our weekend was so busy! There was pink eye (don't ask), the flu, sports practices, a baseball game, yard work, a TON of spray painting (pics tomorrow....promise!!!), and grilling. The sun was out and we were outside almost all weekend. With the weather being gloomy and rainy the past, oh, million years, the sun's rays were like prozac for all of out moods. I wanted to share with you all a cute cookie project I did for my son's class last week. They were talking about influential  authors for children in their literature class, and I wanted to bake a treat for them. I love baking so this was as selfish as it was kind, rest assured! My son and I brainstormed over what we wanted our baked good to represent, and we decided that some sort of tribute to Dr. Suess was in order. We are huge Dr, Suess fans in this house, and I must say that his are one of the few books I did not mind reading repeatedly when they were smaller.

                  The angle we took was green eggs. These were very simple to make, and take no more time than a batch of chocolate chip cookies to prepare. I got quite a few calls/emails from moms in Joseph's class thanking me for the cookies, and letting me know how cute and yummy there were. So it is not only me stating that these are a hit :).

Materials needed:
* fun-fetti cake mix
* 2 eggs
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* Green food coloring
* Cooking spray
* Aluminum foil

                   First, preheat your oven to 350.  Mix your cake mix, eggs, and oil in a large mixing bowl until combined.

                      Next, you will want to set aside about 1/3 cup of mixed dough and place in medium sized mixing bowl. Add green food coloring a small squirt at a time until the desired color is achieved. Your green egg centers should now look something like this:

                      Now, the fun begins. At this point is where I called in Mason, Claire, and Joseph, and we all set about making these tasty treats. I tried a biscuit cutter, muffin tins, and other methods in order to get the most realistic egg shape, but in the end free-forming them turned out to be the method that gave me a look that I liked. They turned out looking like a fired egg, and also the most realist of the methods we tried.

                   I took a little over a tablespoon of dough for each cookie and placed it on a cooking sheet covered in aluminum foil and sprayed with Pam (did I mention I have no dishwasher and hate dishes?).
Press down with your fingers until you get a shape you like. Remember, if you don't like the end result, you can always roll it into a ball and start again. Also, remember that there is no perfect fried egg shape. The more imperfect the better in this case. Hence the use of children brings the best results here :).

                         While the kids are working on these I got the teaspoon out and made as many small round green balls as there were cookies. After the cookies were formed, I let each kids press them in different spots in the cookies. It was neat to see some in the middle, some at the edge, and all different sizes. While these eggs were obviously  not real, it added a certain air of egg authenticity.

 After all the eggs have the yolks placed you are ready to bake Pop them in for 8-10 minutes, or until very slight golden brown edges begin to appear.

                         Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack before either scarfing them all down or packing them away.