Halloween in a jar

So, when I bought the dozen ball mason jars I really had the best intentions.  I was going to make apple sauce and/or strawberry jam and can it.  But, August turned to September, and September to October and my jars sat sad and unused.  Finally, I came to the realization I just was not going to have the time to do either of those projects.  So, Mott's applesauce and Smucker's Jam will be served in my house until further notice. But, I did still want to use the jars.  So, I googled what to do with mason jars and found out you can bake in them, how cool is that?

I went with a Halloween theme on these.  

Pictured below is what you will need.  Minus, the man in the yellow shirt fiddling with the T.V.  Although, he does occasionally come in handy..

I used 2 box cake mixes.  One Chocolate and one white

Wilton Orange gel food color 

canned frosting with sprinkles

8 ounce mason jars.

Now, go ahead and make the cakes according to their packages and add the food coloring to the white cake.  I used quite a bit of food coloring because I wanted to make sure the orange was vibrant.

Now, layer the cake mix into the jars.  Fill the jars about 2/3 of the way.  Next, place them in a baking dish with about an inch of water.  I only made 6 of these because I was a bit nervous on how they would turn out...... I should have been brave and made all 12.  Anyhow, bake at 350.  I baked mine for about 35 minutes and they came out PERFECT.  

 Expect that when you take them out of the oven that they will have kind of a round muffin top on them.  Just go ahead and slice this part off and eat it.  Once they cool and you can scoop out a little cake and put on the frosting and sprinkles.

You could serve these right away or put the tops on and add a bow and some Halloween stickers in order to make an awesome gift.  I am guessing you use some bubble wrap you could even mail these goodies. 

Baby B (the Biscuit) would tell you how much he enjoyed this, but his mouth is full.