"Jarcakes"

This year, Valentine's Day fell during the Red Velvet Craze of 2010. I wanted to spread a bit of the holiday joy, so I tried to figure out how to mail cupcakes. After a little bit of research, Mason jars seemed like they would be the best option. With some inspiration from various bloggers and Etsy vendors, I decided to give it a shot. I didn't realize, however, that finding the right jars would be such a challenge. There is no shortage of canning equipment in Vermont--such things proved a bit more elusive in Rhode Island. Finally, however, I struck gold at Adler's (they always seem to have the one thing I can't find anywhere else; I should start looking there first...), so on we go!

A 4 oz. quilted jelly jar. Exactly cupcake-sized. (It sounds like you can also use wide-mouth half-pint jars.)

There seemed to be a few different ideas about how to assemble everything in the jars. I decided to slice the cupcakes in half horizontally, with a layer of frosting piped in the middle. I also tried a couple with three layers of cake; it seemed to work well too. Some of the examples I saw had the frosting on the top, but that seemed like it would be a bit messy when the lids came off.

Assembled!

I put these in the freezer overnight, and then wrapped them in tissue paper and packaged them right before shipping them Priority mail (2-3 days). Looks like they made the trip pretty well!