Good morning everyone! How are you guys this fine morning?
You know, Deb and I don’t know very many of our friends who don’t like a good piece of cake every once in a while! This goes for Deb too, but personally, I couldn’t give a flip one way or the other. I know you guys believe that, huh?
Well, let’s set up a little scenario or two here for you this morning.
The first is that you and your spouse, or “friend” are sitting up watching TV one evening. You start thinking to yourself that something sweet to eat just might be the ticket at the time. You got a good movie going on, and a little piece of cake sure would taste good wouldn’t it? You betcha it would!
The second is that you get a call and next thing you know, you’ve got family coming over to see you, and they just happen to be coming…right around lunch time.
No, Mom and Dad, I’m not using you two as the example here, okay? Even if I was, you guys don’t pull this very often anyway.
But when this happens, you do like to have something sweet for afterwards, right? Even if you don’t, I do, and it really doesn’t matter if there’s not enough to go around…as long as there’s enough for me! I mean, if they’d of wanted some cake for after lunch, then they should have made us aware of this earlier, huh? LOL!
Joking aside, if you do like cake, or sweet breads, this is a really good way of having some on hand, and actually, most all the time.
Cake dries out, so the life of the cake is very short. You eat it pretty quickly, or in the trash it goes. This is not the case, when you prepare them using this method.
It’s not canning the cake in the sense of the word…canning. But, I still call it this. We’ve done an article on this before, but since Deb and I have just done a few more sweet breads, I thought I’d revisit this style of doing cake.
It is very convenient, plus they hold up really well. I’ve eaten cake done this way over a year old, and I’m telling you, it’s just as moist as the day you cooked them.
I know the ones out there today that know me are asking themselves, “How did Dub keep one of those dern cakes put up…for over a year??” That’s easy enough to answer…Deb hid it from me! Her days comin!!
Really though, this is a good way to have cake, or sweet bread on hand at most times. It just depends on if you stay out of them!
All you do is take wide mouth pint mason jars, wash them well, and put the seals (lids), and the rings in a pot of hot, but not boiling water. If it boils it may compromise the seal.
You then take your mix, whether it be homemade, or cake mix you buy at the store and follow the same steps as come on the box of mix.
After your jars have been washed thoroughly and dried, you set them on a baking pan. Preheat your oven to whatever temperature the recipe calls for and you’re set.
One example though, is sometimes I like to mix the cake mixes together, and we did this with these last cakes we canned. One mix called for a temperature setting of 400, while the other batch I mixed in with this one called for 350. I set the oven at 375. How simple is that?
Once your oven is heating, and your jars are clean, your lids are in hot water, and your mix is ready, you then pour your mix into each jar. ONLY FILL HALFWAY…if you overfill, the mix will bake over, and out of your jars! Be sure to wipe your jar rims after filling with cake mix.
Once your jars are filled halfway, you then set your baking pan, with your jars into the oven. Keep them in for the approximate time the recipe calls for, we see this is usually 30-35 minutes, but all ovens vary slightly, so just check your cakes with a knife.
When you think the cakes are close to being ready, insert the knife and if it comes out clean, your batch is ready to take out.
Another important step here is to ONLY TAKE OUT ONE JAR AT A TIME! The reasoning is simple. You’re whole purpose of doing cakes in this fashion, is convenience and availability of having them pre-cooked.
With this being the case you need your seal, or lids to do exactly what they’re intended to do…vacuum seal, and form an airtight barrier for your canned cake. This is the only way these sweet breads will stay fresh…the seal.
So, by taking your jars out one at a time, putting on your seal and ring, which again, have been in a pot of hot water, and remove them one at a time as well, you are insuring the jars will seal, and the cakes will stay fresh.
As your cakes start to cool, you’ll start hearing the jar lids ping, this meaning that the sealing took place, and you’re good to go.
Always though, and it doesn’t matter if you’re doing cakes, peas, beans, or meats, ALWAYS take one finger and press down on the jar lids once they’ve cooled down. By doing this, you’ve made sure the sealing process did take place.
If a lid depresses, and you even hear it pop, which you may not, then either eat this particular jar at your next meal, or go through the entire process once more with this jar. There have been times that Deb and I have had to redo a jar of peas, etc., but only on very, very rare occasions. Hardly ever, actually.
I must say though that when we canned these last sweet breads, there was one jar of my cake that didn’t seal. Yes, this meant that I HAD to eat the dern thing that day! Ticked me off too!
Deb swears I bust the seal purposely on one of mine every time we do a batch, because she claims that it’s only on one of my cakes that the seal EVER breaks?? You know, I try to explain to her that this is merely FATE, and surely I wouldn’t tinker with one of these jars intentionally, and if I did, I wouldn’t “fess up!”
But basically that’s all there is to this, and no joke, these things stay fresh a long time, and honestly they come in handy!
Another thing that one of our friends Sandy mentioned, and is very true, is that you only have to slap a bow on the jar, and they make nice gifts! Deb thought that was just a great idea, and I told her that I thought so too, only if the jars she was using for gifts…came out of her batch of cakes, not mine!
Deb will do some that are just plain ole cake mix. This way she’ll get her one out of the pantry, throw it in the microwave, then after heating, she’ll spread a little icing on it, and there’s her snack, though she does like fruit in some of hers as well!
My favorite is banana nut bread mix, mixed with a batch of blueberry muffin mix. Once I’ve combined the two, added the eggs, oil, whatever, then I take fresh blueberries, chunk in about three handfuls, a couple handfuls of blackberries, then about 8 strawberries cut up.
I then fold this into the mix easily, put it in the jars, and put into the oven. Now this…is really, really good! Deb calls it my… “Rootie Tootie, Make You Pootie Cake.”
I often wonder if you added prunes if she’d call it my… “Itty Bitty, Make You S…” oh, never mind!
Seriously, these cakes are very easy to do, very convenient, and very good. If you have children, they’d love to help you do these, and see them baked in the jars. Even if you don’t have children, well, then simply there’s just more for you.
Give this a try, we believe you’d like it, as you’ll be able to keep cake on hand, and keep it fresh for whenever the urge strikes!
Thank you all for reading, and God Bless you! Deb says to tell you to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb
The Banana Nut Bread Blueberry Muffin
Pound Cake With Fresh Fruit
New Addition to the Family…This is Joker (age- 3 days), and His Mama, “Psycho”
Standing Behind Mama, Trying to Get Some Lunch
New Family Portrait
the feed back that I have gotten from my “gifts” have been outstanding. I tried the cake mixes together but didn’t add any fresh fruit. Loved the Apple cake but now am going for the mixes with the fruit. Sometimes my imagination get cramped. Thanks again for the info.
You really threw me when I read sweetbreads in your title. Your sweetbreads are more to my liking. *L*
Joker is adorable! Do I dare ask why his mother is named Psycho?
You’re so right, Dub; GREAT to have on hand for company. We had company from TX for a week (they’ve just left) and four nights my sister-in-law wanted a late evening snack. She like the cran-apple best, and the first jar we opened was done in 2008! This is an excellent item for emergency food storage.
Instead of cooking in the jars…can you cook the cake, cool it, spoon it into jars, and vacuum seal using the FoodSaver. Has anyone tried this?
never tried that.
Have you tried canning brownies? They are my favorite dessert, but I’m not sure how long to bake them in jars, since normal testing techniques for cakes/breads do not work well with chewy brownies.
I would also like to can my own spaghetti sauce with meat in the oven. Do you have directions for this somewhere on your blog?
OmaLinda, you can cook your spagetti sauce. Put it into jars as usual and water bath them like you do tomatoes. They are so acidic due to the amount of tomatoes, it does great. I have never tried it in the oven. I don’t really understand what the purpose would be.
I also do the brownies in the jar. I add nuts and extra chocolate sauce to mine. I just keep testing them with a straw from the broom or a tooth pick to see when they are done and mine are now all gone and I have to get busy.
Do the Sweetbreads come out of the jar easily, or do you just eat them right out of the jar?
Yes sir Dave, a good Eastwing roofin hammer, one good whack, and they DO come out of the jar very easily…just watch out for the glass slivers! Seriously, they do come out of your jars easy. We always spray the inside down with Pam, wipe with a paper towel to make sure the inside of the jar is covered well, bake your cake, and they’ll slip right out when you get ready to eat one. Don’t make the same mistake I did when we made our first batch…I used small mouth jars! Can you believe that?? I sure couldn’t once I realized what I’d just done?? That batch, we DID eat right out of the jar…no other choice! Thanks, and God Bless!