Repurpose Tiny Jars Into Super Cute Gifts
2 Materials
$1
5 Minutes
Easy
I love to re-purpose and I show the love through food, so the two go hand in hand when gift giving is in order. These super easy mug cakes fit beautifully into any tiny jar and, let's face it, there's never a bad reason for cake.
Let's get started on one of these cuties!
Today I'm making caramel spice mug cake. You will need for one individual portioned jar:
A 2 to 2.5 oz. jar (the smallest size baby food jar is 2.3 oz, the pimento jar is 2 oz.), Tbsp. sized measuring spoons (I'm only going to use the 1/2 Tbsp. so I can layer my mixes...it just looks cuter), and a simple mug cake recipe. For this size jar use one and a half Tbsp. each of angel food cake and any flavor cake mix and any desired topping.
I'm going with the pimento jar today. Of course, clean and remove any labels from your jar. Add your cake mixes any way you want. You can even mix an entire box of angel food cake with an entire cake mix and just spoon in 3 Tbsp. I like to alternate so I get pretty layers, reserving the last 1/2 Tbsp. I also like to push and pack it against the sides with the handle of my spoon as I go so that I get a nice little well in the center for my topping.
Fill your jar with your topping (about 1 Tbsp.). If you're making chocolate mug cake you should consider mint and chocolate chips. That seems to be a crowd favorite that's a close second to this one with caramel bits.
Add the reserved 1/2 Tbsp. of cake mix.
Now give it a few gentle taps down on the table. Your mix will pack down and fill the spaces between the topping pieces.
That means you can add more delicious topping! 
Fill the jar just over-full. You want everything to be nice and tight to hold the layers in place.
Fill the jar just over-full. You want everything to be nice and tight to hold the layers in place.
Screw on the lid and you can be done. Well, you need to label it somehow. Just write on it with permanent marker if you're not the fancy type. It needs to tell the recipient to mix with 2 Tbsp. water in a large mug (wider is better than taller) and microwave for 1-2 minutes, depending on microwave wattage.
Get fancy about it if you want...
Or even fancier. These were made with 2 oz. condiment cups.
The one we just made, however, is a gift to myself. It's mixed and all frothy, ready for the microwave.
After two minutes (low wattage microwave) of humming the theme to Jeopardy it's ready to eat right out of the cup. Be sure to dig the gooey goodness of your topping off the bottom though! But just to prove it really is cake...
...turn it over on a plate. Yeah. It's as good as it looks!
For printable labels for the varieties I used to make the snowmen and directions for assembling them be sure to visit me!
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