Red Velvet Cake In A Jar is a whole new way to enjoy red velvet cake! Made with strawberry cream cheese frosting, these mini desserts are portable, giftable, and adorable!

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar

Valentine’s Day gift-giving is usually “diamonds” this and “bouquet of red roses” that. Which is all well and good, if you live in a romantic comedy, but those of us in the real world probably don’t have the coin—or the desire—to gift our nearest and dearest with honkin’ gemstones or the world’s most overpriced flowers.

But who needs those cliches anyway? This Valentine’s Day, I think we should bake our way into their hearts. After all, as the saying goes, cake is a girl’s best friend.

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar | From SugarHero.com

I’ll be gifting these mini Red Velvet Cake Jars this Valentine’s Day, and not to toot my own horn, but they’re basically the perfect gift for anyone. They’re red and pink, which makes them adorably holiday themed and appropriate for loved ones.

But they’re not intimate or personal, so you can give them to your kid’s teacher or your office mates without any sort of weird romantic overtones. (Maybe leave off the heart-shaped decorations if you’re going for a totally platonic vibe.)

The only people they’re not good for are the folks who don’t eat dessert, but when you think about it, are sugar-shunners really a good influence in your life? Choose your friends wisely, is all I’m saying.

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar | From SugarHero.com

Why Serve Cake in a Jar?

No doubt, making a sheet cake is easier than assembling small jars of cake and frosting. So why go to the trouble?

Cake in a jar is portable, giftable, and adorable.

Yes, we hit the dessert trifecta with this one! It makes a great gift, you can take it anywhere (picnics, anyone?), and is there really anything cuter than miniature desserts?

I’ve seen lots of other cake-in-a-jar recipes, but many of them involve baking the cake in glass jars, then putting frosting on top. This concept of layering cut slices of cake and frosting was so much more appealing to me, because you can control how much cake (and how much frosting, om nom nom!) you put in the jar.

For frosting-lovers like myself, cake in a jar is basically the best invention since sliced bread. Wait, never mind, cake in a jar is WAY BETTER than boring sliced bread. It’s equal parts cake and frosting, which in my mind is the ideal ratio.

I wanted to make these jars a little extra special, so instead of regular cream cheese frosting, I made strawberry rose cream cheese frosting. It’s fruity, with a delicate floral flavor that is so delicious with the tangy cream cheese.

The strawberry powder gives the frosting a strong, tangy berry flavor and that lovely pink color, no food coloring required! (But, uh, there’s plenty of food coloring in the red velvet cake, so let’s not pat ourselves on the back too hard just yet.)

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar | From SugarHero.com

Cake in a Jar Supplies

Let’s talk supplies! I got my jars at The Container Store (love that place!), but there are lots of options on Amazon as well, and I’ve linked one example below. You can also use decorative cups or ramekins if you won’t be transporting them and don’t need a lid.

I experimented with making two different sizes: 2-ounce jars and 4-ounce jars. I expected I’d like the bigger size better (because bigger is always better, right?) but I surprised myself by preferring the smaller size.

The little 2-ounce jars are the perfect single serving for quenching that sweet tooth! If you do 4-ounce jars you can get about 12 jars from the recipe, but if you do the smaller jars you can get about 20, which means more for gifting, and more for eating yourself!

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar | From SugarHero.com

For the pictures, I filled some of the jars up past the top, but of course for gifting you’ll want to give yourself some space to screw the lid on top. The jars can be topped with heart candies, gummies, or just Valentine’s sprinkles!

Red Velvet Cake In A Jar | From SugarHero.com

Unlike cupcakes or even cake slices, cake in a jar doesn’t go stale very quickly, thanks to all that frosting between the cake layers and the jar’s airtight lid. So this is a GREAT choice for a make-ahead dessert. My guess is that they can last at least a week, probably closer to 2, in the refrigerator, but to be honest, ours didn’t last that long. Enjoy!

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Red Velvet Cake In A Jar

4.50 from 6 votes
Red Velvet Cake In A Jar feature layers of red velvet cake and strawberry rose cream cheese frosting in miniature jars. They're perfect for gift giving!
Prep2 hours
Total2 hours
Yields20 jars

Ingredients

For the Red Velvet Cake:

For the Strawberry Rose Cream Cheese:

  • .75 oz freeze-dried strawberries, (1 1/2 cups)
  • 24 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (do not use light variety)
  • 4 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 8 oz powdered sugar, (2 cups)
  • 1 tsp rose water, optional
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions 

To Make the Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 11×17-inch rimmed baking sheet with foil, extending up and over the sides of the sheet. Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
  • In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the vegetable oil, buttermilk, egg, red gel food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Mix on medium-low speed until well-combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the pan with a spatula, then mix on medium speed until the cake batter is smooth and all the lumps of flour have disappeared.
  • Pour the cake batter into the sheet pan and spread it into an even layer. (It will be a very thin layer of cake.) Bake the cake at 350 F for 10 minutes, until it pulls away from the sides and springs back when lightly pressed with your fingertips. Cool completely before using. The cake can be baked several days in advance. If making in advance, wrap the cooled cake in cling wrap and freeze until ready to use. You do not need to defrost the cake before assembling the jars.

To Make the Frosting:

  • Place the freeze-dried strawberries in the bowl of a food processor and process until they are ground into a powder.
  • Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat them together on medium speed until light and fluffy and free of lumps.
  • Add the powdered sugar, strawberry powder, rose water, and salt to the bowl, and beat on low speed until combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Taste the frosting, and add additional sugar to taste. If the frosting seems too stiff, add a spoonful of milk or cream until it reaches your desired texture.
  • The frosting can be made in advance and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. When you’re ready to use it, let it sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before piping it into the jars. You can also re-whip it in the mixer to loosen it up a bit if it is too stiff to pipe after being refrigerated.

To Assemble:

  • Fit a piping bag with a large star tip, and fill the bag with some cream cheese frosting. Use a circle cookie cutter the same size as your jars, and cut circles out of the cake. (For my 2-oz jars, I used two 1 1/2″ circles for each, and for my 4-oz jars, I used three 2″ circles for each.)
  • Place a circle of cake in the bottom of a jar, and top it with a swirl of frosting. Keep layering cake and frosting until you reach the top of the jar. Once you put the lid on the jar, you can decorate them with ribbons, stickers, gift tags, or anything else you can dream up! Continue until all of the jars are assembled. Red Velvet Cake in a Jar can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, and for the best taste and texture, can be brought to room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

You can make these in any size jars, but I recommend keeping them on the smaller side and making them in either 2- or 4-ounce jars. If you make 2-oz jars you’ll get about 20 servings, and if you make them in 4-oz jars you’ll get about 12.

Measuring Tips

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?

Nutrition

Calories: 324kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 212mg | Potassium: 88mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 625IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 0.8mg
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Collage of 4 different Valentine's Day cake pictures.

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47 Comments

  1. Love this idea. So anxious to make them for Easter. I don’t want to make them Red Velvet though. How should I alter the the cake recipe? I would prefer a white or yellow cake.
    Also are the jars you used plastic or glass

    1. Hi Rose, The larger jars are glass, the smaller ones are plastic. Both seem pretty sturdy. The ones I linked to from Amazon are the larger size (4 oz) and are glass as well.
      If you have a favorite white or yellow cake recipe (or if you want to use a cake mix) you can just use that instead. If you want to use this recipe, you would omit the food coloring and cocoa powder, and I would suggest upping the vanilla to give it more flavor. It will basically be a buttermilk cake at that point.

      1. This just answered a question I had just now submitted…. thank you. I am so excited to try these for our club members.

      1. Thank you for the recipe. I’m wondering if I’m misunderstanding the freeze dried strawberries qty. If I buy the 12 oz of freeze dried strawberries, it will be like $50. Would you help me understand? Thanks.

        1. Hi Naomi, I’m not sure where you saw 12 oz–is that somewhere in the post? The recipe calls for 3/4 oz or 1.5 cups of freeze-dried strawberries–a much more reasonable amount. 🙂 Hope this helps!

          1. Hi! Elizabeth thanks for responding. I converted the 1.5 cups to ounces, which would be 12. thank you.

          2. Oh, gotcha. This is a common misconception in baking. 8 oz = 1 cup only applies when talking about liquid ounces (a volume measurement). When using weight (scale) measurements, there is no such conversion. Freeze-dried fruit is extremely light and 1 cup weighs just 1/2 ounce. You can read a bit more about it here: https://www.sugarhero.com/frequently-asked-questions/#measurements
            Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

          3. Elizabeth, thanks for all your help. I did the recipe and the jars and they were stunning and taste really good. Thanks for your help. ( I wish I could post a picture ❤️☺️)

          4. I’m so glad to hear that, Naomi! I wish you could post a picture as well–I used to have that feature, but it was abused by spammers so I had to turn it off. 🙁 Hopefully it will be possible in the future.

  2. I bake often and decided to try these for Valentine’s Day. . They turned out cute but I have to say not that flavorful. Frosting is ok but cake not so good. Will look for something else next year.

    1. Hey Pam, I am sorry to hear that! If you ever want to troubleshoot and see if there is something we could do don’t hesitate to email me. Thank you for your feedback!

  3. Would this work using a boxed cake mix? This is a great idea, I need something to do for a meeting close to Easter. I wondered about using a white or yellow boxed cake mix and adding some food coloring.

  4. Hi Elizabeth! Do you know how many days these would stay good without refrigeration? I would love to make these and send them to a friend in a different state.

    1. Hi Sara! If I were going to mail these, I think I would swap out the frosting for a different recipe. This one has a lot of dairy (cream cheese + butter) and I would be nervous about that being unrefrigerated for a few days. If you used an American buttercream with shortening (and a bit of butter if you wanted) I think that would be safer for a couple days, especially since the weather is colder right now, but I still wouldn’t count on it for more than 3-4 days in an insulated box.

  5. We loved these! We left out the frosting flavoring but the cake and frosting texture were both perfect.

  6. I was think of giving out a gift and i just saw this, this is just so amazing, i love it. Can i give this as a birthday gift

    1. Hi Fatima! What a fun idea for a birthday gift. You can definitely use this as a gift. Just make sure to keep it refrigerated until you are ready to give it and remind the recipient to refrigerate until they are ready to eat it. Happy Baking!

  7. Hi! I want to make these as a gift for some friends but have to prep them ahead of time (baking the cake a few days in advance then freezing it, then assembling it the day before giving them out), but will they still be good? The recipe looks great and sounds like it’ll be a hit!

    1. Hi Kate, that is exactly what I would do to prep this in advance! It’s much better to freeze cake than refrigerate it–keeps it more moist–and that sounds like a perfect plan. Please let us know how it turns out!