Shipping Pumpkin Cupcakes in a Jar

One of the most popular questions I get is:
How do you ship cupcakes?

Answer: it's not easy. And most importantly, the cupcakes won't look perfect.

Last year I posted about Beantown Baker using Mason jars. You have to slice the cupcake in half and pipe frosting in between.

Photo: Beantown Baker

A few weeks later I attempted this when I shipped pumpkin cupcakes for Operation Baking Gals. Not easy.

A few months ago I posted about Yummy Cupcakes version of shipping cupcakes. They use taller mason jars and layer cake and frosting and cake and frosting.

Photo: Flickr

Last week Cakespy wrote about her idea for shipping cupcakes on Serious Eats. Her idea: bake the cupcakes in the jar. Genius! Saves a lot of time and trouble trying to squeeze the cupcakes into a small jar.

Photo: Serious Eats

Will we ever come up with an easy solution to shipping cupcakes? Maybe. One thing I've learned though, it doesn't matter how the cupcakes look after shipping, it's how they taste! Happy baking!

Cupcake in a Jar

My friend Kelly, my other training partner, dropped off this cupcake in a jar for me the other night. She made these as gifts for her son's pre-school staff. Super cute and very easy to make. She used Funfetti cake mix for the cupcakes and whipped up her own frosting. She then used a concept that I blogged about a few months ago.

Cupcake, frosting, cupcake, frosting, cupcake, frosting.

Add a bow and spoon and the gift is complete. The addition of a spoon is such a cute idea, but then again, she is such a creative lady.

Shipping Cupcakes by Yummy Cupcakes

Rachel from Cupcakes Takes the Cake was recently in LA. Of course she stopped by a few cupcake shops, one of them being Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica. She posted pictures of her cupcakes, but also included pictures of cupcakes in a jar. I was intrigued by the cupcakes in a jar because I get so many people asking me about how to ship cupcakes.

Last year I wrote about Beantown Baker's idea of shipping cupcakes in small mason jars. I even tried it myself when I participated in Operation Baking Gals. But Yummy Cupcakes makes it better by taking it one step further: layering.

Looks like Yummy Cupcakes starts with a layer of frosting, then adds 1/3 cupcake cut horizontal, then more frosting, then 1/3 cupcake, then more frosting, then the remainder of the cupcake, then a bit more frosting. They also use large mason jars, instead of small ones, which allows room for more cupcake! And because the cupcake is dissected, it doesn't really matter that the cupcake doesn't look beautiful....the stacking of the cupcake and frosting give the cupcake a unique look. Like this!

Photo: Flickr

Photo: Flickr

To get more info about ordering cupcakes from Yummy Cupcakes, check out their website.