Cake in Abundance.

Today I'm channeling the days where everything was homemade, canned, and pressure-cooked. Pantries were lined with the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor ... and cake?

Now, for those of you that know me, you know my sweet tooth controls just about every aspect of my baking. And for those of you that don't know me, just know, I'm THAT girl. The girl that eats cake for breakfast, skips lunch to stop by the bakery for an eclair, and HAS to have dessert every night after my one decently healthy meal for the day, dinner. When I was pregnant with my son and had gestational diabetes ... I truly thought I wouldn't make it two days without sugar.

Last month, I was perusing my mother-in-law's cookbooks (thanks, Gayl!) for something new, and I came across this lovely little recipe for cake-in-a-jar. Apparently, once sealed, these moist and tasty little guys have a shelf-life of up to a year! Good luck not gobbling them up before that though! The recipe here is for Applesauce Cake, and it's a super-moist Gingerbread with little bits of apple ... how do I know what it tastes like? I've already cracked open a jar ...

Oh yes, some people ... normal people ... have canned vegetables in their pantry, no thanks. I'm well on my way to having rows of canned CAKE!!! Here's the final product, followed by the super-easy recipe!

And just as a side-note, this is perfect to send in care-packages to family members for the holidays, or to soldiers stationed away from home—just make sure to send utensils, too!

Ingredients:

2/3 C. Shortening

2 2/3 C Sugar

4 Eggs

2 C. Applesauce

1/3 C. Water

3 1/3 C. Sifted Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Cloves

6-8 wide mouth, pint-size mason jars; seals, and rings (make sure they're wide mouth so the cake comes out in one piece!)

Step One: Find a cute little assistant (like the one pictured below) to help with the mixin' and measurin'.

Step Two:

Cream together the shortening and sugar. When you're done, it should look all fluffy and pretty, like this:

Step Three:

Beat in the eggs, one at a time (Don't skip this part and add them all at once. Yes, I'm talking to you)! Once you've spent ridiculous amounts of time cracking open eggs and mixing them in, it should look like this:

Step Four:

Add the applesauce (I used 1/2 applesauce and 1/2 sliced apple, using chunky applesauce would have the same effect) and water; set aside.

Step Five:

Sift together (and yes, you actually have to sift it all) flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

Step Six:

Blend dry ingredients into applesauce mixture to form a lovely batter, like this (insert your own cute mixer, I'm hanging onto mine!):

Step Seven:

Use wide-mouth mason jars (or whatever brand you like ... I'm just partial to mason), grease with Pam™ and fill each half-full with batter. Place jars on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center).

Steph Eight:

Wipe jar-rims clean (super important for them to seal correctly!) and place seal and ring on the jars. Once they cool, the jars will seal.

Voila! Cake in your pantry for a year!