Desserts for the Deserving
The need can be anything from a new baby to a hospital stay to the loss of a loved one.
The desire on our part is the same, to make life easier for the recipient. To give them a gift of a warm, comforting, homemade meal.
When my church reached out and asked if I could bring a meal to a family that just had their first child I said yes before she could finish talking. Having just have had a baby myself, I know how wonderful a small kind gesture can be!
So in addition to the main grub, I decided to bring them a fun dessert.
I made the six different cakes in jars! They are roughly a single serving each, or if you are like me, they are half a single serving.
Each jar is different and each has its own distinctive frosting.
But here is the fun part.
I made them all from ONE cake recipe.
White Cake
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk
4 egg whites
2 cups cake flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine sugar and shortening until well blended. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until light and frothy. (about 3 minutes) Sift baking powder into flour. Add flour to sugar mixture alternating with the milk. Add extract. Gently add egg whites and fold in until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes depending on your stove.
Baking tip specifically for jars:
Add 1/2 cup cake batter to well greased jar and bake at 325 for 35-45 minutes. The goal is to make sure the center is not raw, hence the longer cooking time. Start watching your jar at 30 minutes to make sure you don't over-bake.
Here is how I made six different cakes with one batter!
In every recipe I added the suggested ingredients to 1/2 cup of the plain white cake batter.
(I used this buttercream recipe and Cool Whip for my whipped topping)
Doh! That should totally say PEACH, not peace. Sorry!
This was a fun and easy way to make sure everyone gets something they would like!
I also tied a tag onto each jar describing the contents. I sorta had this vision of the new mom sitting at her kitchen table at 2:00am feeding her baby with every jar open in front of her and shes sampling a little from each one.
Maybe that was less of a vision and more of a fantasy. Cause like, I am still feeding my three month old at 2:00am.
I also added little words of encouragement on the top of each jar… a Bible saying on a couple, "Congrats", "Blessings", easy sayings like that.
This whole project with definitely a labor of love and I felt so privileged that I was able to offer up a small gift!
If you try it, be sure to leave a comment and let me stop by and gush over your Dessert for Someone Deserving!
123 Responses to “Desserts for the Deserving”
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I love this, Amanda!!! So creative and thoughtful! As soon as I can get some jars, we’re going to try this! (yes, I mean in like 6 months when my memory returns…babies!) We have loved being showered with meals this last week from friends–it really does mean a lot!
This is such a smart and thoughtful idea. I may just have a baby so you will bring some to me.
Amanda
LOVE this idea…so sweet and creative!! Don’t feel bad…last night was the very first time that our Karlena slept through the night….she is 3 days shy of 7 months. And I expect this is a fluke and tonight will not be the same! Here’s to 2am feedings and the opportunity to spend some time loving on our babes and praying for our friends!
Blessings, Kristin
such a great idea! love how i recipe can be so versatile!
I bet they were blown away when they saw what you brought them, what a nice thing to do. You are such a kind soul.
These are so sweet, Amanda! They are such a perfect, thoughtful idea for gifts!
Not only is the idea of the single serving and the use of one batter for all the different concepts just lovely and fantastic, but the gesture and the kind encouraging words of the personalization of the note on each is just so sweet and kind.
What a sweet idea and so special to create 6 unique flavors! You really outdid yourself and I am sure the recipient loved every single bite of each cake flavor!
This is a great idea. Did you mention the size of jars you used? You have such great cakes& treats on your blog!
What a wonderful idea. I like the thought of the mom at the kitchen table sampling because I DEFINITELY would have been doing that! Love the tags on them, too!
I absolutely LOVE this idea. Those lucky people!
This is such a unique idea, I’ve got to try to something like this! Amazing!
How neat! I really enjoy this idea
What a GREAT idea to try a few different recipes! Thank you for sharing!
So amazing and beautiful! I didn’t know you could bake the cake right in the jar, I’m going to go buy some now! I wonder if any jar would suffice…I’ve seen many at Target/Walmart that are super cute.
Gorgeous and such a wonderful idea. And I love the verse written on the top of the lid. One of my favorites.
very charming dessert and very fun presentation.
This is darling!!! I love it, and will certainly borrow this idea from you! Thanks!!
That has got to be one of the sweetest and creative things I have seen in awhile! What a great idea. =D You are one awesome/sweet lady!
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