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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Canning Cakes, Sweetbreads, Brownies and such

Yep! I canned cake! And brownies!

I was told you can't do it, but I did anyway.

**Disclaimer** The USDA and the Ag Extension people say there is no proven method for safely canning cakes and sweetbreads. Grannies have been doing it for decades, maybe even centuries so this Granny decided to give it a try. And, in all honesty, cakes aren't technically canned... they're bottled, the difference being in canning you use a pressure canner or a boiling water bath... you don't use either when you can (or bottle) cakes. Having said that... try this at your own risk, I did!

The method is the same for any cake and you can't really can a cake that is decorated or anything like that... brownies work great, banana bread, zucchini bread would be good, pound cakes are ideal... my DH loves an apricot pound cake that his mom used to make and it has a glaze on it using powdered sugar and lemon juice... I even canned that one with great success.

Why would I want to can cake? Two reasons...

One... with food prices beginning to soar out of sight and possible shortages in the future, I'm convinced that one day (maybe soon) something as simple as cake will be too expensive to make or I won't be able to find the ingredients... who knows!?

Two... and this is a biggie... a full-sized pound cake is pretty big. When my kids were home (especially my son as a teenager who could eat a whole cake and drink a gallon of milk in one sitting... I kid you not, he's done it and stayed skinny as a rail the little stinker!) I had no problem getting a cake eaten before it went stale. Now with just DH and myself and the kids a few hours away so they don't drop by often, if we get a hankering for some homemade pound cake and bake one, a lot of the time half the cake goes to waste before we can eat it all. Canning in large mouth pint jars divides a full sized pound cake into 7 or 8 jars, making mini-cakes for us to enjoy when we want... a box of brownie mix will fill about 4 jars.

My own beloved Mama made a sour cream pound cake that was "to die for!" So that's the recipe and pictures I will share today. This is a delicious, moist pound cake that my youngest brother requested every year for his birthday and Mama made for many special occasions. Mama is no longer with us, she's been gone for going on three years and I miss her so much, she was more than my Mama, she was my dear friend. Her recipe for sour cream pound cake...

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 pound butter or margarine
8 oz. sour cream
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. lemon extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift together flour, baking powder, and soda. Cream shortening with butter, beat until very light, adding sugar gradually. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Blend in flour and milk. Add extracts. Fold in sour cream slowly.

Now here's where the "canning" part takes over... in the original recipe you grease and flour a tube pan and bake at 325 degrees for an hour and a half.

To can (or bottle) this yummy goodness of a cake, here's what I did...


First I mixed up my batter... I doubled the recipe and don't recommend it unless you have a REALLY big bowl, it was a challenge keeping all the batter in the bowl, won't be doing that again!


Next I sprayed the inside of my wide mouth pint jars with cooking spray. **I used wide mouth jars because they have straight sides, it would be pretty much impossible to get the cake out of a small mouth jar** I could have greased the inside of the jars with shortening or butter instead but cooking spray is easier and easy is a good thing sometimes. **DON'T flour the jars like you would a pan, it just doesn't work with this baking/canning combo.**


I filled the jar half way with the cake batter to allow room for it to rise. I wiped away any batter that might have dripped onto the rim with a damp cloth. Then I put the jars on a baking pan and slid them into my preheated 325 degree oven. I set the timer for an hour and a half, but checked on them after about an hour. They're done when a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. This batch of little cakes was done in about an hour and 15 minutes.


While the cake jars were baking, I brought my lids and rims to a boil in water and left them simmering so they'd stay hot until needed.


When my cakes were done and golden brown and smelling fabulous, I turned the oven off and opened the oven door, leaving the cakes sitting on the oven rack to stay warm while I took them out and sealed them one at a time.


If the cake had risen above the jar rim, I took a serrated knife and trimmed it down to the edge of the rim. **There's no need to be concerned about headspace with cakes**


I wiped the hot jars again with a damp cloth to remove any crumbs or baked on cake batter. **Care should be taken with this step, the jars are HOT!!!*


I removed the lids, one at a time with my trusty magnetic wand thingy (a FANTASTIC gadget for getting hot lids out of hot water). I gave the lid a little shake to remove as much water as possible, then I tightened them onto the jars.



I then set my sealed up jars of cake onto a folded dish towel on the counter and waited for that magical "Ping!" of a successfully sealed jar... it's a beautiful sound!



To enjoy this treat, just open up the jar, run a knife around the inside between the cake and the jar...


And slide it right out onto a plate.

Sour cream pound cake from a jar! Yum!
I'm told by some older "grannies" that these "canned cakes" will still be good when opened after months or even years... they probably won't get a chance to wait that long to be enjoyed around here!

Canning Granny©2011 All Rights Reserved












65 comments:

  1. Canned Breads and Cakes
    Is it safe to bake and store cakes and breads at home using canning jars?

    ANSWER - Recipes for canned breads and cakes as gift items seem to appear each year around Christmas time. These products are typically made by pouring batter into glass canning jars and baking them in the oven. Once the cake or bread is done, the steaming jars are taken out of the oven and are sealed and cooled to create a vacuum. Most recipes claim that they can be stored without refrigeration for at least a year. Some say they will keep indefinitely.

    The microorganism we are concerned about in these products is Clostridium botulinum. If spores of this type of bacteria are allowed to germinate and grow, deadly botulism toxin is produced. Very small amounts of the toxin can cause an often fatal disease called botulism. Clostridium botulinum spores are abundant in nature but fortunately will only grow and produce toxin in unrefrigerated high moisture foods that are low in acid and exposed to little or no oxygen. These conditions occur in canned foods such as asparagus, green beans, beets, and corn. Thus low-acid canned foods must be processed in pressurized retorts at temperatures of 240 degrees F or higher to make sure that the heat resistant spores are killed.

    Outbreaks of botulism from more unusual sources have been reported such as garlic in oil mixtures, improperly handled baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil, and home-canned or fermented fish. Some research studies have shown that low acid canned bread or cake products may have characteristics that are favorable for growth of Clostridium spores.

    Several years ago, a professor of Food Science at Penn State University developed a recipe for canned bread. It was carefully formulated so that acid and moisture levels would prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum spores during room temperature storage. The product can be safely made as long as the original Penn State recipe is followed exactly as written. However, there is a significant risk that the creative cook may make ingredient substitutions or omissions that could significantly change the pH of the product such that conditions might be more favorable for growth of Clostridium spores.

    In addition to the risk of botulism, there is also a significant risk for consumers to become injury from broken glass when baking cakes and breads in glass canning jars. Canning jars are intended for use in hot water baths or pressure canners and are not designed to withstand the thermal stresses that occur with dry oven heat.

    Therefore, Penn State strongly discourages consumers from canning cakes and breads in jars. Botulism is a serious and often fatal disease and no consumer should take unnecessary risks with this microorganism. If someone gives you a home canned cake or bread product, assume that it is unsafe to eat and immediately discard the contents.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Botulism is a soil borne organism. That is why vegetables are mostly at risk. There is no ground vegetation going into this. The risk here may be mold due to moisture which you can see. So please stop with the scare tactics.

      Delete
  2. can you use and cake recipe. Like one from a box.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rhoda, sure, any cake mix will do. ~~Granny

      Delete
  3. Do you think I could use my own pound cake recipe for this? It's basically like yours only mine doesn't call for milk. Just the sour cream.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I've done several cake recipes, all with good results. ~~Granny

      Delete
  4. I love this it's so much fun. I have one question can I can the lemon sauce for my lemon cake?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Depends on what's in it... if it contains milk, I wouldn't recommend it, milk just doesn't hold up well in canning... gets too hot and kinda curdles. ~~Granny

      Delete
  5. Just found your site, having so much fun! I started canning this year...so far have put up some salsa, pickles, apple sauce, apple butter and pumpkin butter.

    I love the idea of cake in a jar! How long will these be good in storage?
    Thanks!
    Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've eaten them over a year later with good results, since there is no "approved" method there's not information available... but personally, there good for at least a year. ~~Granny

      Delete
  6. Nice! Thank you for your quick reply!
    I went looking online for that "approved" canned bread recipe by the scientist from Penn State, and couldn't find a thing.
    I find that many, many things that have been done and used and made for generations (canning recipes, herbal treatments, old wives tales) have gotten a bad reputatation from "scientists" and doctors...I'd more easily believe someone who's had real life experience with something than a person who lives in a lab. Just sayin'. And strangely enough, I'm a nurse!!!
    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here is the link for the Penn State Professor's "Canned" Bread...

      http://old.post-gazette.com/food/20021110pumpkinrec9p9.asp

      So far none of our canned breads have caused any problems. I suggest always making sure your jars and lids are sterilized and you take necessary precautions to prevent contamination.

      Delete
    2. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19941105&id=PfErAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AmoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4151,440229

      This link actually shows the two original recipes. The problem with using your own is moisture content in addition to low acid etc. These two recipes were developed with both issues in mind, and the cakes were sent over seas to our service men. Tests have been done inoculating batches of other recipes with bacteria and in all cases even though they were cooked the same the bacteria survived. I for one will use only these proved safe recipes it has been noted you must follow them to the letter any variation brings the possibility for bacteria growing. Why take a chance.

      Delete
    3. because, unknown, some of us can't eat all the ingredients and have to vary it.

      Delete
    4. yup can't (and won't) eat shortening - butter, home rendered lard, olive oil. Also react to nuts (particularly walnuts) and any additives (like bleached flour) organic unbleached is OK. Been making brownies in a jar for some 15 years now - still not managed to poison my hubby who takes them hunting.

      Delete
  7. This is such a cute idea. Do you think you could do this with quart sized wide mouth jars if you wanted to make a bigger loaf?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just made my first cake in a jar, not this recipe but a pound cake. It came out okay until I noticed the bottom was not fully cooked. Have you had slightly under cooked cakes, have you eaten them safely?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've seen on other websites where this is popular for sending to loved ones stationed overseas. I would think this would be ok since you can buy bread in a can.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wide mouth quart jars do not work well. The cakes bake nicely in the quarts but when you try to get them out you have to get them out with a fork. I would use wide mouth pints or wide mouth pint and half jars! I'm fixing to make your recipe above and put them in the wide mouth pint and half jars. Thank you for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for sharing !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love this idea, Do you think this would work with half pints? If so how long would the baking take?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have a batch in the oven now...keeping my fingers crossed!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey everyone, as per the concerns with canning breads and cakes I read elsewhere to put apple cider vineger in your recepie. It's the same as adding lemon juice to your tomatoes or green beans to just cook them in a water bath. It raises the PH enough.
    Just a thought, I'm sure there are a dozen or two ways to raise the PH.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First off, it lowers the ph making it more acidic, which is what you want. If you raise the ph you are making something more alkaline. I also think a tablespoon of lemon juice would probably work fine and not change the taste too much.

      Delete
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  33. Love this. just wondering if the cakes could be baked and pressure canned at the same time.
    Like the batter goes into the jars and the jars sealed then pressure canned. So they bake and get canned at the same time?
    Anyone have any idea. Id like to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Love this. just wondering if the cakes could be baked and pressure canned at the same time.
    Like the batter goes into the jars and the jars sealed then pressure canned. So they bake and get canned at the same time?
    Anyone have any idea. Id like to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Love this. just wondering if the cakes could be baked and pressure canned at the same time.
    Like the batter goes into the jars and the jars sealed then pressure canned. So they bake and get canned at the same time?
    Anyone have any idea. Id like to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I have been canning breads and cakes for years...no one has ever became ill...funny how the scientists have to get into everything...tell us its bad to do and wham!It's no longer safe to do what we have been doing for years...after all, if we can our own food we won't be buying from the grocery store and greasing the palms of the already rich, right? Okay, off my soap box...sorry :) I can both pints and half pints... I have found that they stay very fresh for approx. 6-8 months before they start to dry out a bit... when this happens we just slice the cakes and toast them...still delicious and very edible...can away ladies, if you use clean jars and common sense all will be fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, because they baked a cake at 177 degrees? the recipe calles for 325.

      Delete
  37. When making pound cakes that are far too big to be consumed before going stale, I cut it into sections and wrap tightly with plastic and foil and freeze. Freezer storage is limited before it develpops "freezer taste" Since there is a remote chance of a canned cake harboring bacteria, and I think baking and sealing in glass jars is brilliant, I will simply store the extra cake in the freezer. All issues resolved.

    ReplyDelete
  38. has anyone tried oven canning cornbread? i have a reipie that includes sugar, shortening, & eggs.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Is it ok to use Philidelphia Cream Cheese instead of sour cream?. I did and it taste great but I am worried about the storage time.

    ReplyDelete
  40. You made my day ! I want to try this one! :D

    ReplyDelete
  41. I love how your determination to create against the majority has led to all these fantastic breads and cakes in jars. I had experimented one holiday and wanted to layer our dinner in a jar and pressure cook them so that my hubby could eat them for lunches on the road. Could not find one example online of anyone trying this unorthodox method. So it is refreshing to find another rebel!!

    ReplyDelete
  42. I love how your determination to create against the majority has led to all these fantastic breads and cakes in jars. I had experimented one holiday and wanted to layer our dinner in a jar and pressure cook them so that my hubby could eat them for lunches on the road. Could not find one example online of anyone trying this unorthodox method. So it is refreshing to find another rebel!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have indeed wondered the same thing because my husband also drives over the road. I would not see why you could not. I would just pc it as long as meat usually takes.

      Delete
  43. Could I make a pineapple upside-down cake like this too?

    ReplyDelete
  44. I had made many cases of cakes in jars that some of them included nuts, raisins, etc. and the remaining moistness of the raisins kept the cakes too moist in the jars and became "bad"; the nuts became rancid and left a very bad looking cake in the jars, so now I am making plain cakes in jars and then doing sauces or toppings after the cakes are removed from the jars. I love this idea because both my DH and I are diabetics and when we want cake, we can have just a slice and our sweet tooth is satisfied without going over the sugar load..:0)

    ReplyDelete
  45. I have a recipe that that I can and it is very similar to your mother's pound cake but it is a little heavier on the vanilla and uses 2 - 4 Tablespoons lemon juice (or to taste) instead of the 2 teaspoons of lemon extract. It ups the acidity of the cake quite a bit. The cake cans just fine. I haven't had a failure in 60 years. However, it also calls for a lemon juice/lemon zest and powdered sugar glaze to be poured on while the cake is hot. I've not gone that far. What do you think? So far I have just saved putting on the glaze until later when I open the cake because I was concerned with the moisture level. I do warm the cake slightly when I open it to help the glaze sink in though. But I keep thinking on it, not much grows in lemon juice. Maybe if I use just the juice and sugar but not the zest??? I'm still undecided. Your opinion?
    From One Old Canning Granny to Another !!!

    ReplyDelete
  46. My husband wants me to try and can leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving. What is your opinion and if you have done this, your process?

    ReplyDelete
  47. I want to try to make Christmas Stollen in pint jars this week. After reading your tutorial (and it is really good) I do have a few questions. I only put raisins in my stollen & I usually soak them overnight in rum or orange juice because I have found that the dry raisins seem to suck all the moisture out of the bread leaving it somewhat dry. I'm wondering if I should skip this step if I'm canning it?? I am planning on putting enough dough in the jar to fill it 1/3 and then letting it do a final raise to double it before baking. It seems to rise still after this step which should get the jar almost full. What are your thoughts and any recommendations are appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I have done a lot of research on this method. Basically I am siding with you gals that have years of experience in this lost art. I too have canned, but only jelly, preserves, pickles, ect. I have never done Pressure Canning. Currently I have a home bakery, Simply Cupcakes. My problem has been shipping to family, but putting my cakes in glass solves the problem, somewhat. I do have to decorate my cakes, therefore; I will not be "sealing" the jars. Not using preservatives, I will have to probably freeze the cakes overnight, decorate and ship the next day. I did want to make a note here tho. I have baked the cake in the glass; however, I placed my jars in a cake pan with water and then baked them. These jars are not always predictable (as I have found out) and this just gives you even better odds that there is no breakage. I am not an expert, so any ideas are always welcome. You all are great at your craft!!!

    ReplyDelete
  49. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I love to can and preserve food for my family, and we have such a variety of literally everything. I am excited to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  50. I would like to do corn bread..do you have the recipe? Would like to have it...,😀

    ReplyDelete
  51. Canning granny, I can my brown bread in my pressure canned. I do 70 minutes, 10 pounds pressure. I fill my jars to 6 oz, or there will be a mess. It works great! 1 cup each of wheat flour, corn meal, bread flour, 3/4 cup molassis, 1 tea baking powder, 1 tea baking powder, 1/2 tea salt, 1 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tea allspice, and maybe some cinnamon and ginger, 1 tea vanilla.

    ReplyDelete

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