Cookie Jar Cake with Cookie Monster Cupcakes~ Blog Tutorial

Hey there--today, I am going to show you how to make a CUTE Cookie Jar Cake with quick and easy Cookie Monster Cupcakes!

This cake is quick, cute, & perfect for the cookie lovers...the cookie jar collectors...and of course, all of the Cookie Monster fans!

Table of Contents

How to Make a CUTE Cookie Jar Cake

We'll start with the cookie jar, and then make some Cookie Monster cupcakes to go with it--

Let's get started!

Step one-- Cookie jars come in all shapes and sizes. I decided to go with a cookie jar that is shaped a whole lot like a cake...since that makes things nice and easy. Of course, you could go with a rounded cake if you'd rather!

How to Make a Double Barrel Cake (TALL Cake)

As I often do, I used a double barrel cake construction so that I could have a taller cake. I used 4 fairly fat 6 inch cake layers.

I filled and settled the first two layers, and inserted 4 bubble tea straws cut to the size of those two layers. These straws will support the weight of my next two layers, as you'll see in a minute.

Here, you can see the cardboard cake circle that I trimmed slightly smaller than the 6 inch cake layers. Then, I added the next two cake layers and frosted the entire cake as one tall cake.

You do not need to have a tall cookie jar--I just like the look!

When you have a tall cake like this one, the internal supports and cake board not only keep the cake stable, they also keep your servings a reasonable size. (Otherwise, that would be a TALL slice of cake!)

Smoothing the Buttercream Frosting (Using Viva Paper Towel Method)

Next, I frosted my cake with a crusting vanilla buttercream, like our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe or our butter based Classic Vanilla Recipe. Once crusted, I smoothed over it with the help of a Viva paper towel.

If you'd rather not use the Viva Paper Towel method of smoothing, another popular method is to chill the cake in the freezer for about 20 minutes until the frosting is firm.

Then, glide over it with a heated bench scraper or spatula. You may need to add a little fresh buttercream to stubborn places to that it can melt as you glide over it.

Carving the Cookie Jar Cake

Next, I used a sharp (non serrated) knife to make a shallow cut into the top of the cake.

I wanted to remove a small amount of cake so that the cookie jar would look more realistic. It's much easier to cut your circle if you have a cookie cutter or round template to mark where you will be cutting.

Next, I removed the excess cake. You can see from the photo that the amount removed was thin, but it will give us just enough depth for our cookies.

I applied a thin layer of buttercream to the newly exposed cake, and then began working on the other accents.

Creating the Lid for the Cookie Jar Cake

My cookie jar lid is two cardboard cake circles, taped together, coated with a thin layer of vegetable shortening, and then a layer of red fondant. (I used pre-colored red Satin Ice fondant.).

I used my cookie cutter as a template for cutting out the cardboard cake circles, so that they would be approximately the same size as the opening that we cut into the top of the cake.

I added a little white fondant knob on top of the lid, securing with a little sugar glue.

I used red and blue fondant for accents to give our cookie jar some personality! Polka dots are cut from large and small piping tips. I used an alphabet cutter set to cut out the word "cookies" in red fondant.

Adding the Cookies to the Cookie Jar Cake

Adding the cookies was my favorite part! Suddenly, our cake turned into a cookie jar!

You can slice the cookies in half if you'd like for them to go even further (and give the illusion that they are pushed more deeply into the jar). My cookie of choice today was Chips Ahoy Minis.

Small Ribbon Border

Next, I greased a red ribbon with a little vegetable shortening and wrapped it around the bottom of the cake for a border.

Greasing the ribbon is an important step for whenever you make a ribbon border because it discolors the ribbon in a uniform way.

If you did not do this, the buttercream would causes splotches on the ribbon.

We'll show you the cookie jar very soon...but for right now, let's make some Cookie Monsters!!!

How to Make EASY Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Have you ever made Cookie Monster cupcakes? SO easy and so cute!

All that you need is buttercream tinted Royal Blue (somewhere between medium & stiff consistency), some white candy melts for the eyes, black buttercream, and some cookie halves.

Cookie Monster's fur is piped with a Wilton grass/hair tip (233), and I used a round piping tip 4 for the pupils of the eyes.

Next, I pushed a cookie half into the icing...

Then, I added our white candy melts (rounded side up) and piped on the pupils with black buttercream. Of course, you can improvise with icing eyes, fondant eyes, marshmallow eyes, etc.

That's it! Now, let's huddle them around the cookie jar where they belong!

Aren't these the cutest?! Whether you make only the jar, only the Cookie Monsters, or both as we did, I hope that you'll give this idea a try!

The crusting buttercream frosting used for our Cookie Jar Cake

For this recipe, we used Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream which is a crusting vanilla buttercream. This works perfectly with the Viva paper towel method demonstrated above:Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe .

This is a shortening and butter based frosting. If you prefer an completely butter-based frosting, check out our Classic Vanilla Recipe!

My Cake School Online Cake Tutorials, Recipes, and More!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you enjoyed the tutorial! Don't forget to check out our full collection of Free Cake Tutorials and Favorite Cake and Frosting Recipes for more delicious ideas and inspiration!

Now, it's time for cookies and cake!

52 Comments

I need to make a cake shaped like a mason jar...would this technique work for it? I tried to make a cake stacked (four - 6in layers), but the day after I finished and transported it, it started to sink down..... what did I do wrong? Thanks so much for your help.

Hi Gracie-- Yes, it should work well for it! You could carve away just a little bit at the top edge to get a slight taper if you'd like... or if you don't want to carve and still want a tapered look at the top, you could form that section with rice cereal treats and frost over it along with the rest of the cake.

When you had the issue with the sinking layers, was it a double barrel construction with the supports within? If so, maybe the cake was on the soft side and settled? To prevent this from happening, you could wrap each two layer "tier" in plastic wrap, settle for several hours or overnight with a weight of some sort (thin book, thick magazine), and then assemble as usual.

Let us know if you have any more questions! Good luck!

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about the rice krispy treats...Do you mean shape them as the rounded rim, and then "glue" them to the top of the cake to make it look like a rim??

Maybe I didn't let the cakes settle enough before stacking them. Could I also put the 4 layers together using a SPS system? I've never used that system, but I did find an instructional video on you tube the other day. I believe it said the columns and plastic separators are not hard to find at places like Michaels??
This cake will have to be transported to another location for the client and I would hate for it to collapse like the other one (which was just done for me really; so it didn't really matter)
Thanks for all your help!

Hi-- Disregard the rkt's idea if you already have something worked out! I was just thinking that if you don't like to carve your cakes, but still wanted to get that tapered look, it would be easy enough to rest a shaped rkt piece on top of the double barrel cake layers which would be angled in. --

On second thought though, if you want to taper the top at all, it's easy enough to just carve away the edge of the cake, then frost or cover with fondant as usual, and then create an rkt lid.

I'm just throwing out ideas here! ;0) -

The SPS system is something that you can order online (Michael's, etc. do not sell the SPS...they have their own version plates/hidden pillars. -

The SPS plates are nice because they really do well in transport....but also think that you should be fine just using a cake cardboard and supports within your double barrel, and then you can just hammer a sharpened dowel through your stacked tiers and into the cake base below to make everything secure. (Of course your cake base would need to be stacked cake cardboards, foam core, or other material that will accept the sharpened dowel.) --

Okay. I'll give it a try and hope for the best! Thanks for all your great suggestions....

That was awesome! I am going to make this for my grandchildren. Thanks for sharing

I'm a newbie to this. How much cake batter does this cake require to create it the same height as the one you have pictured? Also can you use regular plastic straws or won't they provide enough support?

Hi Bunny-- I would say I used about 2 cups or so per 6" pan...so that would be about 8 cups total for this 4 layer cake.

I really prefer bubble tea straws to regular straws because they are stiffer and wider. Some grocery stores sell fat straws that are similar to bubble tea straws if you don't have time to order...and some international grocery stores sell bubble tea straws if you happen to have any nearby. Michael's and craft stores where cake supplies are sold also sell hollow plastic dowels which are even stiffer than bubble tea straws and work well (but they are pricier).

Re: batter amounts in the future~ Here is a helpful Wilton chart which includes batter amounts that you can use as a guide. Hope this helps!

Thanks, its very helpful. I recently made the tie dye cake for my 11 year old granddaughter's birthday. Since her birthday is so close to Christmas I was really looking for something very un-Christmassy to make sure it was all about her birthday. She loved it. I also made the gingerbread house cake for Christmas Day. I used a chocolate cake instead and regular plastic straws. I had trouble frosting the cake because the cake wasn't as dense as the gingerbread probably would have been. It was a little crumbly when I carved it. Decorations and frosting hide a world of imperfections. It looked beautiful and no one noticed the imperfections but me. :) I'm going to get the bubble tea straws for my next endeavor. I love this site. Thank you.

Thanks so much, Bunny! I really appreciate your kind words! I agree, decorations and frosting can make a world of difference ;0) Thank goodness, lol ;0) -- Thanks for being a part of our site!