After TSA confiscates cupcake, how to travel with dessert

A TSA agent holds a jar containing a cupcake that was confiscated at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Hains says the agent took her cupcake, telling her its frosting was enough like a gel to violate TSA restrictions on allowing liquids and gels onto flights to prevent them from being used as explosives. (AP Photo/Rebecca Hains)

Hosting a guest can be stressful; from cleaning your house so that your guest doesn’t know what kind of disgusting filth you actually live in, to planning meals so that you’re not over doing it on your mediocre cooking.

It is simply icing on the cake having a good friend/needy family member bring you a hostess gift. Common themes include a bottle of wine, a hometown-made-gift, or something you whipped up in the kitchen.

That’s the likely story of today’s protagonist who only wanted to travel with one of nature’s cutest desserts, the cupcake. His or her cupcake, which I assume they thought would travel well, was of the in-the-jar variety when it set off alarms at TSA.

TSA said it was the out-of-the-ordinary jar context for the cupcake that first drew TSA’s attention. Though, airport security was quick to defend their actions. They sited their 3-1-1 policy about carrying liquids, aerosols or gels in carry on luggage. Frosting, as it turns out, falls under the gel category. Since the cupcake in the jar used an extra amount of frosting, it was violating the 3-1-1 rule (it wasn’t in the required quart-sized bag,) and set off alarms as a possibly disguised bomb.

If you’re like the MyNorthwest.com team, one of your first thoughts was probably, ‘this sounds quite silly!’ and then you thought, ‘how do I make a cupcake in jar?’

Well, we looked it up for you:
Here is an easy to follow recipe we found on The Creative Itch Boutique:

To make these, you’ll need:

*Your favorite cake batter (tip: if you use cake mixes like me, try adding 1 c. sour cream to the batter. Makes it even better!).

*Mason jars (I used pint and 1/2 pint).

1). Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2). Grease and flour the mason jars.
3). Fill jars 1/2 full with cake batter, and put jars on a cookie sheet.
4). Bake for about 20 minutes.
5). Let cupcakes cool completely (careful when taking these out of the oven….the jars are HOT!).

Once your cupcakes have cooled off, decorate with your favorite frosting and sprinkles!!

Back to TSA trouble: “This incident may seem like a silly move to many of our critics,” said blogger Bob Burns on the TSA blog, “but when we can’t be exactly sure of what something is, every officer has the discretion to not allow it on the plane. This is done purely for the safety of everyone traveling.”

If you intend on traveling with cupcakes, here are some of our suggestions to avoid a problem at security. Cupcakes in a jar belong in your checked baggage, and then they won’t violate the “gel, 3-1-1” rule. We bet that TSA would also let you carry on normal cupcakes in one of these, though we haven’t confirmed it. You could also create the pre-baked version of cupcake in a jar, as seen in this video, and it should be safe for both carry on and checked baggage.

Safe travels!