Broken Glass Cake with Milk Jelly
Ingredients
4–6 servings
For the colored jelly
- Jelly mix in different colors 3–4 packets
- Gelatin 10–12 g per packet
- Water as directed on the packet
For the milk base
- Milk, 2.5% 0.5 l
- Gelatin 15–20 g
- Sugar to taste
- Vanilla to taste
Step-by-step recipe
Colored “shards”
The cake is easy to make, though you have a long wait while the jelly sets. For the colored “shards” of broken glass, you can buy a few ready-made jelly mixes, sold in stores. Or, more interestingly, you can set fruit juices with added gelatin and sugar.
Buy 3–4 jelly mixes in different colors: yellow (lemon), green (kiwi), red (raspberry or cherry) and so on. The broken glass cake should be colorful.
If you like, use orange, cherry or lemon juice and green tea: natural ingredients.
Get out 3–4 deep bowls. Pour one packet of jelly mix into each bowl and add 10–12 g of gelatin.
Ready-made jelly mixes usually make perfectly tasty colorful desserts, but very soft ones, which makes them tricky to cut into cubes. So, and this matters, dissolve them in water with extra gelatin to make the finished jelly firmer.
Dissolve the mix in warm or hot water, in the amount given on the packet; the instructions are very clear. When all the powder has dissolved, strain the liquid and pour it into a wide flat-bottomed bowl or baking dish. The liquid should be 1.5–2 cm deep. Put all the dishes in the fridge until completely set. For the best set, leave the jelly in the cold for 5–6 hours.
The jelly should be firm and not spread when pressed with a finger.
Milk base
As I said, I skipped the sour cream for this cake. For the base I used ordinary 2.5% whole milk from the store.
Ahead of time, soak 15–20 g of gelatin in lukewarm water and let it swell. That’s enough for 0.5 l of milk.
Make the milk base. Pour the milk into a pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar and vanilla to taste. You can also add other flavorings, like “rum” or “lemon”. Once the milk has cooled a little but is still hot, stir in the swollen gelatin. The mixture will quickly become smooth. Strain the milk: boiled milk often forms a skin and foam. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Milk with gelatin sets very well, so as soon as it has cooled to room temperature, assemble the cake right away.
Assembling the cake
Get out a few glass bowls or dishes with sloping sides. Take the colored jellies out of the fridge and cut them with the tip of a knife into 1.5–2 cm squares, right down to the bottom of the dish. Transfer all the jelly with a spatula to a large bowl and mix gently.
Fill each bowl or dish with colored jelly cubes. Try to keep the cubes from sticking up above the rim. If needed, press them down a little with your palms.
Be sure the milk mixture has cooled to room temperature by now. Carefully pour it into each mold over the jelly cubes, right to the brim.
If some colored jelly sticks out above the surface, that’s fine.
Put the molds in the fridge right away until fully set. And that’s it; all that’s left is to serve.
Serving
The jello cake comes out quite firm, so you can carefully cut it with a knife.
Get a large flat plate ready for serving. Briefly dip the mold in warm water so the jelly touching the sides softens a little. Then just flip the mold, and the cake will drop out onto the plate.
Before serving, you can cut the jello cake into pieces. Decorate it with mint leaves or fresh berries.
The dessert is colorful, and in cross-section it looks like stained glass.
Calories and macros
400 kcal
Serving ≈ 210 g
- Protein16 g16% of kcal
- Fat4 g9% of kcal
- Carbs77 g75% of kcal
100 g188 kcalProtein 7.6 gFat 1.9 gCarbs 36.1 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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To Get It Right
If the colored jelly is too soft
If the colored jellies for Broken Glass Cake turn out too soft to cut, you can reheat them, add more gelatin and let them set again.
Instead of packet jelly
For Broken Glass Cake you can use ready-made jelly candies or gummies in different colors, cut into pieces; many readers do it this way. Everything else stays the same.
With cookies
- Add pieces of cookies, for example baked-milk flavored ones, to the colored jelly in Broken Glass Cake for a more filling cake.
- Or lay cookies in a layer on the bottom of the mold and in the middle, between the cubes.
With fruit
Broken Glass Cake can also be made with fruit: add pieces of banana or canned peaches to the jelly cubes. Fresh pineapple and kiwi don’t work: gelatin sets poorly with them.
Have your own trick for this recipe?
Questions and answers
What is broken glass cake made of?
Cubes of multicolored jelly and a white gelatin base poured over them. The base is usually made with sour cream, but this recipe uses milk: to my taste, a delicate milk jelly is far better.
Can you make broken glass cake with sour cream?
Yes. Get sour cream that’s not too rich and not noticeably sour. Don’t boil it: mix it with sugar and gelatin that’s already dissolved and slightly cooled.
How long does broken glass cake take to set?
The colored jelly needs 5–6 hours in the fridge. After you pour in the milk mixture, the cake sets for another 3–4 hours; it’s easiest to leave it overnight.
How do you dissolve gelatin for broken glass cake?
Soak the gelatin in lukewarm water, let it swell, then stir it into the hot milk. 15–20 g of gelatin is enough for 0.5 l of milk, and each packet of colored jelly mix gets another 10–12 g.
Can you make broken glass cake with condensed milk?
Yes: replace some of the milk with condensed milk and add little or no sugar. 3–4 tbsp of condensed milk (60–80 g) is enough for 0.5 l of milk.