Stained Glass Cake

By Liz - June 16, 2009

My mom and I both recieve Cook's Country magazine (which I love) and at the back of each issue there is "The Great American Cake" with a gorgeous photo of a cake. The June/July issue showcased Stained Glass Cake which is just so pretty. Now, this is a Jell-O cake (I'm sure some of your are thinking, what?!) and it was a ton of fun to make. My mom and I made it together on her birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!) and we had a great time on our culinary adventure. I've included the recipe and the pictures below. The results were delicious!

Stained Glass Cake

12 graham crackers, crushed to fine crumbs (1 1/2 cups of crumbs)

3/4 cup sugar, divided

5 tablespoons butter, melted
3 (3 ounce) boxes of Jell-O (we used 2 strawberry and 1 peach, they recommended 2 red and 1 blue--which gives it a patriotic feel, perfect for the 4th of July!)

4 1/2 cups of boiling water, divided use

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon salt

1. For the crust: Adjust the oven rack to the middle and heat oven to 325. Stir the cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and butter in a bowl until crumbs resemble wet sand. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. (Note, I would pam or lightly butter the bottom of the pan). Bake until edges are golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.

2. For the filling: In 3 separate bowls, whisk each box of Jell-O with 1 1/2 cups boiling water until dissolved. Pour into 3 loaf pans or pie plates and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. (I did this the night before so that they were ready to go in the morning). Once Jell-O has solidified, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and keep chilled.

3. Combine 1/4 cup pineapple juice and unflavored gelatin in a bowl. Microwave, stirring occasionally, until dissolved (it took our microwave 30 seconds). Slowly whisk in remaining pineapple juice. With electric mixer set on medium, whip cream, vanilla, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar about 3 minutes or until you have whipped cream. Reduce speed to low and slowly add pineapple juice mixture until combined. Gently fold in Jell-O cubes. Scrape into the prepared pan and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.

That's it! Essentially it is Jell-O, whipped cream, and graham cracker crust. This would be perfect for a kids party or a big picnic. It was difficult to serve in cake slices, so I would consider doing it in a large pyrex and just cutting squares. We had visions of the whipped cream mixture oozing out of the springform (it didn't, in fact, the springform was broken and we had to use a screwdriver to pry it open). We were so proud that our cake looked exactly like the picture!

It really did set!