Berry and Fruit Jelly Cake

This cake doesn’t need to be baked in the oven. It’s quite simple to make, yet it looks very impressive. The cake isn’t overly sweet, which allows you to really taste the berries and fruit. It’s served chilled — so the jelly doesn’t melt — making it perfect for hot weather. As part of our family cooking project, the cake is prepared by my daughter, little 9-year-old chef Barbara.

If you’d like to see all the steps with the ingredients in more detail, here’s the video from our channel: 👉https://youtu.be/r_sBhudkskw. The video is in Russian, but don’t worry — there’s not much speech, and the cooking process doesn’t really need translation, right? 😉

Ingredients:

Sugar – 100–150 g (½ – ¾ cup)

Gelatin – 35 g (about 5 packets Knox, 4 tbsp)

Water – 200 ml (¾ cup)

Berries – 300 g (about 2 cups) — we used blueberries

Fruit (fresh or canned) – 300 g (about 2 cups) — we used pineapple

Sour cream – 1 liter (about 4 cups)

1. If sour cream is not available, you can use:
2. Creme fraiche
3. Full-fat plain Greek yogurt

You will also need:

1. A jelly mold
2. A saucepan
3. A spatula for stirring the gelatin (a silicone one works best)

Jelly mold: If you don’t have one, you can pour the mixture into glasses, cups, or any deep bowl. It won’t look quite as impressive, but it will still taste delicious. It also looks very pretty when served in individual glasses.

Pour the water into a saucepan, add the gelatin, stir with a spatula, and let it bloom for at least 10 minutes.

Prepare the berries and fruit — wash them, and if you have something large (like pineapple), cut it into pieces. Blueberries don’t need to be cut since they’re already small.

Not all fruits work well with gelatin. Some contain an enzyme that prevents gelatin from setting. Pineapple is one of them. So, if you are using fresh pineapple, place it in a small saucepan, add 100 ml (about ½ cup) of water, and heat it for 3–5 minutes. During this time, the pineapple will hardly change in flavor, but it will no longer interfere with the gelatin’s setting. If you are using canned fruit (including pineapple or peaches), you can safely skip this step.

Check the gelatin. It should look like in the photo. If it hasn’t fully bloomed yet, give it more time. If it has bloomed, move on to the next step.

Place the saucepan with the gelatin over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, and wait until it is completely dissolved in the water.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sour cream with the berries, fruit, and sugar. Slowly pour the dissolved gelatin into the mixture in a thin stream, stirring continuously to prevent the sour cream from curdling.

Pour the mixture into the mold(s).

Place the jelly in the molds in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

The finished jelly in the mold will be firm (just like jelly). Next, carefully remove it from the mold. Our mold opens as shown in the photo. Jelly cannot be removed from glasses.

And the most enjoyable step — decorating our dessert. We used fresh raspberries and canned peaches for this.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. In our family, this much jelly gets eaten in a single day. Enjoy your meal and happy cooking!