AuthorviagelatohawaiiCategoryBaking, Hawaii RecipesDifficultyBeginnerMy grandma used to make this icebox style "cake" when we were kids for special occasions. It's a shortbread with a light cream cheese pudding and a stunning top of fresh strawberries and Jello.
My grandma doesn't enjoy cooking and this cake she made was definitely considered humbug since it consisted of making separate layers. But, she made it for special occasions anyway because everyone thought it was festive, impressive and so delicious to eat.
Preheat oven for the shortbread to 350 degrees (I baked mine in a toaster oven just fine)
Shortbread Crust:
1 cup flour
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter
3 tbsp sugar
Blitz the ingredients in a food processor to make it easy and quick. No food processor? Mash it by hand with your fingers and a fork.
Press the dough to pack it into the bottom of your pan.
I used a 9.5" round springform.
My Grandma used to bake hers in a rectangular pan and we would just dig out the pieces of the dessert.
Baker's choice.
Pro Tip:
Whenever making shortbread cookies or crust, packing it tightly and firmly ensures the best texture.
The ideal texture for shortbread is short: buttery, crumbly, flaky, easy to cut with a knife or fork and extremely crisp, never soggy.
If you do not take the time to really pack the dough, the crust will come out from baking very fluffy and puffy, sort of like a dry cake.
While initially that may not look terrible, most pastry chefs do not find that ideal because the flour in the dough will be moist and humid through weather and/or the filling.
It will become soggy, pasty and doughy.
It's well worth the minute that it takes to pack down and compress the shortbread dough.
Bake for 10 minutes or until it seems golden brown and fragrant.
Cool, while you prepare the filling.
Soak 3 sheets of gelatin in ice water to hydrate
Takes about 10 minutes to hydrate
(you know it's ready when it feels like rubbery seaweed)
Once hydrated and you are ready to use it, squeeze out the water.
Alternatively, if you are using a 0.25 oz packet of gelatin powder:
use 1/4c ice water
sprinkle the gelatin
stir and the gelatin will hydrate
Pro Tip:
You always MUST hydrate the gelatin in ice water.
You cannot simply add gelatin into a mix - if you do, it will not evenly disperse and you will have clumps and gunks of chewy gelatin in your pudding.
You cannot use room temperature water because the gelatin will begin to dissolve unevenly instead of hydrate.
Blend or whisk:
2 c almond milk
1/2c sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch until dissolved
8 oz cream cheese cut up into small pieces so it dissolves readily
Put the blended mixture into a pot
Heat it on medium whisking constantly (so that it does not stick)
Once everything has dissolved and thickened to a pudding, add the hydrated gelatin sheets (not the soaking water).
If you have used gelatin powder, empty the entire hydrated gel into the hot mix and whisk to dissolve.
Let the cream cheese pudding filling cool so it isn't steaming.
Then pour it into the cake pan on top of the shortbread.
(I cool things in a metal pot directly on my black granite countertop. Granite and marble take away heat, so putting the metal directly on it, conducts the heat away from the hot filling cooling it very rapidly which I like.)
Cool the filled pan in the freezer for 30 minutes so that it sets.
While the pan is setting in the freezer:
Prepare the 3oz package of Strawberry Jello
Use the fast setting instructions
Cool it to room temp
Prepare 2 lbs of fresh strawberries
Take out the fully set cake pan and custard.
Put strawberries on top points facing up starting from the center working your way out.
For the outer ring, slice the strawberries in half and face the cut side of the strawberry to the edge of the pan.
This will create a stunning edge design when you release it from the mold.
Pour the room temp Jello liquid over the strawberries.
Pouring it over each strawberry will create a glazed look.
(do not pour steaming hot Jello - if you do, you will melt the cream cheese pudding layer)
Set the cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
The longer you set it, the more stable it will be.
When you are ready to release it and show it off, remove the mold by gently blowing the outside of the mold with a hair dryer.
It does not need to get hot to release the Jello.
Jello melts easily so only do this when you are ready to serve the cake.
If you are not in a rush and you don't want to risk using a hair dryer, simply leaving the Jello cake out at room temp for 30 minutes and it will naturally melt.
You might need to coax it out of a pan with a knife, but it's your choice how you want to release the cake.
When I was a child, by Grandma would just slice it and dig it out of the pan and we loved it just the same.
When you cut the cake, it's not going to be neat.
The strawberries are whole and the Jello will crumble apart without the structure of the pan.
But, this is literally the way my Grandma would make this dessert with whole huge strawberries and falling apart Jello.
Even though it's messy serving it, I've recreated her recipe for nostalgia sake.
Improvements:
If you want a really firm Jello that holds together, add a packet of gelatin to the mix while you are cooking it.
If you want strawberries easier to cut, slice them and fan them out like petals on a flower.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven for the shortbread to 350 degrees (I baked mine in a toaster oven just fine)
Shortbread Crust:
1 cup flour
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter
3 tbsp sugar
Blitz the ingredients in a food processor to make it easy and quick. No food processor? Mash it by hand with your fingers and a fork.
Press the dough to pack it into the bottom of your pan.
I used a 9.5" round springform.
My Grandma used to bake hers in a rectangular pan and we would just dig out the pieces of the dessert.
Baker's choice.
Pro Tip:
Whenever making shortbread cookies or crust, packing it tightly and firmly ensures the best texture.
The ideal texture for shortbread is short: buttery, crumbly, flaky, easy to cut with a knife or fork and extremely crisp, never soggy.
If you do not take the time to really pack the dough, the crust will come out from baking very fluffy and puffy, sort of like a dry cake.
While initially that may not look terrible, most pastry chefs do not find that ideal because the flour in the dough will be moist and humid through weather and/or the filling.
It will become soggy, pasty and doughy.
It's well worth the minute that it takes to pack down and compress the shortbread dough.
Bake for 10 minutes or until it seems golden brown and fragrant.
Cool, while you prepare the filling.
Soak 3 sheets of gelatin in ice water to hydrate
Takes about 10 minutes to hydrate
(you know it's ready when it feels like rubbery seaweed)
Once hydrated and you are ready to use it, squeeze out the water.
Alternatively, if you are using a 0.25 oz packet of gelatin powder:
use 1/4c ice water
sprinkle the gelatin
stir and the gelatin will hydrate
Pro Tip:
You always MUST hydrate the gelatin in ice water.
You cannot simply add gelatin into a mix - if you do, it will not evenly disperse and you will have clumps and gunks of chewy gelatin in your pudding.
You cannot use room temperature water because the gelatin will begin to dissolve unevenly instead of hydrate.
Blend or whisk:
2 c almond milk
1/2c sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch until dissolved
8 oz cream cheese cut up into small pieces so it dissolves readily
Put the blended mixture into a pot
Heat it on medium whisking constantly (so that it does not stick)
Once everything has dissolved and thickened to a pudding, add the hydrated gelatin sheets (not the soaking water).
If you have used gelatin powder, empty the entire hydrated gel into the hot mix and whisk to dissolve.
Let the cream cheese pudding filling cool so it isn't steaming.
Then pour it into the cake pan on top of the shortbread.
(I cool things in a metal pot directly on my black granite countertop. Granite and marble take away heat, so putting the metal directly on it, conducts the heat away from the hot filling cooling it very rapidly which I like.)
Cool the filled pan in the freezer for 30 minutes so that it sets.
While the pan is setting in the freezer:
Prepare the 3oz package of Strawberry Jello
Use the fast setting instructions
Cool it to room temp
Prepare 2 lbs of fresh strawberries
Take out the fully set cake pan and custard.
Put strawberries on top points facing up starting from the center working your way out.
For the outer ring, slice the strawberries in half and face the cut side of the strawberry to the edge of the pan.
This will create a stunning edge design when you release it from the mold.
Pour the room temp Jello liquid over the strawberries.
Pouring it over each strawberry will create a glazed look.
(do not pour steaming hot Jello - if you do, you will melt the cream cheese pudding layer)
Set the cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
The longer you set it, the more stable it will be.
When you are ready to release it and show it off, remove the mold by gently blowing the outside of the mold with a hair dryer.
It does not need to get hot to release the Jello.
Jello melts easily so only do this when you are ready to serve the cake.
If you are not in a rush and you don't want to risk using a hair dryer, simply leaving the Jello cake out at room temp for 30 minutes and it will naturally melt.
You might need to coax it out of a pan with a knife, but it's your choice how you want to release the cake.
When I was a child, by Grandma would just slice it and dig it out of the pan and we loved it just the same.
When you cut the cake, it's not going to be neat.
The strawberries are whole and the Jello will crumble apart without the structure of the pan.
But, this is literally the way my Grandma would make this dessert with whole huge strawberries and falling apart Jello.
Even though it's messy serving it, I've recreated her recipe for nostalgia sake.
Improvements:
If you want a really firm Jello that holds together, add a packet of gelatin to the mix while you are cooking it.
If you want strawberries easier to cut, slice them and fan them out like petals on a flower.