Now trending: 3D jelly cakes

Classic lemon jelly. Photograph by Gaelx/Flickr

Jelly is no longer just another Sunday morning treat or birthday special – a bright red or sickly yellow hunk of wobbly joy – served to kids along with ice cream or custard. They no longer vaguely taste cough syrup either. Instead, there are fancy 3D jelly cakes being made now, which have their origins in Vietnam, that are winning bragging rights for home bakers and patisserie chefs from Le Cordon Bleu.

A 3D jelly cake made by a top patisserie student of Le Cordon Bleu , Malaysia. Photograph via Le Cordon Bleu Malaysia’s Facebook Page

The first thing that 3D jelly cakes remind us of is the fake plastic flowers that were so loved by our grandmothers back in the Eighties. Bright blue dahlias, hot pink daisies, yellow roses and flowers in all sorts of pastel shades, all made using gelatin, are painstakingly created using special tools and set in jelly cakes and cupcakes.

These gelatin cakes are an unlikely hit in cities such as Coimbatore and Agra with cake companies taking special orders for weddings and other special occasions. Says Sivaranjani Ganapathy of Amato Crafts and Bakers in Coimbatore, “I learnt how to make these cakes from a Malaysian cake artist. It takes a day to get a batch of cakes done – right from setting the base jelly to finishing them off.” These vegan cakes cost about Rs 850 a pop at Amato Crafts and Bakers.

Photograph via Amato Crafts and Bakers