Orange Jelly with Soft Chocolate

Ok, this isn't the dessert I'm supposed to make today. I initially planned on making my vanila bean cherry jelly with custard. However, the supermarket didn't have any unflavoured gelatin and vanilla pods so I had to improvise. I scanned the racks and ended up getting orange gelatin. I know it would go well with soft chocolate so hence, that's what I made today. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

 

The ingredients: 

• A packet of orange jelly
• A jar of maraschino cherries
• A small bottle of fresh cream
• A block of chocolate - milk or dark is up to you
• A teaspoon of essence of vanilla

The procedure:

 

Boil some water. In a bowl, dissolve the gelatin powder in the hot water and let it cool. Prepare your mould. In my case, I like using ice trays. Throw a cherry into each mould and put the ice trays in the refrigerator to let the gelatin cool and set.

 

To melt chocolate, you need a double boiler. I don't own one so I use my sauce pan and a glass bowl. My glass bowl is pyrex so I know it can take some heat. Before you use a glass bowl, make sure that it can be used for cooking. Alternatively, you can use a stainless bowl. Boil some water in the sauce pan and put the bowl on top. If it slides in, that's alright as well so long as the water doesn't get into the bowl. Once the chocolate starts melting, pour in the cream and stir. Put in a teaspoon of the vanilla essence. Mix well and let it cool.

 

Now take out your orange jelly from the ice trays and put it in a large bowl. Pour the remainder of the cherries and pour your chocolate sauce on top. Simple, easy and delicious!

 

Here are some photos.

 

 

 

pour the hot water over ther gelatin powder. (or sticks)

 

make sure it is dissoilved properly.

 

pour it into your mould.

put the cherries in.

boil some water and put your chocolate in.

let it melt.

pour the fresh cream.

add some vanilla essence.

keep on stirring.

 

refrigerate both ingredients then serve.

If you want to make chocolate sauce, just add more cream. Here's some trivia - in the olden days, gelatin was made by boiling beef cartilage as it naturally coagulated. These days, most gelatin is based on sea weed. However, the ones made from beef is still available and is excellent for savoury gelatin. Check the ingredients when you buy your gelatin so you don't make the mistake of buying the wrong type.

Enjoy! Ciao!