Fruit Jelly Cake

This fruit jelly cake is a jelly cake made using agar agar jelly and loads of fresh cut fruits. It is literally a fruit packed jelly, with the jelly holding all the fruits together into a pretty, bright colored delicious cake.

Set in a square cake tin, this fruit jelly cake consists of layers of strawberries, oranges, kiwis and blueberries held together with agar agar jelly. Made in a combination of bright natural colors of the fruits, this fruit jelly cake is not only great to be enjoyed as a dessert, it can also be turned into a healthy birthday cake.

What is Agar Agar Jelly?

Agar agar is a form of jelly derived from seaweed, hence is a vegan and vegetarian substitute to gelatin powder in making jellies. It is commonly used in Asia and can be found in most Asian supermarkets or stores.

It is often sold in powder form or as agar agar strands. To make jellies with agar agar, you will need to cook it (often with sugar) until it is completely dissolved to allow it to set well.

How to Make

Ingredients

• Agar agar powder
• White sugar
• Water
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Oranges
• Kiwis

Preparing the fruits

For best results, make sure your fruits are fresh.

• Strawberries - Wash and hull the fruits. Gather about 5 o 6 fruits of almost the same size and slice them into halves. For the remaining, cut them into quarters. Set aside.
• Blueberries - Wash and pat the fruits dry. Set aside.
• Oranges - Peel the skin and remove all the white pith that is attached to the fruits. Divide the oranges into segments. Slice the segments into small pieces.
• Kiwis - Wash and peel the skin. Cut each fruit into 4 quarters and slice each quarter into thin pieces.

Cooking the jelly

1. Measure water into a small cooking pot or saucepan. Set aside. In a separate bowl, measure the sugar. Add the agar agar powder and mix well.
2. Pour the agar agar jelly and sugar mix into the water. Stir to combine.
3. Turn on the heat to a medium flame and cook the jelly. Stir constantly for the first 2 or 3 minutes to disperse the jelly into the water and avoid clumping. Thereafter, stir occasionally, but keep close watch to avoid the agar agar from boiling over the pot.
4. Cook the agar agar until it comes to a rolling boil. Turn of the heat and let it cool down for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Preparing the first layer of fruits

While waiting for the jelly to be ready for pouring, arrange the fruits. For jellies generally, and also for this jelly fruit cake, there is no need to line the tin or mold.

As for the order of the fruits in the jelly, it is entirely up to you. The easiest way would be to mix all the cut up fruits, pack them into the mold and pour the hot jelly all over them to set.

Another option is to arrange them in the tin in layers, by each type of fruit.

I chose to go with the second option and took one step further to form a simple flower pattern with the strawberries at the bottom of the tray. Here is how to do it:

1. To make the flower shape and to make sure it is well centered in the tray, identify the mid point on the tray. You can do this with a ruler. Once you identify it, place a blueberry at that point. And then arrange the strawberries that were sliced into half into a 5 petal flower. From there, add more petals to make a large flower.
2. Once you reach the towards the edge of the tin, you can fill up the gaps with the quartered strawberries. And then place the blueberries in the gaps between the strawberries. When you unmold the jelly, you will see the pretty fruit layer design as the top layer of the jelly cake.
3. To hold this arrangement in place, carefully spoon some of the agar agar jelly solution onto the fruits and let it set. Make sure to pour enough jelly such that it form sa thin layer all over the bottom of the tin.
4. Set it aside for a few minutes to allow the jelly to set.

Remaining fruit layers

1. Once set, arrange the sliced kiwis into a second layer above the strawberries. In arranging them, try to place some on the sides of the tin as well so that you will be able to see a layer of kiwis from the sides as well (after unmolding). Also add some blueberries randomly.
2. Pour some more of the jelly solution to hold these kiwis in place.
3. For the next layer, arrange the cut orange slices. Arrange them towards the sides of the tin so that they show on the sides of the jelly once unmolded.
4. And fill the center of the arrangement with all remaining fruits i.e. the cut strawberries and the blueberries.
5. Pour the remaining jelly solution all over to ensure it covers all the fruits. If the solution seems to have cooled down, reheat it again and pour it over.
6. Tap the tin lightly to release any air bubbles in the tin and in between the fruits. Let is cool slightly at room temperature before placing it in the fridge to set completely.

Unmolding the jelly

You can scoop the jelly out directly from the mold and serve it that way if you like. But if you prefer to cut it into nice squares or bars, it is best to unmold the jelly first.

Unmolding jellies can be a little tricky as they tend to attach to the tins or molds. This is not so much the case when using silicone or rubbery molds as you can bend and twist the molds to get the out. But this is not the case with metal mold or baking pan.

1. To unmold effectively from hard molds, run a thin rubber spatula along the edges of the jelly to loosen it.
2. And then, place 4 toothpicks (on on each side of the tray) between the jelly and the tin.
3. Place your serving plate or cake board on the jelly mold (make sure it is well centered) and turn the jelly mold over, holding the serving plate tight against the mold and making sure it does not move.
4. The jelly should drop onto the plate and if it does not, tap it lightly to release from the mold.
5. Lift the mold away, and remove the toothpicks.
6. Cut into bars or squares and serve. The jelly is best served chilled.

Notes

Choice of fruits in the jelly cake

• You can use a variety of fruits of your choice in making this fruit jelly cake. Some of my preferred fruits (other than the ones I have included in this recipe are dragon fruit, green grapes and red grapes, mangoes, peaches, pineapple and lychees.
• Other than fresh fruits, you can also use canned fruits. In fact, canned fruit cocktail is also another option for making this jelly cake.
• Choosing fruits in a combination of bright colors will not only give you a delicious jelly fruit cake, it will also give you a beautiful jelly fruit cake.

Can you replace the water in the recipe with fruit juice?

Yes, you can. This fruit jelly cake can be made with fruit juice such as lychee juice. Or you can add some lemon juice into the water to make lemon flavored fruit jelly cake.

Why does agar agar jelly requires cooking to a boiling stage?

• This is an important factor to keep in mind when making agar agar jellies, especially those made with agar-agar powder. With the powder being so fine, it is difficult to see if it has dissolved effectively into the jelly while cooking.
• Undercooked jelly solution will not set well and you will end up with a mushy jelly. I have learned this the hard way and had to throw away a few batches of jelly until I realized the absolutely necessity to cook the jelly to a boiling point.

How to remove jelly from molds easily?

• Removing jellies from molds, especially the larger metal or glass ones is always a challenge as jellies tend to get attached to the molds. The jelly will unmold easily if there is some space to allow air to go in between the jelly and the mold.
• An easy way to do this is with toothpicks. Firstly, use a thin plastic or rubber spatula to loosen the sides of the jelly fruit cake and then insert the toothpicks, making sure not to damage the side of the jelly.
• Repeat the steps for all sides of the mold (about 3 or 4 places would be sufficient) and then turn the jelly cake over. It should release well from the mold.

Why does the jelly release water and is it still edible?

• This jelly fruit cake can last for a good one week but requires refrigeration. Most often, once released from mold and stored for more than 24 hours, the jelly tends to release liquid.
• This is normal and does not mean the jelly has gone bad. You can discard the liquid and still consume the jelly without any worry.

Like this dessert recipe? Here are my other recipes you might want to check out:

• Agar Agar Jelly Recipe (How to Make)
• Pandan Milk (Flavorful and Easy)
• Konnyaku Jelly - 3 Easy Ingredients Recipe
• Lychee Jelly (Easy Agar Agar Recipe with Fruits)
• Coconut Jelly with Palm Sugar (Coconut Milk Agar Agar)

Recipe

Here is the full printable version of my easy fruit jelly cake recipe card.

And that's that. Enjoy!