In my last post I wrote that I was going to try a whipped Bavarian cream, so I did. This recipe is yet another from my trusty 1936 booklet, What you can do with Jell-O.
My younger brothers stayed at my place for the weekend, which gave me an excuse to make a dessert that none of us has had before. These days I like to make jello for them when they’re in town partially because I think it’s funny, but mostly because it’s quick and easy and I don’t feel like spending more than like 30 minutes away from the fun if I don’t have to.
I’ve been itching to try something repulsive lately, but since my raspberry plants are overflowing we opted instead for a recipe that is both edible and a good use of the fresh fruit. It turned out to be slightly more labor-intensive than I had expected, but only slightly.
Fresh Raspberry Bavarian Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg (3 oz.) Raspberry Jell-O
- 1 cup warm (or hot) water
- 4 T. sugar
- 1 cup fresh raspberries, crushed
- 1 cup raspberry juice and water
- 1/2 cup cream, whipped
Dissolve Jell-O in warm water. Add sugar to berries and let stand 20 minutes. Drain off juice and add water to make 1 cup. Add to dissolved Jell-O. Chill until cold and syrupy. Place in bowl of cracked ice or ice water and whip with rotary egg beater until fluffy and thick like whipped cream. Fold in berries and cream. Turn into mold. Chill until firm. Unmold. Serves 12.
Step ONE: Dissolve and Macerate
Dissolve the Raspberry Jell-O in warm water. I actually used hot water this time because I was curious to see if it would improve the strength of the mold. I mentioned the water thing in my last post about Banana Bavarian Cream, and noted that my 1930’s recipes are notoriously delicate. This bavarian cream turned out much less droopy than the last one, but I can’t definitively attribute this to the water because this was not really a controlled experiment. Whipping it may have made more of a difference. The hot water didn’t hurt though, so I say use warm or hot water.
While the Jell-O is doing its thing, gently crush your raspberries in a bowl with a fork. Sprinkle the sugar thoroughly and let it sit for 20 minutes.
When the raspberries are done, strain out all the liquid and measure how much “juice” you have. I ended up with not quite a half cup. So I added a half cup of water (to equal 1 cup total) and stirred it all into the Jell-O. Chill it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes or until thick and syrupy. Set the raspberries aside for later.
Step TWO: Whip
When the jell-O is thick and goopy, but not set, it’s time to whip.
If you’ve tried the Strawberry Whip, then you already sort of know what to do here. However, unlike the whip, we don’t want this jello to get too frothy.
Put your bowl in another bowl of ice and/or ice water and whip with a whisk or rotary beater. I found that a whisk was not working out very well so I swapped to a hand mixer. Problem is, I don’t have a rotary beater and I didn’t want it to get super foamy, so I used only one whisk on my electric hand mixer at the lowest setting in short bursts. Once it is thick and fluffy, it’s time to add the fruit and cream.
Whip the heavy cream the way you usually do, by hand or in a blender. Do not use pre-whipped cream from a can. You’ve already added sugar so that would just be…too much sugar.
Also, do NOT stick your spatula in the blender until the blade has come to a complete stop or you will cover your face and hair with heavy cream and possibly also destroy the spatula.
Step THREE: Fold and Mold
Gently fold the whipped cream and raspberries into the jello until it’s pretty evenly mixed and a solid color. Take it easy, don’t be so aggressive with it.
Either scoop all of the jello into a single large mold or spoon it into individual molds. I opted for the mini molds. Unlike other jellos, this one will have some bubbles in it and will inevitably form some air pockets. Don’t use a super fancy mold with lots of grooves. Just do your best to break up the air bubbles and give the mold a few taps to fill as much space as you can.
If you’ve done this right your jello should already be pretty thick and will set very quickly. I’d give it a couple hours just to be safe. Unmold and garnish with some raspberries.
The Verdict
This jello was a huge hit! Everyone really liked it, including the people who don’t like jello. Even my son liked it because it didn’t have a weird texture or noticeable chunks of fruit in it. Poor kid is going to have some very bizarre and unsettling food memories as an adult.
The recipe says this serves 12 but unless a “serving” is like three bites I would say it only serves 8 at most. 6 if you use individual molds.
We made an important discovery though. I highly highly recommend serving this with some angel food cake dessert cups. Just scoop in the jello as a topping and you’ve got a delicious little treat. Alas, I did not take pictures of the Raspberry Bavarian Cream Angel Food Cups, but you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
I rate this 4.5 / 5, but it’s a solid 5 when eaten with angel food cake.
Molded Memories 
The spatula part was too funny. Debbie
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