Arts

The Art of Making 3D Jelly Cake

3D jelly cake, although in Vietnam only for the past two years, has drawn much attention from many Vietnamese women and children.
Nguyen Thi Thuan, a 3D jelly cake-making expert in Hanoi, mentioned that she made her first 3D jelly cake in 2014 after only two hours of learning. That was when she found her passion and decided to make more and give them to her friends as gifts. After that, when there were more and more people ordering this cake, she developed and created her own tiny “3D jelly cake business”.

A perfect 3D jelly cake needs a perfect cake base, which is made by combining pure water and coconut juice. Gelatin is then added to the mixture, put on high heat and cooked until the sugar is fully dissolved. Milk, condensed milk, coconut cream and gelatin are used to make the colouring liquid.  Yellow is from gardenia seeds, pink from strawberry milk and red dragon fruit or artichoke juice, green from green tea powder and red from Taiwanese brown rice flour or Korean cereal flour.

 

A large number of people learn how to make 3 D jelly cakes from Thuan.


A perfect cake base is made by combining pure water and coconut juice and gelatin.
Milk, condensed milk, coconut cream and gelatin are used to make the colouring liquid.
Yellow is from gardenia seeds, pink from strawberry milk and red dragon fruit or artichoke juice,
green from green tea powder and red from Taiwanese brown rice flour or Korean cereal flour.


The most important stage in making a 3D jelly cake is the molding process.


Learning how to use s special tool to inject the colouring liquid into the cake base to create flowers.


Ha Vu, a new student, learns how to inject the colouring liquid into the cake base.


Creating designs in the cake.
A final layer is added to the base of the cake.

The most important stage in making a 3D jelly cake is the molding process. Only when the maker is able to keep calm and stays in a good mood can she create stunning decorations for cakes. The coloured liquid is injected into the clear cake using special tools to form beautiful blooms. A final layer is then added to the base of the cake to seal the patterns inside, which usually has a tropical fruit flavour like pineapple, passion fruit, coconut or mango. There are many ways in which the cake is designed, but roses are the hardest to make, according to Thuan. The designs can sometimes be dolls, fish, cars or even peacocks.

At first, Thuan intended to create only 100 designs of the cake, but it was her passion that stopped her from quitting her job and she started making 3D jelly cake in various themes such as Christmas or Mid-Autumn for kids.
Some 3 D Jelly Cakes




















 

As for others to acknowledge this elegant art, she has brought her creations to many fairs as well as opening some online cooking classes on her website: http://thachnghethuat.edumall.vn.

Story: Ngan Ha - Photos: Khanh Long

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