The Purple Jewel Cake of Marquet

There once lived a woman named Madame Marquita Parcata. She was very wealthy, and she lived in a huge castle that overlooked the entire city of Marquet. She draped herself in purple velvets and wore dresses made of the finest silks. But she was very mean and very greedy. She was the wealthiest woman in Marquet, but it wasn't enough for her.

And then, one day, a little girl knocked on her door, and when Marquita answered, the girl said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, ma'am, but I've traveled very far and if I could just have some water and maybe a place to rest my head for the night, I would greatly appreciate it. And in return, I could give you a simple wish."

Madame Parcata replied, "I can give you water, but I have no room for you to rest."

After the girl drank the water, she said, "Thank you, ma'am. Now, what is it that you would like for your wish?"

Madame Parcata said, "Well, I want to be worth all the money in the world. I want people to know of me and be in awe of all of my riches."

The girl said, "Okay. This, I can do for you. And for giving me half of my request, I shall do the same for you." And then she said the words, "Plimpy, drimpy, flompies, and bompies," and in that moment, Marquita was turned the most beautiful sparkling purple jewel, as big as an apple. Forever. But she got her wish. People from all over the world came to see the Purple Jewel of Marquet.

Narrative Telephone "Pike's Purple Jewel Cake", June 11, 2020


Welcome to Campaign 3 and welcome to Marquet! 

I usually don't like to be so literal with the inspiration for what I'm cooking, but this one was too good to pass up. Jewel Cakes, historically and traditionally are a Jell-o dessert. That means it requires a lot of water, and a bit of time and patients to let it rest. They have also been called stained glass cakes. They get their name from the Jell-o pieces inside the cake so when you cut into it it looks like jewels set into the cake. It's a pretty neat effect! So, without further ado, let's get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 2 3-oz boxes of grape Jell-o
  • 2 1/4 oz packets of unflavored gelatin
  • 1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 26 Oreo Sandwich cookies
  • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tub of Cool Whip
  • Cooking Spray
  • Water - boiling and cold
  • Purple food coloring (optional)

Directions:

I know there are a lot of steps here, but that's only because I broke down each of the big steps into smaller pieces to make it easier to follow along with and read. The time goes quick, I promise!
  1. Make both boxes the grape Jell-o according to the directions on the box. This will need to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (I did it overnight)
  2. Once the grape Jell-o is set, make the white gelatin
    1. Boil water - you'll need 1 and 1/2 cups total
    2. When water is almost boiling put 1/2 cup of cold water in a large bowl. Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over the cold water and let stand 1 minute (don't stir, don't touch it, just let it rest!).
    3. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of boiling water and the sweetened condensed milk. Stir until dissolved
    4. Let this cool to room temperature - at least 20 minutes.
  3. Make the crust - this can be done while the white gelatin is cooling
    1. Coat your 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with plastic wrap and let it hang over the edge. Coat the plastic wrap in the pan with more cooking spray
    2. Crush the Oreos until they are finely ground (I used a large Ziploc bag and a rolling pin. You can use a food processor or another way to crush the cookies). Combine the crushed Oreos and melted butter.
    3. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and freeze until firm - about 10 minutes. 
  4. Make the jewels - I suggest doing this after the 10 minutes have passed but before you take the crust out of the freezer
    1. Loosen the edges of the Jell-o with a knife and turn it out onto a cutting board.
    2. Find a decent-sized piece, and cut it down however you like for the "jewel" on the top of the cake. Put this piece back into the refrigerator in a separate container.
    3. Cut the remaining Jell-o into 1/2 to 1-inch cubes
  5. Assemble your cake
    1. Take the crust out of the freezer and layer the Jell-o over the crust
    2. Pour your cooled-to-room-temperature white gelatin over the purple Jell-o cubes
    3. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours (I did this again overnight) (Note, if your Cool Whip is frozen, now is when you'll want to transfer it to the fridge if you're going overnight, or to the counter, if you're going to only wait 4 hours)
  6. Frost your cake!
    1. Put about 2 dots of purple food coloring in the Cool Whip (more if you want a darker color) and mix well. 
    2. Transfer the cake from the cake pan to a platter or cutting board. The easiest way to do this is to pull on the plastic wrap, and then remove the plastic wrap after the transfer is complete. Go slow.
    3. Cover the cake with Cool Whip
    4. Get your jewel out of the cake and place in the center of your cake. Add extra Cool Whip as needed


Tips, Suggestions, and Substitutions

Tips & Suggestions

  • I had never worked with plain gelatin before, For the most part, it worked out great! But, in the early liquid stages, I did have a couple of lumps that got set in the powder that never fully broke down. To make sure I didn't eat them, I put the white gelatin mixture through a strainer before putting it in my cake. 
  • When I put the plastic wrap into my cake mold I went horizontal and vertical. It leaked a little bit but it wasn't a tragedy and it still made things MUCH easier to get out of the pan. I would avoid putting seams anywhere important if you can, but double layering this way might be beneficial.

Substitutions

  • I wanted to use grape Jell-o here for the purple color but you can use whatever colors and flavors that you like! 
  • Something we considered after the fact is that Vanilla sandwich cookies (like Golden Oreos) might be another good option. You'll get to keep the crunch but won't have the juxtaposition of chocolate if that's not your thing. 

In Conclusion...

How was it? Great question. It's... good! I wasn't expecting it to be as sweet as it is. The grape Jell-o gets a little lost, as it's very toned down by the sweetened condensed milk. The chocolate cookies do give it a fun and nice extra crunch though, that I think I would really miss if there was no crust. It was super fun to make. This is a very family-friendly recipe that kids could totally help with, adults should probably do the boiling water part though. And it's a great exercise in patience. I'll admit when I was getting ready to take it out of the pan I made a little wish myself that it would actually work, hold together, and not be a mess, and it worked out! 

This recipe is based on the Crown Jewel Layer Cake recipe found on foodnetwork.com. On there it only has 1 star, and I thought it was much better than 1 star, but I did make a lot of changes and made it only 1 layer, so maybe I improved it! This would be a great fun cake to bring to a watch party or a potluck and probably makes a better summer dessert.

Please let me know if you try out this recipe! I'd love to see pictures of other jewel cakes. And, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions please leave them below. Thank you for visiting and here's to campaign 3! 

Make sure you make a wish when you cut into this Purple Jewel Cake. And, if you have been kind, and patient, your wish just might come true! 


cake
dessert
Yield: 9-16
Author: Sam
The Purple Jewel Cake of Marquet

The Purple Jewel Cake of Marquet

With water, and time to rest, this purple jewel cake can make your wishes come true!
Cook time: 1 HourInactive time: 6 HourTotal time: 7 Hour

Ingredients

Ingredients

Instructions

Directions
  1. Make both boxes of grape Jell-o according to the directions on the box. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  2. Once the grape Jell-o is set, make the white gelatin: Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water - let stand for 1 minute. Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups of boiling water and the can of sweetened condensed milk. Stir until dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, at least 20 minutes.
  3. Make the crust. Coat a 9x9 pan with cooking spray and line the pan with plastic wrap so it hangs over the edges. Coat the plastic wrap with more cooking spray. Crush the Oreos until they are finely ground. Combine crushed Oreos with melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of a pan and freeze until firm - about 10 minutes
  4. Make the jewels. Loosen the edges of the grape Jell-o with a knife and turn it out onto a cutting board. Find a piece big enough for your featured jewel and cut it to the size and shape you like, put this back in the fridge in a separate container. Cut the remaining Jell-o up into small 1/2 to 1 inch cubes.
  5. Assemble the cake. Take the crust out of the freezer and layer the grape Jell-o on it. Pour your cooled-to-room-temp white gelatin mixture over the purple Jell-o cubes. Refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours
  6. Frost the cake - mix purple food coloring and Cool Whip Transfer the cake from the pan to a platter and cover with Cool Whip. Put your cut-out jewel on top, pressing it gently into the Cool Whip.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

298

Fat (grams)

13.9

Sat. Fat (grams)

8.8

Carbs (grams)

37.8

Fiber (grams)

.3

Sugar (grams)

34.1

Protein (grams)

5.7

Sodium (milligrams)

148

Cholesterol (grams)

.1

These are approximations based on divding the cake into approximately 9 pieces.

https://critical-cooks.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-purple-jewel-cake-of-marquet.html

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