This Beach Cake with Jello Water is perfect for any summer party! I made my paleo vanilla cake topped with sweet cream icing, cut part of it out, and filled the space with naturally dyed jello made with blueberry juice and gelatin.
Beach Cake Ingredients & Accessories
Eggs: These are best at room temperature. If you need to bring them to room temperature quickly, you can place them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 5-10 minutes, or until they are no longer cool to the touch.
Maple syrup: Make sure you’re using real maple syrup!
Vanilla: I always recommend pure vanilla extract
Coconut oil: I typically use unrefined coconut oil, but if you really do not like coconut, refined coconut oil does not have a coconut flavor. If you have a coconut allergy, feel free to replace with grass-fed butter.
Blueberry Juice: I used blueberry juice to naturally dye the jello. It ended up being a little darker than I planned, so you could also dilute it.
Vanilla wafers: Once you crush these cookies, they look just like sand! If you’re looking for gluten-free, refined sugar free cookies, you can find these on amazon!
Gelatin: This is what makes the jello and adds protein to the cake! Gelatin also helps support healthy hair, nails, and skin. I use grass-fed gelatin.
6 inch Cake Collar: This is what you will wrap around the cake and fill the empty space with jello.
Shell Mold: If you want to add chocolate shells to the top of the cake, here is the mold I use.
Beach Cake Storage Tips
I recommend baking the cake ahead of time and either freezing it (if more than 2 days ahead of time) or placing it in the refrigerator. Once the cake is assembled, store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Steps for assembling the Beach Cake:
Layer and frost the 4 round cakes. Cut out a section of the cake, leaving the bottom layer remaining in full.
Tightly wrap the cake with a 6 inch cake collar. Pipe more frosting along the edges of the cut out section and the cake collar to help prevent the liquid jello from running out into the cake.
Break up the jello that has set into chunks and add them to the empty part of the cake. Slowly pour in the liquid jello. If it starts to run out of the bottom of the cake, place washcloths at the bottom to absorb the liquid. Place in the fridge to set.
Once the jello has set, remove the cake collar (you may need to fix the icing on the side). Cover the icing with crushed cookies. Enjoy!
Beach Cake with Jello Water
Ingredients
Paleo Vanilla Cake Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup coconut oil melted
- 2/3 cup coconut cream (the thick part at the top of a can of chilled coconut milk), melted
- 1 1/3 cup honey
- 4 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
Icing Ingredients
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- 6 tbsp butter melted
- 6 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Jello Ingredients
- 5 tbsp grass-fed gelatin
- 3 cups blueberry juice
- 1 cup water
Other Ingredients
- 2 cups vanilla cookies crushed
- 2 tbsp dyed chocolate melted
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix gelatin and 1 cup of blueberry juice together. Set aside to bloom (starts to look like the consistency of applesauce).
- Bring 2 cups of blueberry juice to a boil. Mix in the bloomed gelatin and whisk until combined. Turn off the heat and mix in 1 cup cold water.
- Add about half of the jello to a dish and place in the refrigerator to set. Keep the rest on the stovetop so it remains a liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom of 4 (or 2 and you will bake twice) 8in round pans with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- Blend together the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil, coconut cream, and honey until smooth. Add in the flour and baking powder and mix together.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 4 pans. Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While baking, blend together the icing ingredients.
- Once the cakes cool, place one on a cake cardboard round, top with icing, then add another cake, then icing, then cake, then icing, then cake. Cut out part of the cake (I recommend not cutting into the bottom layer of the cake). I cut on an angle (see above picture). The part of the cake that is cut will not be used (I freeze to make cake pops another time).
- Cover all of the cake (including the part where the cut was made) with icing.
- Wrap the cake TIGHTLY with a 6 inch cake collar (It’s really important that it is tight or else the liquid jello comes through). Pipe icing along the edge of the cake collar and the cake to help create a barrier so the liquid jello does not go through.
- Break up the jello that has set in the refrigerator into chunks and add them to the empty part of the cake. Slowly pour in the liquid jello. If it starts to run out of the bottom of the cake, place washcloths at the bottom to absorb the liquid. Place in the fridge to set. This will take about 4 hours.
- Once the jello has set, remove the cake collar (you may need to fix the icing on the side). Cover the icing with crushed cookies.
- If desired, decorate with a mini umbrella and chocolate shells (add melted colored chocolate to a shell mold and freeze for 2 minutes before removing. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Notes
