Eat to the Beat: Retro Coca-Cola Jello Mold

A.K.A. Not So Attractive Flesh Gelatin
A.K.A. Ballistics Jell-O
A.K.A. Very tasty, but very ugly dessert in my fridge we just can't get excited enough about to actually eat

Ok, so I really had such a great idea for this latest round of Elly's Eat to the Beat event. It's inspired by a song called "Jackie Will Save Me" by Shiny Toy Guns. It is about Jackie Onassis Kennedy and has a great angry techno electronica style. It's very good for blasting at the top of your car speakers with the windows down.

There is a verse that spoke to me for this event:

I think you're slipping
American Coca-Cola
Sugar Sweetness
1963

Cooking with Coke, now that was something different. And what about the retro aspect of diving into old school dishes? I did a little hunting for recipes and found a totally kitschy dessert I thought would be perfect- Cherry Coca-Cola Salad!

First point of note: turns out jell-o molds were really more of a 50's thing and not a 60's thing. Oh well, close enough. Second point of note: who in their right mind considers gelatin, cream cheese, fruit, and soda a "salad" of any sort!? I loved that some of the recipes were described as "congealed salad." Mmmmm... congealed, appealing, huh?

All of that aside, this seemed like it would be fun. I went out and bought a silicone bundt mold and picked up a single Coke since we don't really drink soda in our house. I prepped this according to the directions and gave it a taste- yummy and saccharine as expected! Into the fridge it went overnight to set.


Well my friends, the first issue in this minor disaster was removing said dessert from said silicone pan. I've never used this type of pan before and it was frankly a little weird. It also wasn't so effective- maybe I should have greased it after all since the poor mold had its top ripped off on about 2/3 of the ring. D'oh! I had to oh so gently pry out the rest and place it top of the base.

Sadly, once "assembled" the dish was, well, hideous. Red gelatin + white cream cheese = pink gelatinous mess that looks just like a slightly sunburned arm! For those of you that enjoy the show Mythbusters, you'll note this looks a lot like Buster the Ballistics Gel Crash Test Dummy.

So that's my entry. A very tasty, creative, and repulsive-looking dessert. Better luck next time, eh?


Cherry Coca-Cola Jello "Salad"
Based from Allrecipes.com

• 1 16 oz. Can Cherry Pie Filling
  
• 1 8 oz. Can Chunk Pineapple
  
• 2 3 oz. Packages Cherry Jell-o
  
• 3-4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
  
• 6 oz. Coke (or Diet Coke or Coke Zero)

1. Drain all of the pineapple juice from the can into a glass measuring cup. Drain the liquid from the pie filling can into the same measuring cup until you have 1 Cup of total liquid. I probably had 2/3 cup of pineapple and 1/3 cup of pie goo. Dispose of the remaining liquid pie filling, leaving the cherries.
   
2. In a small saucepan, pour in the liquid and bring it to a boil.
   
3. Stir in the gelatin and whisk it together until everything is dissolved.
   
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the cream cheese until the mixture is smooth.
   
5. Add in the Coke and beat for 2-3 minutes. The original recipe says to mix until it is "fluffy" but I don't know what that means.
   
6. Pour the warm mix into your mold. You may want to try greasing the mold or using a non-stick spray given the results I got. Then again, I'm no Jell-O expert, so maybe the fault is mine?
   
7. Fold in the drained cherries and pineapple. Chill in the fridge for 6-8 hours or until the mold is set. Once ready to serve, cross your fingers and don't follow my example to turn out the mold onto a serving dish. Serve to blind or far-sighted guests!