Gelatin? Really, Martha? Martha has a whole section of gelatin-based desserts in May Living. I find gelatin really unappealing in general (except in the hospital when it’s the only food they will let you have), but I was willing to give Martha the benefit of the doubt. I gave the Strawberry Shortcake Jellies a try. When Martha made these on the show last week they did look kind of cute.

Pureed strawberry

First task was to puree and strain the strawberries and get the gelatin into them. Let me please say here that my gelatin did not make a cute little disk like Martha’s did – mine was kind of gloppy looking.

I got the strawberry into bowls and refrigerated that. While it was chilling, I made the cake. Martha says to use a 9 x 13 rimmed baking sheet. I didn’t have one that small, so I used a 9×13 baking pan. I was just barely able to cut out all the circles I needed from this – it was a very tight squeeze. The cake tasted great –

The cake

moist and lemony.

While I was cutting out the cake, I was also cooking the cream and milk for the panna cotta. I turned my back for a second and it boiled over making a huge mess. The panna cotta was not hard to make. I cooked it and strained it and added the gelatin. I didn’t have a whole vanilla bean so I just added some vanilla to it. I chilled the panna cotta over an ice bath until it started to set up, although this took longer than I expected.

I spooned the panna cotta over the chilled strawberry gelatin and then placed the cake rounds on top. Into the fridge again.

Adding the panna cotta

We took this out about 8 hours later that evening and I was nervous about the unmolding process. If you saw Martha make this on the show, you know that it did not go well for her.  It was a big disaster, in fact. I had little hope that I could do better than Martha, but I was willing to try. I dipped the bottom of the bowl in warm water and swirled it around. I took it out, dried the bottom with a towel and flipped it. Nothing. I did it again. Nothing. A third time. Nothing. I decided to go around the edge with a knife and then it came out nicely. Mr. MarthaandMe insisted he didn’t need a knife

Dipping

for his so he shook it after dipping and the cake and panna cotta came out, but the gelatin remained in the bowl. Not to say I told you so, but…..

My Success

He ended up using a knife to get the rest out.

This dessert was pretty looking, but I did not enjoy mine. I liked the cake. The strawberry gelatin part was ok, not great. The panna cotta was not good in my book. It looks like it should taste like pudding, but instead it ends up being a creamy sort of gelatin that is just not pleasing to my palate. I scraped it off and just ate the cake and strawberry. Then Dude Martha and I ate the cake scraps together and that was possibly the best part of the entire dessert!

Mr. Martha's mistake