An Epic Fail - Strawberry Mirror Cake, The Mock Version

The first time I ever laid eyes on this cake was on Annie's Eats. It was love at first sight. That is also when I first read about the Daring Bakers. Wow! I thought to myself. This looks so good and must be super complicated to make. This was when I had just started baking and did not have enough confidence to pull off something like this. But then as time went by, and I started baking more and more, I realized that the recipe was very simple. I would always go back to it and read it and also read many other blogs who had posted the same recipe, just to get an idea of the problems they faced or get any helpful hints. However, I never had the opportunity to make such a lavish dessert and it was soon lost in my binder.

Then, I was asked to make dessert for Eid and almost at once this cake came to mind. It would be the perfect end to a scrumptious meal. A show stopping dessert. Three weeks prior to the date, I started planning on how I would go about it. Shop on Tuesday, bake the cake on Wednesday, make the juice and puree on Thursday. Everything was planned and I could not wait to get started. Tuesday evening I rushed to the store to buy everything I needed and that’s when the first blow struck. They were out of gelatin. What? How can you be out of gelatin? A bit dejected, I returned home with the rest of the ingredients and decided to send the hubby to look for it the next day. Wednesday afternoon I started baking and made the strawberry juice and the puree. I waited impatiently for hubby to come back with the gelatin. Two hours later he walked into the house. “Sorry, they are out of stock everywhere”.  Panic set in. How could this happen to me? Why God Why? Suddenly I remembered something. I had seen a similar dessert during one of the event round ups and I quickly logged on to search for it. Hmm, a mock Bavarian cream. This should work fine I thought. After all it is ice cream and jelly. Hubby was sent once again to the supermarket to bring the new ingredients. Once he got back I quickly got to making the mock Bavarian cream and poured it onto the cakes. Then I made the mirror and it went on the cream. I was so happy with my dessert.

Bad Pictures I know, but my heart was just not in it :(

It set up extremely well and the next day when I un-molded it everyone exclaimed ooohs and aahs. The mirror had set up perfectly and tasted just like the store bought jelly. I cut up a big slice and had the first taste. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. This does not taste like cream at all. There was too much of a jelly consistency in the cream and I was really disappointed. After all the hard work I put in I was expecting so much more. Guess it’s my fault for going the mock way. However, there were a few people who really enjoyed this dessert. My take is that if you love jello you will love this dessert. I for one am not a big fan of jello, so it was a no go for me. Better luck next time! (Yes, there will be one).

If you want to try this dessert get the recipe at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.

Happy Eating!!