Jelly cakes that look like tropical islands are the hottest new trend in dessert - Insider - INSIDER

Island jelly cakes are the dessert of summer 2020.
Made to look like tropical island scenes, the ocean is made of gelatin while the islands are made of cake.
They are pretty challenging and time-consuming to make, but the stunning end result is worth it.
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With travel put on hold for much of the world this summer, some are looking for other ways to satiate their wanderlust.

Island jelly cakes — cakes that look like intricate ocean scenes — seem to fit this bill, and have become popular among professional and amateur bakers alike.

"When I saw pictures of this new 2020 cake trend emerging I was immediately mesmerized by it and had to try it," Maryam Khan, of New Zealand-based bakery Cakes by MK, said.

Jelly Island Cake — The ocean in island jelly cakes, like this one made by baker Maryam Khan, is made of gelatin.

Khan said the island-themed creation was one of the trickiest cakes she has made, adding that it took her about two days to achieve.

"It's certainly given me more confidence to think outside the box," she said of working on the cake, pictured above. "I love being able to get creative with my cakes and trying new things that will push me out of my comfort zone."

Elena Ignatenko, who runs a pastry shop out of her home in Krasnodar, Russia, loves how many details can go into island cakes.

She attributes their popularity to "the wow effect they have on everyone."

Anna Filatova, a pastry chef at Sweet Land Cake in Moscow, Russia, was inspired to create an island jelly cake after a trip to Thailand earlier this year.

"The beauty of this country was really fascinating, and the Phi Phi Islands were the main inspiration," she said. "I wanted people to enjoy the beauty of this place, even if it was a piece of cake."

Filatova said she has also made cakes based on real islands in Finland, French Polynesia, and the Caribbean.

Making a jelly cake requires creativity — and precision

Most jelly island cakes are made with blue-dyed gelatin for the ocean, actual cake for the islands, crumbled cookies or nuts as sand, and chocolate ganache, marzipan, or modeling chocolate for the details, such as shells and coral.

To make a jelly island cake, you bake a cake, shape it into an island, and then surround it with a cake ring and plastic sheet, in which you pour the jelly.

If you're adding coral and other accoutrements, you need to drop them in before the jelly hardens.

Even professional bakers admit they have had a hard time getting it right

Elena Terentyeva, who runs a pastry shop out of her home in Moscow, Russia, said she tried her hand at making one of these cakes (pictured below) because she was bored, and desperate for a beach holiday.

To date, she's made three such intricate cakes, studying photos of islands, marine life, and coral before getting started.

She says the most difficult part for her is to not "overload the cake with details," as she said she wants to add absolutely everything, from seashells to corals to marine life.

Filatova describes the process as "painstaking," and says it's "probably the most complicated" kind of cake she has ever attempted.

She said that the hardest part is making the colors and textures realistic.

For Khan, however, the challenge was removing the cake ring once the jelly set. She said it was so "nerve-wracking" that she would have cried if the ring hadn't come out properly.

This happened to Terentyeva, whose jelly hadn't set properly when she tried to remove the ring on her first attempt. She said her faux ocean spilled all over her floor.