Shelly's Recipe

RED, WHITE AND BLUE 4TH OF JULY MOUSSE CAKE

Category: Desserts

2 (3 oz) pkgs lady fingers, each cookie separated in half lengthwise or use a vanilla cookie crust or graham cracker crust
1 (3 oz) pkg blueberry gelatin, pineapple or lemon gelatin, and strawberry or raspberry gelatin
3 cups boiling water, divided
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple in-its-own juice, drained
1 pint firm ripe strawberries or red raspberries, stems removed
1 – 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, stems removed
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 tbsp lemon juice, divided
Pinch of salt
2 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, divided
Additional whipped cream or sour cream
Additional berries and bite-size pieces of fresh pineapple
Sprigs of fresh mint, for garnish

Arrange lady finger halves, upright, around the inside edge of a 9 1/2 inch springform pan and arrange enough lady finger halves, rounded-side down, over the bottom of the pan, breaking some to fit into vacant areas. Evenly sprinkle sherry, brandy or orange juice over lady fingers. Set aside to prepare filling

In a small bowl, combine blueberry gelatin and 1 cup boiling water, stirring well until gelatin is dissolved. Chill in the refrigerator until gelatin is consistency of very thick egg whites. Repeat process twice with remaining gelatins.

While gelatin mixtures are chilling, hull strawberries and thinly slice; leave raspberry and blueberries whole, but remove stems. Gently and coarsely strawberries or raspberries and blueberries in two separate bowls. Add 4 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt to each, mixing gently. Refrigerate remaining berries until ready to serve.

Fold 1/3rd of the whipped cream or topping into each thickened gelatin mixture, beating lightly if necessary to evenly mix together. Fold blueberry/sugar mixture into blueberry gelatin mixture, mixing just until evenly distributed.

Repeat process with strawberries in strawberry gelatin and pineapple to pineapple or lemon gelatin mixture. Turn blueberry mixture into lady finger-lined pan. Refrigerate until set.

Repeat with layer of pineapple mixture, refrigerate until set. Repeat with strawberry gelatin mixture. Chill in refrigerator for several hours until filling is firm. Arrange remaining berries and pineapple pieces over top of filling, just before serving.

To serve, loosing springform and remove cake on lower part of spring-form pan on a serving plate. Garnish with additional sweetened flavored whipped cream or sour cream or thawed whipping topping, sprigs of fresh mint.

NOTES: Optional crust: Use 2 1/2 cups crumbs with 1/3 cup melted butter, mixing well. Evenly pack crumb mixture over bottom and up sides of pan. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Cool crust completely before adding filling.

If berries are not quite ripe, sprinkle sliced berries with a few drops of balsamic vinegar and allow to stand for 30 minutes at room temperature to bring out the berry flavor.