Stained Glass Cake

I've been very busy gardening and canning lately...but that's not what I'm talking about today. I will tell you all about that another day. Today I'm talking about the cake I made for Bunco tonight. I haven't tried it yet, but I am so sure that it will be fabulous that I am posting about it now. I found the recipe in a magazine while we were waiting for Samantha's physical therapy to begin and promptly decided that I NEEDED to make this cake. The picture looked that good! So I bought the ingredients and started thinking of a good reson to make it...and hosting Bunco in the summer is the perfect reason! The magazine said that the recipe is from a 1950s ad for Jell-O and that it is also known as Crown Jewel Cake of Broken Glass Cake. Whatever, it just looks light and yummy! I did make a couple of changes to the recipe, but I will tell you what the recipe said, with my changes in parentheses. I forgot to take any pics while I was making it...with 2 children helping, I sort of had my hands full anyway...but I will take a pic once I cut the cake so you, too, can see how pretty it is. :)

(It didn't come out gorgeous like the magazine picture did, but I still think it looks yummy) Ingredients: 12 graham crackers, crushed to fine crumbs, about 1.5 cups 3/4 cup sugar, divided 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted 3 (3oz) boxes Jell-O 4.5 cups boiling water (I used 2.25 cups boiling water and 2.25 cups cold water) 3/4 cup pineapple juice 1 envelope unflavored gelatin 2 cups heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/8 tsp salt (I also added some pinepple tidbits that I squeezed the juice out of and tore, and some mandarin oranges that I squeezed the juice out of. I'm not sure how much I used, maybe about 3/4 cup all together) Crust: Preheat oven to 325F. Stir cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and melted butter together until crumbs resemble fine sand. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan (I used 14 graham crackers and also made a 7inch cake so that my family could have some while we enjoy the large one at Bunco. There were plenty of crumbs and filling for both cakes.) Bake until the edges are golden brown. (The recipe says 12 to 15 minutes, but mine was done after 10 minutes.) Cool on a wire rack. Filling: In 3 seperate large bowls, whisk each box of Jell-O with 1.5 cups boiling water until dissolved. (I used 3/4 cup boiling water to dissolve the Jell-O, and then added 3/4 cup cold water to speed the setting) Pour Jello into 3 loaf pans, pie plates, etc and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. Once the Jell-O has solidified, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and keep chilled. Combine 1/4 cup pineapple juice and unflavored gelatin in a bowl. Microwave, stirring occassionally, until gelatin is dissolved, 1-3 minutes. Slowly whisk in remaining pineapple juice. In a large bowl, with electric mixer on med-high speed, whip cream, vanilla, remaining sugar and salt until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add juice mixture until combined. (I added the fruit at this point, just mixing a little) Gently fold Jell-O cubes into cream mixture. Scrape into prepared pan and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.